Galloway’s advice seems deceptively simple: If you want a great professional career, you need to make connections in the real world first. “The way you [achieve professional success] as a young person is you go out, you make friends, you drink, and at every possible opportunity, you help that person out,” he said, also recommending speaking well of others behind their backs and positioning yourself to be remembered when opportunities come up.
“You want to be placed in rooms of opportunities when you’re not physically there,” Galloway said, emphasizing that effective networking creates advocates who will recommend you for positions even when you’re not actively job searching.
The professor drew parallels to high school social dynamics to illustrate his point.
“The most successful people in high school aren’t the best looking [or] the best athletes, they’re the ones that like other people the most. The kid who says, ‘Hey, you know, great game, Brett,’ or ‘Wow, way to go on the basketball team, Lisa.’ The person who shows the most goodwill and like toward other people is the most popular, successful person in high school,” he said.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
