A job for outgoing people

Rich Edson, Fox Business Network’s Washington correspondent, was interviewed by Leslie Stone of Opportunist magazine about his career.

Here is an excerpt:

Opportunist: When you joined Fox, was it difficult to build your network of sources and leads?

Edson: This is a job for outgoing people. You’ve got to be able to begin conversations and call people and invite them for coffee. You have to meet that first person who can introduce you to the other people and you have to figure out who can help you and who probably can’t or won’t. You are competing with people who have been there for decades, but over the last six years I have done a pretty decent job of branching out. The longer I am here the more I realize D.C. is a pretty small town. People know each other.

Opportunist: Describe your typical day.

Edson: I am one of those people who, the minute the alarm goes off, looks at their Blackberry. [Laughs] I check it to see what kind of stories have happened overnight and which ones we are covering. I read the newspaper before breakfast. Then, I walk to work.