What You Can Learn from Your Network Part 2 of 2

Do men and women have different networks? It should come as no surprise that the composition of men’s and women’s networks do in fact differ greatly from one another.

In the Entrepreneurship & Regional Development Journal article “Women on the Verge of a Breakthrough,”(Aldrich, Reese and Dubini1989), the authors found that across nations there was a distinct difference between men’s and women’s networks as the personal networks of women included few men. Men’s networks included more men than women and women’s networks included more women than men. The degree of difference in men’s and women’s networks was very similar both within and between countries. In other words, the difference in composition of networks is an international phenomenon.

High potential women, especially entrepreneurs who have been successful at integrating people from both of the opposite gender, have wider-ranging information networks than high potential men. Women with narrow and less diverse networks are limited in the information readily available and opportunities that may come to the surface. Thus, I would argue that it is imperative to the success and growth of business for entrepreneurs to cultivate multi-faceted networks.

When you seek to add other people to your personal and professional network, focus on adding successful individuals over unsuccessful individuals. One study found that CEOs of poorly performing firms relied on advice from friends and those friends were also poor performers thus they became “the company they kept.”

A few ways that you can increase the diversity of your network and target successful individuals (like yourself of course) are:

Become a thought leader in your field/industry: One way to start is writing a blog connected to your business or personal brand. Strengthening your own brand so others seek you out and want to add you to their network as much as you would like to add them to yours can be accomplished with tips provided by Real Business.com

Understand and appreciate how men network: In January 2012, Entrepreneur Press published, Business Networking and Sex (not what you think), by Ivan Misner, Ph.D, Hazel Walker and Frank De Raffele that examines the ways in which men and women network and how each gender can better understand and better network with the other. For example, they explain that women tend to focus on building relationships while men focus on the transaction.

Ask for more introductions: For each person you meet, ask them to refer you to 3 people in their network and follow up with each of them. Use a CRM software such as Salesforce.com or Highrise if this will help you follow up.

Chris Brogan, a thought leader on social media, offers a few of his own tips on how to improve your social network on his personal blog (also a good example of personal branding)

Please also consider adding me to your network via LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/catherineportner. If you have more to share on broadening your network or success you have had in doing so, please share in the comments section below.

References

Aldrich, H., Reese, P.R. and Dubini, P., 1989. Women on the verge of a breakthrough: networking among entrepreneurs in the United States and Italy, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 1(4):339-356.

Ibarra, H., 1997. Paving an Alternative Route: Gender Differences in Managerial Networks, Social Psychology Quarterly, 60(1): 91-102.

Ibarra, H., Kilduff, M., and Tsai, W., 2005. Zooming in and out: Connecting Individuals and Collectivities at the Frontiers of Organizational Network Research, Organization Science, 16(4): 359-371.

Miller, M., Smith-Lovin, L. and Cook, J.M., 2001. Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks, Annual Review of Sociology, 27: 415-444.

Ruef, H., Aldrich, H. E., and Carter, N.M., 2003. The Structure of Founding Teams: Homophily, Strong Ties, and Isolation among U.S Entrepreneurs, American Sociological Review, 68 (2): 195-222.