It`s lunchtime, and Lise Vilas, a financial systems manager at GATX Leasing Corp. here, has an appointment with Rick Ranzau, from the company`s financial planning department.
Minutes later, they`re taking care of business. Time to kick the management systems training project into high gear, they decide. And what about a wrap-up session after the company`s upcoming annual seminar?
Only Vilas and Ranzau aren`t in a nearby restaurant. They`re not even in the company lunchroom, with its striking view and fresh pink carnations on every table. They`re jogging along the Embarcadero.
”It was a productive meeting,” says Vilas afterward. ”We just happened to be pounding pavement.”
This is power lunching, `90s style.
When busy executives get together at noontime nowadays, the focus isn`t always on food. Instead, they get manicures or massages, take stress walks and boat rides, shop or play squash-things that used to be reserved for the weekends and close friends.
Some are searching for that novel twist that finally will make a potential client say yes to an invitation; others are trying to lose weight or gain a competitive edge.
And some people simply want to cram as much activity as possible into an already busy day.
Whatever the reason, for some people the noontime get-together-which once consisted of steak and salad washed down with a couple of martinis, and then evolved into lighter fare like pasta and Perrier-now barely involves eating at all.
The intensity factor
”Americans are learning they`ve got to be more intense throughout the day,” says David Burnell, vice president of Team Air Express in South San Francisco, who chalks up the change to increased overseas competition.
More Top Picks Best Fidget Toys For Teens
His idea of a good business lunch is a round of squash or racquetball at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara. Not only does he love to play, Burnell-who likes aggressive, never-say-die colleagues-finds it helps him evaluate potential partners.
”You can gain a lot by having someone on the court sucking wind,” he says. ”It`s a good way to judge what kind of deal you`re going to put together.”
San Francisco lawyer Margaret Kavalaris takes a more intellectual approach and invites her clients to the Commonwealth Club`s lunchtime lecture series, featuring top business and political figures.
Only Kavalaris skips the traditional ”rubber chicken” lunch and simply stands in the back.
This goes over great with her Silicon Valley clients, especially the CEOs who are so busy they rarely have a chance to get out.
”They want to do something very San Francisco, so this is perfect,”
says Kavalaris. ”The Commonwealth Club draws a first-rate crowd.”
Keeping it fresh
For those on the receiving end, especially people who get invited out a lot, an unusual invitation may make all the difference in whether they accept a lunch.
Sharon Rooney dines out constantly because of her job-she works for the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, showing off the city to travel and business writers.
Rooney recently started a diet, which means she`s trying to cut back on those long, fattening lunches. So when marketing execs Ligeia Polidora and Lee Woodruff invited her to a manicure at I. Magnin instead, the offer magically
”rose to the top of the list,” Rooney says.
”I needed a day where I could just eat an apple for lunch,” says Rooney, who is usually booked solid at least a month in advance.
”Not only that, my nails were a mess.”
Only a few weeks later, Rooney was participating in an updated version of old-fashioned back-room wheeling and dealing-except she was in a private room having her nails polished and discussing an upcoming visit by a dozen Australian journalists.
Shopping for novelty
Men have long understood that treating clients and colleagues to a round of Wednesday-afternoon golf or taking in the occasional ”businessmen`s specials” at the ballpark can have a positive effect on their career. Lately, women have also come up with their own ways of networking.
At the Los Altos law firm of Nelson, Perlov & Lee, male lawyers could buddy up to male claims adjusters by playing golf, but the female lawyers felt they had no similar outlet for their female insurance counterparts-until they decided to go shopping.
”At first, it was a joke,” says associate Kim James. ”We`d say, `Okay, you go golfing and we`ll go to White Flower Day at Macy`s.` ”
But when they actually organized an outing that included a stop at a department store, the idea was a hit, says James, even though most women just browsed or made small purchases.
”We got to know our clients better,” says James. ”We found that most of them felt it was a more communicative atmosphere.”
At Mister Lee`s beauty salon in San Francisco, manager Pauline Hahn says she has seen a 40 percent increase in their lunch-hour business in the past two years, 98 percent of it female. Hahn figures half of it`s social, the other half is business.
The most popular choice? Taking a hydro-tub in adjoining rooms with the curtains pulled back, so it`s possible to talk.
”It`s amazing how things change around,” says Hahn. ”They can sit in here for three hours if they want to.”
Of course, doing the new power lunch also involves learning a new kind of etiquette.
The first rule is to figure out what will appeal to your guest. Some women will love the idea of getting a facial; others may feel that`s a little too personal.
Some execs love to jog at lunch; others would rather die than discuss biz while wheezing along in their baggy sweats.
But what if your boss wants to run farther or faster, or a potentially huge client insists on slamming a ball down your throat?
More Top Picks Shokz Openrun Pro 2
Just be yourself, say new power lunch veterans.
”I have no qualms about wimping out,” says Lise Vilas. When someone wants to run farther or faster than she does, her strategy is to say, ”This is where I turn around now.” –