Founder's Story
Ivan Misner: How a Quiet Introvert Built BNI into a $16 Billion Referral Powerhouse | Ep. 193
Thu, 27 Mar 2025
Back by popular demand, Dr. Ivan Misner, founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, returns to Founder's Story. Fresh from hanging out with Richard Branson on Necker Island and preparing for an adventure to Antarctica, Ivan shares incredible insights, personal anecdotes, and powerful business lessons. This interview was originally recorded live in 2021.Episode Highlights:How Ivan founded BNI in 1985 and scaled it to over 10,400 chapters globally, driving 11.5 million referrals and $16 billion in annual business for its members.The transformative "Brody Moment" that took BNI from 20 chapters to a worldwide network.His journey from humble beginnings and financial challenges to becoming a networking powerhouse.Insights into his latest book, Who’s In Your Room?, explore the profound impact of personal relationships and core values.Why successful businesses focus on mastering a few key activities rather than chasing multiple distractions.Networking strategies emphasize farming relationships instead of transactional hunting.Ivan’s revelation about being a “situational extrovert” and practical tips for introverts to succeed in networking.Techniques to overcome social anxiety and build authentic connections.The critical distinction between mere contacts and genuine connections.Ivan's proven "24-7-30" follow-up system for nurturing relationships.Leadership principles are centered around motivation and inspiration rather than management alone.Favorite wine recommendations from Ivan's impressive 1,600-bottle cellar.Creating harmony in life instead of chasing the elusive idea of perfect balance.Resources and Books Mentioned:IvanMisner.comBooks: Who’s in Your Room?, Networking Like a Pro, The World’s Best-Known Marketing SecretRecommended Reads: How to Work a Room by Susan RoAne, Endless Referrals by Bob BurgOur Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://www.avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Indeed: https://indeed.com/FOUNDERSSTORY* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.com* Check out Northwest Registered Agent and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: https://northwestregisteredagent.com* Check out Plus500: https://plus500.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Chapter 1: Who is Dr. Ivan Misner and what are his achievements?
He was just hanging out with Richard Branson in Necker Island. He's about to go to Antarctica, so we caught him at a good time. But I'm going to read his bio here. Dr. Ivan Meisner is the founder and chief visionary officer of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization on the planet.
Founded in 1985, the organization now has over 140,000 chapters throughout every populated content in the world. Last year alone, BNI generated 11.5 million referrals, resulting in over $16 billion. That's a billion dollars worth of business for its members, which is incredible that that is a highlight. It's not about the organization. It's about what it's doing for its members.
He is from the University of Southern California, has his PhD, New York Times bestselling author, written over 26 books, including one of his latest, who's in your room. So check that out right now. I'm sure you can get on Amazon or anywhere who is in your room.
He's also a columnist for entrepreneur.com, has been a university professor, as well as a member of the board of trustees for the University of La Verne. He's been called the father of modern networking by both Forbes and CNN. He's considered one of the world's leading experts on business networking, has been a keynote speaker for major corporations and associations.
He's also been featured in LA Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Numerous TV radio shows, CNN, BBC, Today Show, and NBC. So among his many awards, which we were highlighting earlier, he has been named Humanitarian of the Year by Red Cross. and has been the recipient of the John C. Maxwell Leadership Award.
He is proud that he and his late wife, Elizabeth, are the co-founders of the BNI Charitable Foundation, which is such a big part of what he does today. He's reached empty nester status, that's exciting, after happily raising their three children. Oh, and in his spare time, He is also an amateur magician and a black belt in karate, which I did not even know until now.
So maybe he has a magic trick for us. I'm not sure. But welcome, Dr. Ivan.
Wow, Dr. Ivan. I appreciate it. And just for the record, it's 10,400 chapters, not 100,000 chapters. I'd like 100,000 chapters, but we have a ways to go for that.
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Chapter 2: How did BNI expand to over 10,000 chapters?
That is just so amazing. Yeah, so exciting. So if you're watching us live, if you're seeing his back, it's not really a backdrop. It's his real office, but it looks so flawless and curated so beautifully. It doesn't look real. Dr. Kiven.
Thank you. There's actually a great story that goes with this office. When my late wife and I decided that we were going to buy some property in Austin, we were living in a condo downtown. And I said to her, look, I think we're ready. Get whatever house you want. I don't care. Here's the budget, whatever you want.
uh and she was gone one day one day i said all i want is three things i want to be right on the water i want my own office i don't want to turn it into a i don't want to turn a bedroom into an office and i want a wine cellar otherwise get whatever you want she's gotten one day came back said i found our dream home i came out here looked at it it didn't have any one of those three not one and i'm like really really i just wanted three things
And that's when I found out she should have been in sales because she said, look, there's this empty spot right next to the house. Just build your dream office, honey, your dream office. And I'm like, I like that idea. So that's what I did. And she said, look, there's a place under the wine cellar. There's a place under the house. You can turn that into a wine cellar.
And so, yeah, it ended up becoming my dream house. But
It wasn't when I came and looked at it. There you go. I'm curious. In that wine cellar, what's your favorite wine of all time?
Well, I think Quintessa, which is a Bordeaux blend style. Cabernets, I like big, bold, hit you over the head Cabernet Sauvignons. Chateau Montalena is one of my favorite. But Bordeaux style blends, Quintessa, Opus, Insignia, Episode, these are all amazing Bordeaux blend wines that I love.
Thank you. Now I feel like I need to eat some steak to match your cab right there.
All right. Well, I got 1,600 bottles in my cellar, so there's plenty of space for more wine.
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Chapter 3: What is Dr. Ivan Misner's vision for networking?
Well, Sheriff Brody, towards the end of the movie, he saw the shark for the very first time and he went into the wheelhouse where the captain was and he said to the captain, I think we're going to need a bigger boat. And my Brody moment was the end of 1985 when we had opened 20 chapters. without trying. And I realized that I had struck a chord in the business community.
And that was the point at which I really sat down and created my plan to scale the business, to make it something much larger than what it was.
Wow, I have to say, 20 years old, built a consulting firm, created a referral business, and took off. What a journey, because most entrepreneurs would say, I didn't have that kind of, what do you think works?
With business in general? Yes, with business in general. You know what? I think the biggest mistake that businesses make is they try to do a thousand things six times. You want to be successful in business, you're going to do six things a thousand times, not a thousand things six times. And what I have found is that business people are constantly chasing bright, shiny objects.
I keep this in my desk. If you're on Clubhouse, you can't see it, but it's this little crystal ball and it's on a chain. And it's like people see, you know, these bright, shiny objects and they go, oh, let's try this. Let's do that. And they keep chasing objects. things that aren't part of the fundamentals of their success in business.
And if I have any strength at all as a business person, if I have any superpower as a business person, it's that I am a dog with a bone. I take something and work it and work it and work it and work it. So I think if you want to be successful in business, you've got to do six things a thousand times, not a thousand things. Six times. And by the way, it doesn't have to be six. It could be five.
It could be seven. But it's a handful of things that you do over and over.
Thank you for sharing that, Dr. Ivan. Now, what was your vision in the beginning as you scale BNI? What was your vision? What was the ultimate vision or your BHAG?
Yeah, well, and Kate, please just call me Ivan. So I, you know, my I wanted to help more business people. I mean, in my introduction, you heard he passed a 16 billion, he passed almost 12 million referral for generating 16 billion with a B in business for members around the world.
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Chapter 4: What are effective networking strategies for introverts?
I studied under a brigadier general, a retired brigadier general, which was an amazing experience to study under him at UST. He said, we teach officers leadership. Not only management, how do you manage people, but we teach leadership.
And he said, when they go to a ridge, when they climb up a ridge and they say, follow me, we don't want people to say, well, let's have a committee meeting and talk about that. We need people to follow that officer. And so we teach leadership as well as management. And they're different, both important, but they're different.
Thank you for sharing that. We all can learn from that. Wow. Now, the last time you were here, Ivan, you said network is not your network, which a lot of us were saying it incorrectly. Can you tell us why that's not true at all?
Okay, repeat that because I'm not sure I said that, but go ahead.
yeah you mentioned it i wrote it because i have it in my notes while you're here you said your net worth is not your net worth because it really is who's gonna call you when you need help yeah okay so you gave me context there i appreciate it um you know what what i was referring to is contacts versus connections um i have amazing contacts in my in my database
The question though is, could I reach out to one of those contacts? If I called them, would they take my call? And if I asked for a favor, would they be willing to do the favor? So it's not just the connections that you have. I'm sorry, it's not just the contacts you have, it's the connections that you have. It's how well you know each other.
You know the old saying, it's not what you know, it's who you know? I don't think it's either. I don't think it's what you know or who you know. It's how well you know each other that really, really makes a difference. And so the real question is, could I call those people that are in my contacts? Can I ask them for a favor? Would they even take my call?
And if they take it and I ask them for a favor, would they be willing to do it? That's, I think, what makes a powerful personal network.
Wow. Thank you for that. Now, Ivan, how can someone improve their networking skills?
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Chapter 5: How can you add value when networking with influential people?
When they're networking up, networking with somebody above their weight class, who they think is more successful than they are, I think the biggest mistake they make is trying to sell to the person too quickly, which is a mistake most people make, but it's particularly a mistake if you're networking up.
And the reason for that is people like Branson and really, really successful business professionals, everybody and their mother is trying to sell something to them. So if you want to be like everyone else, try to sell something to them. And let me tell you, do you want to ruin the relationship quickly? Do that. Instead, what you want to do is add value to them.
So you want to find out what they're interested in. What are they working on? What are they doing? And when you find out what it is that they're working on or what they're doing, see if you can add value, see if there's something you can do to help them.
And if you go to my blog, again, at IvanMyson.com and do a search on Branson, you'll see on a couple of my visits to Necker Island, I asked, you know, I talked to Branson about some of the things he was working on, one of his books and this idea of the B team, the business team, where business can be noble and do things in communities. And I said, how can I help you promote this?
And he said, well, you know, get it out to your network. And I said, would you like to do a video? And I'll promote it on my video. And he said, yeah, of course. So rather than ask him for something or ask him to do business, I asked him, how can I help you? And so, you know, so far he has generally said, well, you could do this and I'm happy to do it.
And that's the best way to build value, especially if you're networking up.
Hey, Kate, just really quickly on that. Thank you. Because that I think clears up a lot of, a lot of people want to say, how could I add value to somebody like Richard Branson or Ivan Meisner? What do you say to people like that? Maybe they don't have that network. Is there, is there something else that people can do who might say, wow, this person is so untouchable.
How can I add value to them first?
Yeah, well, everybody comes to the table with value, some type of value. So for me, I have an audience, and so that's the value that I can bring to the table. But everybody has something that they can bring to the table to help. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. I had an associate who came to me once and he was in an organization that I'm in.
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Chapter 6: What are Dr. Ivan Misner's book recommendations for networking?
People who are standing in a triangle, a closed group, a closed triangle, it's hard to break into that. People that are standing in a square, four people standing in a square or in a circle like a huddle, It's hard to break into that. What you want to look for are what I call open twos, open threes, and open groups. An open two looks like the letter V. People are standing askew from each other.
It's really easy to slip in there and introduce yourself. Or people standing in an open three, which looks like a U. It's easy to step up and introduce yourself. Or an open group where you have a larger number of people, but there's an open spot. Look for the open groups and slide in. Now, if you are a member of a networking group, it's really important that you teach your fellow members
to always stand in open twos, open threes, and open groups because it is a subtle but significant technique to make people feel included, to make people feel like it's easy to strike up a conversation with other people. It is a great technique to use. I've tested it and we've seen, you know, where people, chapters who use this technique in BNI, people walk away going, I don't
know what it is but it's it's just so easy to strike up conversations with people in this group well it's done on purpose um so always stand in open twos open threes and look for them i remember once i did a um so funny i did a presentation keynote i talked about this and you could by the way you can see i've got um on my blog i think i've got jpegs in there let me just double check
And so everyone, go to ivanmeisner.com so you can follow along.
And you can see the JPEGs, or a JPEG at least, and use that as a model of what I'm talking about. And I remember once I did this presentation, talked about it, and I'm standing with a guy at a networking event, and the two of us are standing, we're doing the exact wrong thing, perpendicular, looking at each other. And he looks at me and he goes, is it closed too?
I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, we opened it up. Boom, immediately third person comes in. He and I look at each other, the first guy and I like close three. We open it up, boom, fourth person, fifth person, sixth person, seventh person. The group got, you know, the circle got to like eight or 10 people before I stepped to another group. But I mean, that's the way it works.
Look for people in open stances. It's such a simple technique, but you know, a lot of what I talk about is simple. It's not easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it. and they forget. And so these techniques are very effective. Hope that answers your question.
Wow. That's really awesome. Now, this really happened to me over the weekend or the last few days. How do you recover from saying something stupid because you're nervous? This is what happened to me. I was in a bathroom and I was washing my hand and I asked the lady, I compliment her with, it's really beautiful. It's a real beautiful top. It's a beautiful top. So I asked her what she does.
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