Darek tells how to find big-money accounts

Several months ago, I wrote on how to navigate — and make sales — in big corporations. That column dealt with understanding and moving within a large organization’s political environment. Here, the dialogue regards finding the genuine power — big money — players. My information, in part, is based on studies by Dr. G. William Domhoff, a Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who wrote: Who Rules America?; The Higher Circles; The Powers That Be; Who Rules America Now?; The Myth of Liberal Ascendancy: Corporate Dominance From the Great Depression to the Great Recession; The New CEOs; Class and Power in the New Deal and The Leftmost City.
Professor Domhoff loosely separates organizational culture into two parts, the dominators and the egalitarians — those who are socially aggressive and those who are not. The egalitarians may be the best group for friends, but they seldom become big-business deciders. To make big-project sales, you need to befriend the successful power people, the dominators.

Power research
Domhoff says power research comprises both network and content analysis, and both can be calculated in pencil, on copy-machine paper, or with such purpose-designed software as UCINET, a Windows-based, Boolean-software program. With either method, his systems trace influential people and organizations and then determine how they connect to, and influence, other organizations or factions.

Membership networks
An empirical search for power players begins with a membership-network analysis, that is, a search for connections among the people and organizations that you believe are a powerful group or class. You’ll add to this list, but, initially, it’s a straightforward study of selected people and the organizations to which they belong. You can reverse this procedure by collecting a list of organizations and their members, but it isn’t as selective.
Build your list as a membership-network matrix, with persons’ names across the top and organization names down the side, to help you see the weighted power groups. To add depth to the matrix, note the person’s position in each group, in the matrix squares.
Suppose, for example, you learn John Doe is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, The Realtors Board and the District Planning Committee. Further, he is an advisor to the State Land Planning Commission, a director of First National Bank, a stockholder in a major land-development company, the owner of a major shopping mall and a heavy contributor to the Republican Party.
Is Mr. Doe important in the local economy? You bet. Does he buy signs? No. He directs the people who buy signage and approves the final designs.
If your shop is on his good side, you have power from the top.

Kinship ties
To further your research, Domhoff says to look at kinship ties, meaning the money or information that flows between organizations. He says, however, to see money flow and people separately because they are socially distinct in most people’s minds. He provides four different money-flow types:
1. People to people (gifts, loans, donations);
2. People to institutions (taxes, gifts to foundations);
3. Institutions to people (corporate dividends, foundation grants);
4. Institutions to institutions (foundation grants, corporate donations).

This list is imprecise, he cautions, because not all groups will share such information or activities. However, if there is a money flow, it’s helpful to know the amount and reason.
His next membership-network analysis looks at organizational and interpersonal networks, in general, e.g., the central points and subgroups. Some networks may have more interconnections than others, or might be more involved in the community. List these as an addendum to your first matrix, or include them as secondary columns in your primary chart, because knowledge of one may provide inroads to another. Think networking, done prudently, and on a large scale.

Content analysis
Content analysis comprises a study of the power person’s or organization’s ideologies, policies and plans. Domhoff says to study the written output of the important people or organizations on your list by searching magazine articles, speeches, press releases, news items, policy statements, campaign literature or any proposed legislation. This study provides a qualitative indication of the persons’ or organization’s values or policy preferences, which can provide valuable network ties and inroads.
On a separate sheet, form a list of categories that help you determine a person or organization’s stance toward local or political issues, cultures, development or civic projects. Domhoff says to look for phrases that tie groups together. Once you determine which categories you deem important, study relevant texts to determine the mention frequency of those categories (which gives you an idea of the intensity of interest). Make up a cross-reference list that shows totals and averages, or percentages, and then note how these compare with other groups.
For city studies, Domhoff suggests you examine the Dun and Bradstreet Million Dollar Directory and The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory (it may list background information and a firm’s major clients). In addition, your local library will have local social histories and copies of various magazines, for article and interview research. Another step is to check City Hall, United Way, labor unions, and other organizations for their board of directors and annual reports.
Other information sources are biographical references, university and college alumni lists, state or national chambers of commerce membership lists, club rosters, websites, blogs, and newspapers. Also, go further back on Googles pages, for information that may be important but not recent.
In addition, reference Standard and Poor’s Register of Corporations and Directors, The Foundation Directory, and the Federal Elections Commission reports on campaign donations. If not online, check your public library.
Finally, Domhoff says to look for linkages and correlations between the content categories — real-estate development and banks, for example — and then create a second matrix that, when placed alongside your cross-reference notes and membership-network matrix, displays information that reveals a person or organization’s attachments, interests, and monetary dealings — as well as any related connections.
For an interesting beginning, check out www.littlesis.org.
Dr. Domhoff’s book, Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich, is available on Amazon.com. His website — http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/ — provides additional information.

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