CHAPTER 2

Strategic Business Networking^©

Strategic Business Networking recognizes there are different strokes for different folks. It won’t seek to impose a rigid system on the individual. Rather, it provides a framework or scaffold upon which the individual’s personal and authentic way of doing things can hang.

Strategic Business Networking—let’s break that down.

The Strategic element acknowledges there needs to be a plan, coupled with some forethought around what we want to achieve (“start with the end in mind,” another of Professor Covey’s 7 Habits).

Business means that we are operating in a commercial context. And if we think that finding a job or advancing our career isn’t necessarily “business,” then we perhaps need to think again.

Organizations of any kind need people to perform. This is easy to understand if we work for Microsoft, a business operating in a sector which is “privately” owned and profit motivated.

But it is also true of the public sector (local, regional, or national government) where ratepayers and voters need elected officials or unelected employees to come up with creative solutions, often against a backdrop of ever-reducing central budgets.

And so also of the often unfairly characterized “third sector,” the haunt of “unreconstructed class war heroes, sandal wearing entrepreneurs, communitarian do-gooders with myopic spheres of interest, bicycles and brown rice.” Here, to do more with less (doing more good with a smaller pot of funding) also requires a businesslike approach.

Never mix business and pleasure the adage goes, but certainly, the two are not exclusive; the growth of corporate hospitality is a testament to this. But “business” does draw a distinction between a professional conversation around career, work, or commercial development that may have a specific aim and, conversely, an informal social chat with friends at the bar.

And Strategic Business Networking has another twist. It emphasizes the importance of follow up. Google the word “networking” and it will return hundreds of thousands (millions?) of hits that talk about behavior at networking events. What to say, what to do, where to go.

But networking doesn’t end when the venue catering staff clear the plates and glasses. In fact, all experienced networkers realize this is only the beginning of good networking practice.

What happens after the event is just as important as our behavior during the event, if not more so.

Strategic Business Networking is also built around the three “Ups”:

If applied in the right way, these three things will enhance a very valuable resource that each of us have and own. It’s called Social Capital.

According to Hanifan, 1916, the textbook definition of this phrase would go something like

But there’s a simpler alternative:

Social Capital is what people say about us when we are not in the room.

Start as we mean to go on (The Self-less Play)

All this talk of strategy, commerce, and competition may have us thinking about self-interest and how to get ahead of others.

But self-projection through networking and career management doesn’t mean we must become selfish in our actions.

There’s a better, self-less, method …

A Story …

A first-time author was advised to promote her work in the usual way: through a formal book launch.

But she had other idseas.

Rather than follow the trend, she decided just to invite friends, family, colleagues, and supporters to a party. She didn’t want the book to be the focus: instead, she wanted to celebrate them and the warmth of their mutual friendship.

At a normal book launch, people are encouraged to gather around the author while she/he signs the books, sometimes adding a personalized message. The buyer then pays and moves on, satisfied with their purchase.

The author flipped this model. She arranged for a single copy of the book to be circulated amongst the group and invited those attending to sign it and, if they wanted, to add a comment.

This copy has pride of place in the author’s home.

(I am indebted to Adrian Swinscoe, mentor, CX expert and author of Rare Business, How to Wow and Punk CX for this vignette).

Are we networking just for ourselves or for other people also? Do we want to be the networker who sets up an opportunity solely for personal commercial gain or simple self-promotion?

Or:

Do we want to take a wider view and be the person who celebrates success in the company of others, receives gratitude from others gracefully, and expresses gratitude to those who contributed?

The person who gives and asks for nothing in return …

You can’t have your cake and eat it, the old saying goes. Many people take the view that professional life is about having a bigger slice of the cake—often at the expense of others sat at the same table. Economists refer to this as a zero-sum game: We win, they lose.

This book promotes a different approach: make the cake bigger and share the bounty.

This way, everyone stands a chance of benefitting from the goodwill that Strategic Business Networking can deliver.

Optimal Distinctiveness … or Weak Ties?

Optimal Distinctiveness

As humans, we are motivated to form groups and alliances. The strength of our affiliation with other individuals is dependent in part upon the interests we share.

But also important is the nature of the common interest. The rarer a group value, skill or, experience, the more likely it is to facilitate a bond.

Consider the example of two people who meet and learn they share a passion for mountain climbing. How much stronger the bond when they subsequently discover they have each conquered Mount Everest. And stronger still if both completed the more difficult North Ridge route.

And yet stronger, when they can both claim they attained this high-altitude feat without the aid of oxygen masks.

This somewhat extreme case of “optimal distinctiveness” is what Adam Grant, psychologist and Wharton Business School professor, refers to as “uncommon commonality”—people are said to be happier in groups where this is available.

During a conversation, our networking strategy could include searching for common ground and seeing how this might then develop into optimal distinctiveness.

Weak Ties

But before we jump in to explore shared experiences with our conversational partners, optimal distinctiveness is based upon a principle of equilibrium. This says we want to fit in, but we might also want to stand out. We want to be alike, but different.

Over 40 years ago, a young researcher called Mark Granovetter proposed the concept of “weak ties.” Now a professor at Stanford, Granovetter’s ideas question the virtue of strong ties, such as those that might form through exclusive networks.

In our example, anyone who has not climbed Mount Everest via the North Ridge and without oxygen would find it difficult to break into this somewhat specialist conversation!

Granovetter makes the claim that a more effective, perhaps more agile, networking strategy is through the employment of weak ties within, across, and beyond these strong and exclusive associations.

The paradox he identifies is that weak ties promote the integration of individuals. They avoid the alienation that some strong-tie associations create.

A more enlightened networking strategy is to have a mix of both strong tie and weak tie networks. In other words, those who we can call upon and instantly share a bond. And those who are more distant by relationship and interests, but nonetheless feel part of our network.

Weak ties also provide valuable outward-looking scope. It’s often said that whatever the industry, whatever the situation, the basic challenges of business are similar.

This being the case, access to someone like us, facing similar problems, is valuable. Regardless of whether they are doing so in the context of another country, language, or culture. If we need to solve a problem by thinking outside the box, these types of connections can be very useful.

As Granovetter says, weak ties are “indispensable to individuals’ opportunities.”

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