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I'd add that it really matters who know about your work. If a lot of people know you do good work, but they all have very similar skills sets, you get a lot les
by biren34 6y ago
I'd add that it really matters who know about your work. If a lot of people know you do good work, but they all have very similar skills sets, you get a lot less value than if only a few people with very different skill sets know about you. In that case, you get to become "their guy for X", and that generates a lot of opportunities.
In this case, you also get the benefit that both of you can get credit for the same work. Everyone will know them as "the guy who knows people who get things done" (i.e., good manager/leader) and you'll get credit as a great individual contributer. There's no competition for credit here.
It gets even better if the few people who know you as "their guy for X" are social supernodes--while we're all only 6 degrees of separation from each other, it's actually because a small percentage of us know tons of people, while the average is much less. If you become the "guy for X" for one of these supernodes, you're basically the "guy for X" for anyone who would ask them "hey, do you know a guy for X?"
In my career, I've had two of those types of people know me and my work--and between the two of them, they have generated almost every opportunity I've had in the past 10 years.
I could spend 50% of my time networking, and I doubt it would generate as much value as adding just one more social supernode that knows my work.
- zild3d 6y agoSee small world networks, these supernodes are also called "hubs" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small-world_network#Network_robustness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small-world_network#Network_ro... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hub_(network_science) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hub_(network_science)
- waheoo 6y agoInteresting, any tips on what to look out for identifying these people in the wild when you might not be able to work with them personally in the beginning?
- biren34 6y agoOf the two I know, one is a general manager / executive type that surfs and used to be in a frat. The other is a sales guy / stoner type, who always seems to have been to every new bar and restaurant and already know the owners by the time I've heard of the place. These descriptions are just the two I know--but you get the idea. They genuinely value people, so it's not a chore for them to know people, and they never really "network". They just like people. There's actually quite a lot of people with these kinds of traits. The trick, which is harder, is finding ones you respect and get along with, so you (the relative introvert) will keep up your end of the relationship. A lot times, I see skilled specialists look down on the more generalists/people-oriented people as being some form of incompetent. Compared to the specialist in their field, they always are. The thing that makes these 2 special to me is that they're humble about their limitations in a way that makes really respect them. They're definitely not blowhards.
- waheoo 6y agoThanks I think I know what you mean.