Section 1:

Initiation of a network:

Early on in your career, in most organizations, one is tasked with functional and
analytical aspects of projects. This is an opportunity for one to build a strong
foundation and arsenal of skills which theyll call upon as and when they grow to a
more senior role. However, as one gains seniority in an organization, increasingly
the tasks which theyre responsible for, need relational skills, while still calling upon
the analytical skillset theyve acquired over the years. However, according to Joe,
one doesnt need to, or rather shouldnt, focus exclusively on building the analytical
skills and punt the relationship building aspect to a later stage in their career.
In terms of Warmth-Competency matrix we discussed in class, most executives we
met with agree that one has little to offer in the beginning stages of their career and
displaying Warmth goes a long way. Seeking feedback, appreciating anothers effort,
asking for advice on how to improve oneself are good ways of eliciting this feedback
from ones peers and seniors. This establishes a perception of one being capable of
functioning as part of a team and not one who drives people away. This gives the
individual time to better themselves in the competency domain. Johnson Streller, an
investment banker said (paraphrased) no ones done this in school and no matter
how aligned your skills and courses are, youll be learning everything on the job and
everyday will be a new challenge. There are two dimensions, Aptitude and Attitude,
and both are critical to succeed. Coming from a good school gives you a little time
on developing Aptitude to certain skills which youre not good at now, but Attitude is
important. Were in a relationship business and having a good attitude is arguable
the most important ingredient to survive and thrive in the industry.
Having previously been a banker with Lehmann Brothers, Johnson Streller got to
work with a team of Greenhill bankers on a transaction before Lehmann went under.
Having established a relationship and more importantly trust with the counterparts,
while displaying Warmth and Competency, helped him get an inbound interest from
Greenhill when Lehmann folded and he now heads up (as one of the Co-Heads) the
Global Industrials Practice as a Managing Director.
Another example showcases similar concepts, although in a different setting. Mary
Ann Travelers recollects that 20-25 years ago, she was in a board room full of
middle aged men, all at least 15 years older to her. Upon walking into the room,
several men asked her for coffee. She served them coffee, walked to front of the
room and gave her presentation. Once over, one of the men came up to her to ask
how she liked her coffee. Her key point was that one may end up working with
another person with a completely different personality, so while its important to be
self aware and being genuine to yourself, its also important at times to temper your
own personality and play to your strengths to display competence in another
manner.
At the initial stage of a network, (and through other stages, as well discuss in later
sections) its important to become self-aware of ones strengths and weaknesses. In
addition, its important to find where one wants to be in the future. These help align
which skills to build, which to strengthen, which to obtain afresh and which to
develop within your network. According to Abhinav Shukla at TrueValue, Your
network is really both social and professional. You derive value and add value to
people at and outside work and therefore, its not advisable to not consider any one
sect as part of the network. According to Mary Ann Travelers at Crowe Horwath
(paraphrased) your network includes parents of the kids you babysat while in high
school, as well as the new CEO who took the helm at one of your potential clients.
Showing willingness to be humble, open to feedback and open to taking on a new
challenge is a good way to meet new people and start developing your network at a
young age. This helps with identification of strengths and weaknesses as well. Joe
started as an accountant before going to Kellogg for his MBA, however during this
time, he took on role in projects with the Treasury department, which had little to do
with his objectives for the year, but only to be able to meet with people outside his
department and add diversity to his network. He soon realized, that Treasury was
where hed like to be and that started the process of how to align prior experiences,
MBA program and a new role after the MBA. Many executives spoke about the
concept of finding holes in your network which youd like to plug with people who
bring skills you do not possess now and may not be able to in the near future. Helen
Calvin speaks of an example If all my network is of people who sell SaaS services
to B2B clients, and Im looking to hire sales people, Ill never get them through my
network as theyre likely all with my competitors or same industry. Concept of
sample bias tells me that if companies take good care of good salespeople, whoever
applied for the role on job board must not be a star, and as a result Im negatively
impacted for not having diversity in my network. As a strategy to help with this, all
executives we spoke with, mentioned a strategy they regularly used, which was
establishing network outside of their own area of competence.
Joe recalls reading an article which describes three forms of networking,
Operational, Personal and Strategic. Operational networking helps to build depth
into your network, these are people one is regularly working with and helps build
strong working relationships with them. Personal relationships help provide diversity
to ones network and focuses on building breadth to the network, providing ability to
get referral to another person or information. The final form of networking is
Strategic, where one focuses on the future priorities and where does one aspire to
be. Strategic networking is where youre looking to get a sponsor, stakeholder, a
mentor, etc to help you achieve that goal.
This diversity and approach has helped these executives on many occasions
through what they refer to as friction. Helen Calvin said Look for Friction when
looking to expand your network. Finding someone who is easy to communicate
with, and someone with a different perspective, is more likely to help you make a
better decision.
Doing well on these Warmth and Competency domains, through projects,
assignments and any interactions helps establish Trust. This trust is key to any
relationship, since any new relationship and favor can often give impression of
strings attached says Joe and what one wants to do is remove the strings from
consideration. This is similar to the concept covered in class of For-That versus If-
Then.
To summarize, the senior executives we met with all touched on fairly consistent
nodes, aspects of building trust, reciprocity, being self-aware, aware of ones
purpose and being genuine were regularly expressed by the executives as key to
building any new contact within their network.
Another set of commonalities surfaced when speaking about where the executives
looked when looking to meet others. Depending on their Purpose, they seek to
either find contacts internally within their organization if theyre looking to add
depth in their own area of expertize within their network; find people at trade
shows, trade associations, local non-profit boards or business conferences in areas
outside of theirs, if theyre looking to add breadth to their current network and learn
about other industries.
In the next section, we explore how executives grow their networks in more detail.