About Mary Kier

Mary Kier
Contact Information
Mary E. Kier
CEO, Executive Search
Cook Associates, Inc. 
312 / 755 - 5614 direct
312 / 543 - 1808 cell
Email: mkier@cookassociates.com
Complete Bio: Click Here

Mary Kier is the CEO of Cook Associates Executive Search. Mary began her career with the firm in 1984 and today oversees the executive search division. In addition to her own search practice in Consumer Products and Services, Mary leads the Consumer & Retail practice, managing an integrated team of consultants specializing in Consumer Services, Consumer Durable and Non-Durable Goods, CPG and FMCG.

Posts by Popularity

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Client Testimonials

"Mary is an outstanding search professional and she was instrumental in helping us find a CEO for our fast-growing portfolio company. She listened carefully to our specific criteria, then leveraged her network of consumer industry contacts to identify a number of strong candidates."
- Josh Goldin
Board Member, CleanBrands LLC
Principal, private equity firm

"Mary has the same goal that we have: to find the best candidate for the position that will assist us in achieving our organizational goals."
- Chris Rosenthal, Director, Talent Management & Diversity, USG

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Successful Careers in the Making
a blog on all-things careers by Mary Kier

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Life is a Cocktail Party: Are You Building Genuine Relationships?

Posted on Thu, Jun 24, 2010 @ 12:00 PM
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cocktail
At the tender age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold his company to Microsoft for $265 million. He went on to helm the mast at Zappos.com as CEO and led them through a 1.2 billion acquisition by Amazon in 2009. This month his first book hit stores and quickly shot to the number one spot on The New York Times bestseller list. So what is the young man's secret to success?

As it turns out, his secret is pretty simple. Tony believes in building genuine relationships with customers and colleagues. In past years, he has gone on record saying he dislikes networking events because, for most people, they are just an empty exercise in exchanging business cards. To paraphrase, he believes that if you are truly interested in someone you meet, whether a business person or not, and have the goal of building up a friendship - instead of trying to "get something" out of them - then it is comical how often you and your business will benefit.

Certainly the benefit of getting to know someone on a more personal level is something I've subscribed to all my adult life.  I see life as a great big cocktail party attended by a whole lot of people I have yet to meet.  And for me, oftentimes it is two or three years after I start to build a personal relationship that something commences on the business side. I believe that you should try to build up the depth of friendship itself and let that be the reward.  If something comes about that is business related - and that helps you in your business - well, that's just the icing on the cake.  If you have diverse friendships you will derive amazing benefits and life will be that much richer for the endeavor. 

Suggested Reading:

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh

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