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MODULE FOUR : TOPIC 1
CREATING A NETWORK STRATEGY
Transcript
The
World as People
TRANSCRIPT
MODULE FOUR : TOPIC 1 [Link] CREATING A NETWORK STRATEGY
[Link]
The World as People
For most of us, landing an opportunity -- personal or professional -- is some
combination of process, luck and skill.
In other words, we need to be capable enough to rise to the occasion, we
need to have some degree of good fortune along the way, and we need to
trust that the process around that opportunity -- whether it’s a Harvard
Business School application or the audition line at American Idol -- is
designed to work in our favor.
These things matter, absolutely, but they are only half the equation. It’s true
that nothing extraordinary happens without hard work. It’s also true that a
traditional process is useful, and can certainly deliver good results. And we all
know that luck plays a big role in our outcomes.
But what most people discount when they chase their goals and opportuni-
ties is how big a role relationships play in our outcomes. By this point in the
course, you’ve come to understand that a network is important for success.
What we’re going to do now is see how a network is success, once you:
Start seeing the world as people
In other words, once you start to see that every event, every opportunity,
every institution, every moment, is actually driven by humans, which means
it’s actually driven by relationships.
And as we know, relationships are driven by social capital.
That means that everything that happens to you depends on social capital --
how much social capital you have, how much other people have, and how
you share it.
We call that “seeing the Matrix.” Those who take their networking seriously
see the Matrix, while those who don’t network strategically they don’t see the
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Matrix, and leave their success to chance. You can think of this entire course
as an exercise in seeing the Matrix.
Let’s look at an example.
Say you’re looking for a job in sales at a publishing company in New York.
You jump on the HarperCollins website and see a job opening. Perfect!
There’s a way in. And the way in is basically this: write a cover letter, apply
for the position online, and wait to hear back. If you get called in for an
interview, you’ll meet with the team, then hope for the best. Most candidates
for the job will follow that process and accept whatever happens as a result.
But if we break it down, what’s really going on behind the scenes of this job
posting?
Somewhere at HarperCollins, a hiring manager in the sales division -- let’s
call her Lauren -- has decided she needs another associate. She’s created a
job opening with her colleagues in HR, and now she’s getting notifications
when someone submits an application. And Lauren is getting tons of these
applications, because this is a desirable job.
If Lauren likes your application, she’ll call you in for an interview. In the
interview, you’ll probably meet with another two or three people in the sales
division. There might even be multiple rounds of interviews with different
people in the company. Meanwhile, the team will be interviewing several
other candidates to see which one they like best.
If all goes well in the interview, they’ll make you an offer. HR will then have
to agree on hiring you, and start negotiating your salary -- which is done by
another two or three people in the HR department.
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And when you begin the job, you’ll immediately be working with a bunch of
new people -- your colleagues, your bosses, the heads of other divisions,
authors, partners and customers.
From beginning to end, it’s people, people, people. What seems like a formal
process is actually just a loose collection of humans trying to find the best
person for the job.
You can choose to play the game as it’s presented to you -- as a job opening
on a website -- or you can choose to play the real game, which is the people
behind that job opening -- in other words, to see the Matrix.
So let’s look at those two ways of playing the game.
Starting with the conventional, non-Matrix way of approaching
this job.
First, you submit an application through the website, and hope for the best.
When you get the interview with Lauren, you think about the questions she
might ask you, and what good responses would be.
As you go through a couple rounds of interviews, you hope she likes you and
makes you an offer.
After the second round, though, Lauren decides not to invite you back. You
don’t really know why, since nothing terrible happened in the interview, but
you accept the news and start looking for similar jobs at other publishing
houses. It has to work out somewhere, right?
I’d say most people approach their goals this way -- relying on the system,
trusting in the process, following the rules, and hoping for the best.
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And there’s nothing inherently wrong with the process. I mean, it’s there for
a reason. Sometimes it works. But it’s not the full story.
Because as you now know, behind that process is people: people you know,
or people you can get to know. People who can make the process work in
your favor, if you approach them the right way.
So it’s no surprise that 80% of positions are filled through personal networks.
People want to work within the relationships they know and trust. Which
means the chances of landing a job through a traditional process alone --
without any networking component -- are much lower than they seem.
So let’s imagine what this job hunt would look like if you
approached it through your relationships, as opposed to just
the process.
First, you notice an opening in sales at HarperCollins -- your dream job.
So you immediately check on Linkedin and Facebook to see if you know
anyone who works there. It turns out that Greg, an old high school friend,
now works in the finance department at Penguin, a rival publisher. You don’t
know anyone in sales at HarperCollins, but one of your former colleagues is
connected to a woman named Amy, who works in the sales department at
HarperCollins.
You reach out to Greg and tell him that you’re applying for a job at Harper
and would love some insight into the publishing industry. You book a call for
the next afternoon. At the same time, you ask your other friend if he’d be
willing to introduce you to Amy.
Greg gives you some great tips on the interview process and fills you in on
the challenges of the publishing industry. You then follow up with your
friend until you get an intro email to Amy. It takes a couple tries, but you two
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strike up a correspondence, and she gives you some great information on the
role, what the sales department is struggling with at the moment, and what
kind of person Lauren is. She sounds great to work with, so you’re even more
amped to apply.
Now you send in your application. And in your cover letter, you mention that
these two people have made you excited to work at HarperCollins. You land
an interview a few days later.
Armed with the information Greg and Amy gave you, you prep for the
questions that Lauren might ask you. Now that you have this inside view, you
can actually put together original, meaningful answers (instead of being
reactive to interview questions on the fly), and even come up with some
recommendations for the sales team on your own. You even find Lauren on
Twitter and find out that she’s a huge sci-fi nerd who loves fencing, so now
you know a little bit more about her as a person.
In the interview with Lauren, you casually mention Amy, and how her
perspective helped you appreciate what HarperCollins is trying to do right
now. You talk about fencing, about your mutual love for sci-fi. You share your
publishing knowledge and excitement -- two forms of your social capital -- in
the interview. You meet with two other people in the department, and focus
on really connecting with them, on sharing your authentic generosity. On
your way out, you stop by Amy’s desk and say hello, so she can put a face to a
name. You keep her updated on your interviews as you move through the
process.
Once you’re gone, Lauren asks Amy what she thinks of you. Amy tells her
you’ve been proactive, kind and enthusiastic. That makes Lauren call you
back for another round of interviews. You continue investing in all this social
capital until you get the answer.
… Which is ultimately yes! You got the job.
When you get your offer, you thank Greg and Amy for all their advice, and
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tell them how their insights helped with the interview. You suddenly remember
that you know a financial analyst who who would get along famously with
Greg, and you introduce them by email.
In the weeks before you join, you ask Lauren to introduce you to your new
colleagues. You reach out and book a quick call with them on their lunch
breaks. You get some more insight on what you guys will be working on, and
you tell them how excited you are to join the team. In a sense, you’re already
acting like you’re on the job.
So that when you finally begin, you’ve hit the ground running. The interviews
built nice relationships with your colleagues, you already know your teammates,
you got the offer you wanted, and in a few years -- when you’re a solid sales
associate -- Greg might help bring you over to Penguin, or you’ll help Greg
land an interview in finance at HarperCollins. Who knows -- these relationships
could lead anywhere.
That’s what chasing a goal looks like when you see the Matrix --
when you interpret the world around you as a network of people.
Every cold, impersonal, anonymous process -- whether it’s a job opening, an
embassy appointment, a doctor’s visit or a grad school application -- can
always be turned into a set of relationships, if you’re willing to get creative
and do the work. That’s what the best networkers understand.
Now, you might be thinking: Isn’t that overkill? Won’t these people get annoyed
by how aggressive I’m being?
The short answer -- and I really want you to hear this -- is no.
You’re competing in a world that is driven by relationships. Remember the
Matrix -- it’s people, not process, that is determining your success. The more
passive or shy you are about using your relationships, the lower your chances
of getting what you want. If you’re not networking to get what you want,
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someone else is. The guy who’s getting to know Lauren and Amy will land
the job instead of you. If that guy doesn’t get it, Amy’s niece will. That’s how
the world works.
Your qualifications still matter, of course, but relationships tip the scale. In
many cases, they matter just as much or even more than your competence.
The regular interview process in most companies is designed not only to find
qualified people, but to screen them based on cultural fit -- in other words,
how good their relationship with the company and their future colleagues
will be.
By networking your way through an interview process, you’re automatically
demonstrating that cultural fit, and your job is already half done. At the entry
level that quality tends to be even more important, because most entry-level
positions are looking more for cultural fit than previous expertise. A company
can train you to be good at a job, but they can’t train you on how to fit in and
build amazing relationships. That’s up to you.
There’s a book called The World’s Banker that captures how powerful this kind
of networking can be. The book tells the insane story of how the banker
James Wolfensohn became president of the World Bank, one of the most
powerful and coveted jobs in the world.
After being passed over for the job once, which nearly destroyed him, he
worked his butt off to become a better candidate, then did one thing that
ultimately landed him the position: He called up every single influential person he
knew, and had them personally call the hiring committee to advocate on his behalf.
The World Bank was inundated with phone calls all saying the same thing:
James Wolfensohn is your man. You hear that a couple hundred times from
people you trust, and it gets really hard to disagree.
Now, Jim Wolfensohn is on a whole other level from you and me. It’s not like
we can call up Bill Clinton and Condoleeza Rice to land us jobs. But the
principle -- the principle is the same. What really stuck with me about that
story is how much courage and ambition Wolfensohn had to have to call in
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that favor from his friends. But then, here’s a guy who dedicated his whole
life to developing his social capital. When you share social capital the way he
does, it’s much easier ask for some in return.
Also keep in mind that part of authentic generosity is being kind, polite and
respectful. Being brash, overly aggressive or inappropriate as you network
will only backfire. The key is to be confident and kind, proactive and sensitive.
If you nail that balance, then it’s really hard to go wrong.
Whenever you’re in doubt about how aggressive to be in your networking,
put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Imagine what it’s like to be Lauren.
If you were her, would you want a candidate to get to know you, to do their
homework, to talk to your colleagues, to come prepared? Would you find
your proactivity annoying or impressive? Imposing or revealing? What
would your relationship-building say about the kind of candidate you are? If
you imagine yourself from another’s point of view, you’ll find that your
networking is usually on point.
Ultimately, seeing the world as people becomes easier and more comfortable
the more you do it. It really is a muscle. What seems like “too much” right
now will soon become standard operating procedure as you develop your
networking persona and skillset.
So as we move into the rest of this module, let’s create a framework
for thinking about your opportunities in a way that places
relationships at the center of your life.
First, map out the steps in the process you’re taking on. In our HarperCollins
example, the steps were: research, apply, interview, prepare, and join.
Second, identify the people who drive each of those steps. In our example,
they were: Greg, Lauren, and Amy, plus the other colleagues you meet along
the way. Sometimes these people will be obvious, like when the hiring manager
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is listed in the job description. Sometimes you’ll have to hunt these people
down, by talking to others in the field, doing some Google research, or
navigating the company directory.
Third, find out how you can reach those people. If you don’t already have
an ‘in’ -- which is very common -- then look to see which common
connections you do have. Don’t be shy about asking for an introduction. If
you don’t have any mutual friends, then cold-emailing is perfectly acceptable.
We’ll be covering that topic later in this course.
Fourth, build those relationships using the principles you’re learning in
this course. In our example, that was connecting with Greg, letting Amy
know how you were doing in the process, and introducing Greg to your
friend. This is an ongoing process, of course, but it can be accelerated when
there’s an immediate reason for you to connect with people -- like landing a
job, or being accepted into a program. Concrete reasons like these can help
relationships form pretty quickly.
Every process is different, and every opportunity has its own power structure,
network and politics. But when it comes to people, the same general principles
do apply. It’s hard to network “too much,” and it’s almost impossible to find
too many sources, too many ways “in,” to get what you want. The more you
build relationships along the way, the greater your chances of success. What’s
more, building those relationships will enhance your opportunities -- or open
up entirely new ones -- whereas playing by the rules of the process will usually
only result in a straight yes-or-no outcome.
So as we move into the rest of the course, keep the Matrix in
your mind.
Start to see the world around you as the humans and the relationships
behind it. Think about your current job, your dream job, all your goals as a
collection of people. Once you see the Matrix, is very hard to un-see it. Your
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job is to capitalize on it, by using the principles in this course to build those
relationships.
But how do you meet those people in the first place?
We’ll turn to that question in the next lesson.
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