“Network, network, network” is a common refrain in any discussion of career development. It is right up there with the conventional wisdom of “eat less and exercise more” for weight loss or “spend less than you earn” in the realm of personal finance. All these recommendations are sound, and asserting them is fine and very common. What it takes to successfully act on advice like “network, network, network,” is far less discussed.
I recently passed the 500+ connections milestone on LinkedIn, which felt like something of a networking achievement. Of course, the number is only a proxy. The quality and value of my relationships with my connections vary widely, but the connection count is a handy way a gauge network building progress. Hitting 500 caused me reflect on how I got there and how long it took. As it turns out, the answers are “slowly” and “a long time,” which I discovered by digging up the chronological history of my LinkedIn connections and plotting my network growth (above).
Now, with a zero to five hundred connections time of just under ten years, I doubt I qualify for any speed records. However, I think my experience is a useful real world example that can help calibrate expectations of how long network building takes. Here are a few lessons I glean from my network growth plot:
- Habitual Networking Pays Off: Getting briefly jazzed about networking and then letting it go a few months later when there is no immediate pay off (essentially what I did repeatedly from 2007 until around 2014) is about as effective as going on a series of fad diets. Network building is like maintaining a healthy weight: you must work at it consistently if you want to see results.
- Initiative is Key: Part of developing the networking habit is becoming deliberate about it and shedding any self-consciousness you have about the process. Like so many of us, I was once guilty of having twenty-minute conversations with people at conferences on topics of mutual professional interest and then walking away without remembering their names. I started forcing myself to remember names, get contact information, follow up, and ask for connections around the middle of 2014. The result was a steep increase in the growth of my network, both on and off line. No one will take the initiative for you, especially when you are just starting.
- It Gets Easier: Networking is no exception to the rule that things get easier with practice. It is no secret that folks with a knack for the sciences skew towards introversion. So, talking to strangers and building new relationships (which is mostly what networking entails) is often outside our natural comfort zones. However, networking is a learned behavior and there is nothing to stop anyone from getting good at it. The even better news is that beyond a certain tipping point in size, the growth of your network can become largely self-sustaining. In other words, when you know a lot of people, people want to know you. I have probably received more inbound connection requests on LinkedIn after 2015 than in the previous eight years combined.
Thinking about all this reminds me of an inspirational guy I knew in college (long before there was such a thing as LinkedIn). Considering his appearance and mannerisms, you might have judged him as about as socially awkward as they come, but he had developed an excellent habit. Without self-consciousness, introductions, or preamble he would walk up to every stranger he met, introduce himself, and ask their name. It was not a fancy technique, but it was very effective. In a year or two, he seemed to know everyone on campus while my circle was still rather modest. In retrospect, I should have followed his example much sooner.
Another great post!