Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The networking economy

The week has mostly been occupied with more bad news on the economy and some more on the political maturity of this country. More on this in another post. Recent events have inspired me to take a stab at what works with networking and what does not work. I decided to take a few steps back and wonder why some networks succeed and others flounder somewhere in sub-space. After a few late night conversations and many beers later, here's something to chew on.

Types of networks

This one I didn't think of at first. SJ made me think this one through. Based on how you enter a network of people, networks themselves can be broadly classified as,
  1. Situational, you work together, the same Taekwondo class, shop on the same Wal-Mart aisle.

  2. Societal, we need to socialize, at least those of us not living in Flagstaff, Arizona

  3. Opportunistic, need to be associated with a successful person

  4. Accidental, You don't care, like that business card you gave away

Situational

This is the easiest of networking opportunities, but the hardest to create. Its what happens, at the workplace, the gym and at that friends party. These prove to be the most valuable of networks professionally, because the situation defines a commonality and therefore compatibility. As an example, let us think about why we have great friends in school. It may be because,

  1. Economic/Intellectual parity, We can afford to attend the same school or we are equally smart or a combination.
  2. Cultural parity, We come from the same cultural.
  3. Temporal trap, We spend more time together (school ensures you are spending time together) and may be sharing goals.
  4. Sociological desire, Our innate desire to want to fit in. Everyone loves to be loved.
Situational networks operate similarly. So next time you are at that party, the gym or staring at an opportunity, ask yourself this
  1. What commonalities do I share with this person? (Note : This is pretty hard and you have to think out of the box here)

  2. What cultural parity do I have? (Same country, region, are you both immigrants etc.)

  3. Do we have an opportunity to spend time?

If the answer is yes to these, then you may have a high chance of a successful network. Two gotcha's come to mind right now.

One, There is always someone who is trying to network specifically with people who do not have any commonalities or cultural parities with her. Such persons are the outliers. Which means, their networks are either amazingly great or amazingly bad. You'll find out soon enough.

Two, What do you do if you answered "No" to most of these questions, but still want to network. You probably still could do that, by manufacturing these requirements to scale your entry barrier. But the going may become increasingly tough as you spend more time in the network.


Societal

Humans demand social gratification by definition. We all want to fit in and be popular. So throwing a party for the neighborhood, starting a garage sale, throwing a Christmas party for your relatives and friends are elements of this need.

Societal networks contain people of similar ethnicity, ideology, locale, or economic strata and importantly are a function of your belonging-ness. For e.g. you need to be a citizen of a particular country, or have lived in a neighborhood for a number of years or have worked in the same company for many many years.

Societal networks are tightly bound.

Let take an example, Immigrants to a new country will find themselves often in Situational as well as Societal networks. Societal networks, by definition, are more likely to be in a position to help you with your daily challenges as you adjust to a new country, neighborhood, climate and workplace.

A friend of mine tells me, how he always wondered where his other friends got the lovely furniture. They didn't seem like they could afford it. After a few months of Societal networking he realized that much of the furniture was Free! and very often in mint condition or requiring little work.

Situational networks on the other hand consist of, your friends at work, at the gym or a coffee shop you frequent. These networks offer memberships in a shorter time period as opposed to Societal networks. You wont be in their Societal network, by just sharing a similar situation you need a stronger commonality.

Opportunistic

Mark, that surgeon who lives down the block. I heard if he recommends you, you can get into John Hopkins for your internship. Gary who lives down the street, his wife's best friend is Mark's assistant. How do we meet Gary?

This is more opportunistic and direct, but several times, we befriend for long term benefits. Opportunistic networks require you to define Societal or Situational parity before you gain entry.

Accidental

I love these, its that sheer accident, didn't think about it type of networking, that just happened. You were playing cricket, the ball went across the fence, you went to fetch it and had a chat with the kid who lived there. Next thing you know, you guys are exchanging greetings.

This is purely accidental.

Networking Opportunity vs. Success

Networking can be viewed like an onion, with your societal network at the core, and the other networks as layers on top. With one network leading to another or they can be viewed as disparate objects. It's how you view it and your attitude that defines your interaction and your success. The success of your network largely depends on YOU. The element you put in is your effort.

In revisiting some earlier networks and examining why they may have worked, we can see that,

School networks are strongly preferential and choice based. They may possess higher diversity depending on the school. However these networks are rarely opportunistic.

Professional networks on the other hand tend to be highly opportunistic and commonalities may not be immediately apparent. Entry barriers could seem high, but forms of viral networking, where you network with A to reach B and ultimately C through B can penetrate these seemingly closed societies.


10 Steps to the Network (or 20, or 30...)

  1. Be open, honest and truthful in the why of your interaction.

  2. Be ready to lose the network.

  3. Network, Network, Network, you'll get burnt beaten, stabbed or worse, but the old adage is still true, no pain, no gain.

  4. Approach because you want to, not because you need to. This of course means that you'll have to spend time on this. But I didn't say it was going to be easy.

  5. Do something for someone without having to find a reason (yeah, I know, Pay it forward, its cool!)

  6. Ask yourself this, "What do I want here?"

  7. Accept diversity (this one is harder than you think it is). Have an appreciation of the other persons perspective. You needn't accept it, but knowing it is important.

  8. Don't aim to please. Your insincerity has more visibility than the 10 second Ad at Superbowl halftime.

  9. Be fun, people want to have a good time, if you are the brooding dark type, that doesn't make you fun, conversely this doesn't mean that you have to be a party animal. Find your fun self. Go do something crazy. The returns on this investment in yourself are very high for you. The rest plays itself in

  10. Be ready to try something new. You'll make new friends and gain a perspective.

All the best with your network! and spare a comment or two for this post.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

very well said "network, network, network", your network define a lot of what your worth ;-)

kuds: great to see you writing in after almost 1 year's gap. keep it up