I wouldn’t be where I am today without Larry King. I’ll never forget the first time I met Larry. I was in New York to tape a television commercial for my first book, “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” I was a total unknown, a first-time author.

There, on the set, in living color, was Larry King, holding up his latest book and taping his own commercial.

We were introduced briefly when he finished. Then it was my turn on set. Ten minutes later, the director said we were done, and I headed for the elevator, where I saw Larry waiting. We made a little small talk on the way down. His stretch limo was curbside. I started to hail a cab.

He motioned to me and said: “Which way are you headed, kid?” and offered me a ride to my hotel.

I had five minutes to make an impression. Half the people might talk about themselves. The other half might mention how much they love Larry. However, my father taught me an important networking rule -- What can I do for the other person? How can I add value to his or her life?

I didn't know Larry's background. I didn't know a single characteristic, interest or goal that he and I had in common. Except the reason we had both gone to the studio.

I said: “Mr. King, I hope I'm not overreaching here, but I assume you, like I, showed up at that studio because we'd both like to sell a ton of books.”

Larry said, “That’s why I write ‘em, kid.”

The limo had now pulled up outside the entrance to my hotel. I may not have known anything about Larry, but I had done my homework on the publishing business. My self-designed, self-taught course had taken nearly six months. I had talked with over 30 authors, a slug of literary agents, a dozen publishers, a few promotional firms and six lawyers.

I proceeded to spill my guts on the book industry, and Larry told his driver to turn off the engine. He was now on the edge of his seat just staring at me and taking notes. Even the driver turned around to listen.

I gave Larry seven ideas over the next 20 minutes, and he invited me to be on his “Larry King Live” show on CNN the same week. I sold 50,000 copies of “Swim With the Sharks” that week alone. The Oprah Winfrey people saw me and put me on her show. Another 50,000 books sold. Then it was “Good Morning America,” and the rest is history.

Larry had me on his show for almost every book I’ve written, and we became very close friends. I was amazed when he told me he never read any author’s books before interviewing them. He wanted things to be fresh.

Even with all his celebrity, I never saw him refuse an autograph or photo, whether we were at breakfast, lunch, dinner or a social gathering.

Events with Larry were always memorable. He invited my Roundtable group to his Beverly Hills home, where he proceeded to entertain us with story after story. We learned that he always wanted to be a stand-up comedian.

But I think the highlight of our friendship was when he emceed a milestone birthday party for me in Las Vegas.

Larry loved boxing and Muhammad Ali. He once wrote in his column in USA Today that meeting Muhammad was “the biggest thrill in my life ... I couldn’t sleep last night ... chills running up and down my spine.”

One night I was having dinner with Larry in New York, and I brought Muhammad with me as a surprise. Suddenly a woman came up and said, “Oh, Mr. Mackay, I’ve read all your books ... Can I have your autograph?” Larry went nuts and said,

“Don’t you know who this is? This is Muhammad Ali. Don’t you want his autograph?”

I looked at Larry and said, "You bit it hook, line and sinker." I paid her $50 to come up and ask for my autograph. We were still laughing about that years later. But the point is don’t be boring. Don’t be predictable.

Larry’s curiosity about the world around him was legendary. His ability to draw people out was evident on every show. His loyalty made him a treasured friend.

It was sheer coincidence that our paths crossed that day. And I thank my lucky stars for that chance meeting.

Mackay's Moral: In networking, you're only as good as what you give away.

“How do you explain the relativity of time?” a professor was asked.

“Well,” she replied, “if I am rushing to catch a plane, and the check-in clerk is so slow that I miss my flight, the extra two minutes don’t mean much to him, but they sure make a difference to me. That’s relativity.”

Time is one gift that we are all given equally. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. The only variable is how many years we each have. And that alone is reason enough to make every minute count.

Have you ever wondered where all your time goes?

The average person spends seven years in the bathroom, six years eating, four years cleaning house, five years waiting in line, two years trying to return phone calls to people who aren’t there, three years preparing meals, one year searching for misplaced items and six months waiting at red lights.

That’s why prioritizing your time should be a top priority.

February is National Time Management Month, a perfect time to develop a plan to ensure that everything you do is moving you in the direction of your goals and limiting the distractions that prevent you from realizing them. Do a quick audit of your day to consider whether you’re working hard or smart.

I’m a time-management freak, so anything I can do to save time is important to me. That includes returning phone calls at the end of the day, being specific in leaving messages when I’m available to prevent telephone tag, calling ahead to confirm an appointment and even the best place to park to get going quickly. Time is money. I can get more money, but I can’t get more time.

The value we place on each minute of every day will have a cumulative impact on the remainder of our lives. Maybe that’s why Ben Franklin said, “Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both.”

Peter Drucker, the late management guru, said, “Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.

“Everything requires time,” he added. “It is the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable and necessary resource.”

My friend Wally “Famous” Amos sent me this story years ago. A man was working on a Saturday when he realized how he had lost track of his life’s priorities, including spending time with his family. He did a little arithmetic and figured the average person lives about 75 years. He multiplied 75 times 52 and came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person will live. With his age, he figured if he lived to age 75, he would have 1,000 Saturdays left, so he went to a toy store and bought 1,000 marbles and went home and put them in a large jar.

Every Saturday after that, he took one marble out and threw it away. He found that watching the marbles diminish helped him really focus on the important things in life.

There’s nothing like trying to gauge your time here on Earth to get your priorities straight. When every minute is precious, you learn to use them to the fullest. As humorist Bob Murphey said, “The only person to succeed while horsing around is a bookie.”

A little boy, late for school, asked God to help him get there on time. He ran, stumbled and breathlessly said, “God, I asked you to help me, but don’t push me.”

Don’t let your time push you. Take the time to manage your time.

Mackay’s Moral: You can save time, but you can’t bank it.

What gift can we all possess that costs nothing, but is worth everything? That we can demonstrate daily, but lose in seconds if we don’t guard it carefully? That determines the quality of our relationships and directs our choices in life?

That great treasure is good character.

President Ronald Reagan focused on character in his 1993 commencement speech to the graduates at Citadel Military College in South Carolina.

“The character that takes command in moments of crucial choices has already been determined,” Reagan said. “It has been determined by a thousand other choices made earlier in seemingly unimportant moments.

“It has been determined by all the little choices of years past -- by all those times when the voice of conscience was at war with the voice of temptation, whispering the lie that it really doesn’t matter.

“It has been determined by all the day-to-day decisions made when life seemed easy and crises seemed far away -- the decisions that piece by piece, bit by bit, developed habits of discipline or of laziness, habits of self-sacrifice or self-indulgence, habits of duty and honor and integrity -- or dishonor and shame.

“Because, when life does get tough, and the crisis is undeniably at hand -- when we must, in an instant, look inward for strength of character to see us through -- we will find nothing inside ourselves that we have not already put there.”

A solid character foundation includes honesty, loyalty, respect and unselfishness. Let’s take them one at a time.

Honesty. Telling the truth at all times builds character. Your word must be your bond. Complete honesty in little things is not a little thing at all. Honesty, ethics, integrity, values, morals -- all mean the same thing. In my estimation, you can interchange them, because they all convey the single attribute that determines whether a person or an organization can be trusted. If truth ever stands in your way, you are headed in the wrong direction.

Loyalty is royalty. The first quality I look for in employees or friends is loyalty. I would rather have a terrific employee work for us for a few years and be true to our company values than someone who still shows up every day, punches the clock and hangs around just to collect a paycheck.

Respect. You must respect other people and their property. You don’t have to fear your competition, but respect their abilities. Showing respect is not a sign of weakness -- it’s a show of strength. As baseball great Jackie Robinson said, “I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me ... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”

Unselfishness. The reason I love team sports is that players learn the power of teamwork and how to be unselfish, regardless of their individual abilities. Basketball superstar Michael Jordan's accomplishments on the court give him bragging rights beyond compare. Yet he wrote in his book, “I Can’t Accept Not Trying”: “There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win championships. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve.”

Character is revealed when pressure is applied. You’ve probably heard the saying that sports do not build character -- they reveal it. How a person plays the game shows something of their character; how they lose shows all of it. The same is true for business.

Hall of Fame college football coach Lou Holtz describes character this way: “The answers to three questions will determine your success or failure:

1. Can people trust me to do my best?

2. Am I committed to the task at hand?

3. Do I care about other people and show it?

“If the answers to these questions are yes, there is no way you can fail,” Holtz said.

Helen Keller was born perfectly healthy, but was left completely blind and deaf when she suffered an illness as a toddler. For five years she was isolated from the world until a special teacher named Anne Sullivan helped her fight back against her challenges.

Helen Keller said: “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.”

Mackay’s Moral: Character is what you are when no one is watching.