Once you've got a hook—some subject of interest you'd like to explore that you think others will find interesting—get in touch with the editor of a publication that's likely to publish such material. You don't have to make the op-ed page of the New York Times. Community newspapers, professional newsletters, even in-house company publications have white space they need to fill. At this stage, all you're looking for is some tentative buy-in, a small show of interest that you can use to gain access to others in researching the piece. And once you get published, you've got a track record— and samples of your work that you can use to snatch more chances.

What's an editor going to say when you pitch him or her an idea? Probably something like "Sure, sounds great. Very busy. Gotta go. Let me see it when it's done." This is how editors talk and this is what they invariably say.

But now, when you call others to interview them, you're not just Joe Shmo, you're Joe Shmo calling about an article targeted for the Poughkeepsie Gazette (or something like that). And these aren't just random people you're calling, either. These are the people you've painstakingly targeted as the top experts and thinkers in the subject you're investigating.

What you've just unknowingly done, by calling these people and setting up an interview, is established a terrific environment for meeting anyone anywhere. The odds will never be stacked so clearly in your favor. The subject of conversation is something you know the other person is fascinated with. And by then, you'll have had the time to become pretty snazzy with the subject yourself. You're offering value through the publicity you'll potentially garner. And the mutual understanding that you're working together toward a common objective will make what would normally be a formal affair into something much closer. It's an opportunity to shine!

Most of the time, I like to share credit and offer a byline to the person who becomes most helpful. Explain that their insights are truly unique and impressive and that you would welcome their coauthorship. You'll do the research and writing and all they have to do is give some time and energy to the project. Then, once you begin to collaborate, ask them (or they more than likely will volunteer) to open their network to you for additional research and interviews. And just like that, you're expanding your network exponentially with contacts that otherwise might have seemed out of reach.

Guess what? By article's end, whether it's been published or not, you've managed to learn a great deal and to meet a group of important people who potentially might be important to your future. And you now have a very good reason to stay in touch with them.

Newt Gingrich, the famous Republican politician and ailabout-Washington gadfly, is known to tell a story about a lion and a field mouse. A lion, he says, can use his prodigious hunting skills to capture a field mouse with relative ease anytime he wants, but at the end of the day, no matter how many mice he's ensnared, he'll still be starving.

The moral of the story: Sometimes, despite the risk and work involved, it's worth our time to go for the antelope.

Are you only connecting with field mice? If you are, start turning your attention to reaching out to the sort of important people that can make a difference in your life and the lives of others. The kind of people who can make you, and your network, sparkle.

The conscious pursuit of people with power and celebrity has a bad rap. We're taught to see it as an expression of vanity and superficiality. We regard it as a cheap and easy means of getting ahead. As a result, instead of acting on our impulses, we repress them. We buy celebrity magazines like People, Us Weekly, or, in the case of business folks, Fortune, to peer safely from a distance into a world we're so obviously hungry to know more about.

I, on the other hand, think there's absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing this world more directly. Seeking the influence of powerful people in our lives is not crass or misguided; it can be enormously helpful. Again, no one does it alone, whatever our goal or mission. We need the help of lots of others.

Why is it that we're so taken with the lives of big achievers? If we measure our accomplishments against the accomplishments of others, it stands to reason that the more accomplished the people we associate with, the greater our aspirations become.

People who fit our conventional notions of fame and celebrity often have qualities or skills that we admire. Many of these people have achieved great things through risk, passion, focus, hard work, and positive attitudes. And so many of them have overcome so much.

Of course, celebrity can mean all sorts of things to all sorts of people. I define celebrity as public recognition by a large share of a certain group. In other words, fame is a matter of context. In college, public recognition is given to tenured professors or wellknown deans. In a small midwestern town, the celebrities may be a politician, successful entrepreneur, or outspoken longtime resident. These people have a disproportionate degree of influence over the group they inhabit. That's why it has become popular to use celebrities as spokespersons for major brands. They increase awareness, create positive feelings around a company, and play an important role in convincing consumers of a product's attractiveness. Local mini-celebrities within your own group can do the same for your brand.

That's what social scientists call "power by association": It's the power that arises from being identified with influential people. You can see this phenomenon at work everywhere. Power that arises from internal associations, for example, can include personal assistants and gatekeepers who may not be very high on the ladder in terms of company hierarchy, but who are powerful simply because of their proximity and access to the chief executive officer.

External associations, such as powerful politicians, influential news reporters, mass media personalities, and so on, also help to enhance one's profile inside and outside an organization. That's why a smart start-up company, for example, will seek to populate its board of directors with recognized business personalities who can impart credibility to a new business. Certainly, having the ear of influential celebrities or journalists can mean more favorable coverage of you and your company or an unprecedented amount of coverage for your charity.

Fame breeds fame. The fact is, all my prowess for reaching out to other people would be far less effective if a few of those people in my Rolodex weren't well-known names. The hard truth is that the ones who get ahead are usually those who know how to make highly placed people feel good about having them around. Plus, they add a little magic. Real or imagined, these people have that X factor that can magnify a moment and turn a prosaic dinner party into something magnificent.

Problem is, while we're excited by the idea of meeting "celebrities," they are often not all that anxious to meet us. So how can we get close to them?

There are no easy answers. But if you pursue these people in a sincere manner, with good intentions, you're not being manipulative. And if you are emboldened by a mission and you've put in the time and hard work to establish a web of people that count on you, then the time will come when your growing influence will put you in a place where you'll be face-to-face with someone who can convey a lot of sparkle to your next dinner party. You'll get close to power simply by virtue of reaching out and following the the advice I have offered in this book.