Making the Connection
Who are the most powerful people in your network of colleagues, peers, friends, family and acquaintances? Are you thinking of high level executives in prestigious companies, elected officials, prominent philanthropists, notable artists?
While these individuals are indeed powerful, they may not be the most powerful in your network. To identify your power players, other factors need to be considered.
Brian Uzzi, a professor at Kellogg School of Management and Shannon Dunlap, formerly of Kellogg’s Center for Executive Women (currently teaching at NYU) explored the power of networks in a Harvard Business Review article How to Build Your Network (December 2005). They identified three major advantages of networks. These factors are useful in identifying the most powerful people within your personal and professional network.
- Private information
- Access to diverse skills
- Power
Your power players are:
- Trusted personal contacts who share information that cannot be found in the public domain.
- Diverse contacts who offer a creative, well-formed, unbiased understanding of a broad array of issues outside of your frame of reference.
- Power brokers within organizations with reliable and useful ties. These individuals are more likely specialists with deep connections rather than top executives.
At the recent Ladies Who Launch LIVE event in DC, I was fortunate enough to interview Mei Xu, President and Owner of Pacific Trade International - which includes Chesapeake Bay Candle™ and BlissLiving™ Home brands.
Mei Xu shared a story about her first foray into candle making. At first, Mei was selling what she called Magic Glow Candles purchased from vendor partners. Mei knew she wanted to manufacture her own fragrant candles and needed more information. One of her customers told her about candle expert, Peter French of French Colors & Fragrance Company, Inc. Peter invited Mei to his offices in New Jersey and showed her how to make candles. He provided information about a diverse range of skills and connected Mei to resources. To this day, Mei and Peter remain friends and business partners and Chesapeake Bay Candle now offers more than 2000 varieties of candles and accessories and boasts an average 40% annual growth rate over the past 10 years.
Mei and Frank are a perfect example of true networking. While you might think attending industry events, handing out business cards, scheduling appointments or making contact with high level executives is extending your network, Uzzi and Dunlap suggest truly powerful networks are cultivated among individuals participating in a variety of shared activities in which they are passionate, invested and collaborative.
The importance of social and professional networks have grown exponentially, as have the means to create them. To make your network powerful, take the time to understand your network and your place within it. Who knows, your super-connector could be on your softball team, in your office, at a charitable event, at your favorite coffee shop or even one of your vendors!
Network Mapping
If you are interested in understanding your own network, try Uzzi and Dunlap’s networ mapping exercise. Simply make a chart identifying your key contacts and fill in the chart with the following information:
- Key contacts
- Who introduced you to the contact
- Who you then introduced the contact
Now, take some time to explore the patterns that emerge. Do you recognize your super-connectors? Who shares private information? Who brings a diverse range of creative insight to your decision making? How often were you introduce to contacts vs. introducing yourself? Does your network reflect a diverse community? How similar to you are your contacts?
Now ask yourself, “Am I making the connection?”
