Heidi on Networking

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56C8l4klXUg

What does Heidi Achieve through her Network?

• Roizen– Positions of responsibility – Builds social capital– Gets job offers (Tandem, Apple, mentor capitalist, Softbank) money– Friendship/entertainment

• Individual others– Connections for jobs– Parties to make new connections– Friendship/advice

• Organization/Industry– PR for T/Maker– Firms she mentors get status and connections– Industry overall gets more centralized/smaller world

Changes in network as career shifts

• Individual actor making connections (Tandem, Stanford, T/Maker)

• To high status player leveraging connections (Apple)

• To broker bridging connections (mentor capitalist)

• To a nucleus interacting with other nucleii. (Softbank)

Heidi and You• Describe Heidi’s personality• Are you similar/different from her in terms of personality? • Do you like Heidi? Would you be her friend?

• Now describe Heidi in terms of her approach to cultivating friends and contacts? Are you similar or different?

• What tactics does Heidi use to build and leverage contacts? What tactics do you use to build and leverage contacts?

How does Roizen maintain and develop her network?

• Style– Outspoken and honest– Both “warm” and “hard”– Team oriented– Likes mentoring– Smart and pleasant– Fun– doesn’t make networking seem calculative

• Uniqueness– One of few women in Silicon valley– Successfully mixes personal and professional ties

• Principles– Maximizes value of conversations– Invests time in “interesting” people – Keeps confidences– Practices consistency and performance/builds predictability and trust– Practices and expects reciprocity– Shows respect and empathy towards others– Only connects people when there is room for both to benefit

• Activities– Attends conferences/meetings– Joined industry groups– Undivided attention in conversations– Emails after initial meeting– Open door policy– Dinner parties

Heidi Roizen• Principles for network development and

maintenance:– Performance– Consistency– Reciprocity

Ways to describe network characteristics:- Range/Breadth (access to info./resources)

- Strength/Depth (strong vs. weak ties) - Closure (redundancy)

Diagnosing Networks• Network diversity

- Here value is added through the different kinds of sectors you are able to reach. Ask yourself: which groups/sectors/cliques/types of people am I overemphasizing in my network? Which ones do I need more of?

• Network Depth– One can distinguish between strong and weak ties. Strong ties are typically with people

we especially trust, people who we rely upon for professional/career support. Weak ties on the other hand are often with people with don’t know well/may be different from us. We often ignore the importance of weak ties when in fact they are often the source of new/novel unanticipated information and change. Ask yourself: do you have lots of strong ties but few weak ones? Should you be building more strong ties? Weak ties?

• Network Density– Density is a measure of overall network connectivity. Research suggests that sparse

networks can be valuable because they provide opportunities for brokerage (one can gain from connecting otherwise unconnected others); but dense networks tend to provide support and clarity of identity. Is your network excessively sparse/dense?

Tactics for Network Development

• Identify groups/people who:– Can help you learn new skills– Be doorways to new opportunities– Can provide career advice/support

• Identify gaps and redundancies– Avoid over and under-representation (too may or too few of a

kind of person).– Missing key people or groups– Overreliance on one or more individuals– Ties that need strengthening/weakening.– The need to create/fill structural holes (i.e., should you connect

two that are unconnected or keep them disconnected?)

How to Maintain Networks Like Heidi

• Use your strong ties to help you break into new circles

• Create links across sectors of your networks • Help people you are tied to develop the ties

they need.• Take advantage of who you are and what you

offer.

Resources • Leadership: Online Resource:

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/leadership_theories.htm• Tracy Kidder’s “Soul of a new machine.”

• Social Networks:• Download and install UCINET (version 6.29) from:

http://www.analytictech.com/downloaduc6.htm• Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”• Alber-Laszlo Barabasi’s “Linked: How everything is connected to everything else and what it

means”• Cross, R. & Parker, A. “The hidden power of social networks: Understanding how work really

gets done in organizations.”

• More specialized books on social networks: http://www.insna.org/INSNA/books_inf.html• Link to INSNA: http://www.sfu.ca/~insna/• Social Networks Analysis for Newbies