How to Follow Up With Someone Above You

The follow up is where most people above you quietly stop paying attention, because nine out of ten notes say nothing specific. Larry’s karma rule is blunt: thank, forgive, tip, reciprocate fast, and treat it like something you can actually track. Send your note the same day the meeting ends, while you’re still a face and not a name in someone’s inbox.

Reference one specific thing they said, not “great meeting you” copied from the last person you emailed. If they mentioned a book, a person, or a task in passing, follow up on that exact thread within the week. Doing the thing they mentioned, without being asked twice, is worth more than any compliment you could send.

Larry’s own habit of chasing people above him traces back to Mark McCormack, the IMG founder he calls his mentor. Borrowing that instinct instead of inventing your own is External API: you’re plugging into a follow up method that already worked for somebody else.

Keep the note short. Someone above you is reading it on a phone between two other things. End with a real next step, a date or a task, not a vague “let’s grab coffee sometime.”

Don’t wait for them to set the next touch point. If you want a relationship, you own that job. The point isn’t to be remembered warmly, it’s to be remembered as the person who actually did the thing.