Marissa King, a Yale School of Management professor and author of *Social Chemistry*, shares her insights on improving personal networks. She describes three types of networkers: expansionists, brokers, and conveners, each with unique strengths. Marissa emphasizes deepening existing relationships over mere expansion, highlighting the power of genuine connections. She discusses the benefits of seeking help and reconnecting with dormant ties to facilitate personal growth. Finally, she touches on empathetic leadership and the significance of weak connections in professional development.
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insights INSIGHT
Network Investment Strategy
Understanding your network's strengths and weaknesses informs smart relationship investments.
Focus on strengthening current relationships, not just meeting more people.
insights INSIGHT
Network Types
Brokers connect disparate groups, fostering innovation and work-life balance, but can face suspicion.
Conveners build deep, trusting networks beneficial for mental health, but risk groupthink.
insights INSIGHT
Expansionist Networks
Expansionists have large networks, influencing many, but experience more loneliness.
They prioritize knowing many over deep connections, unlike conveners.
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In 'Social Chemistry,' Marissa King examines the complex ways humans network with each other. The book introduces three distinct styles of networking: Expansionists, who grow their networks by increasing individual ties; Brokers, who connect distinct networks; and Conveners, who strengthen ties among others within the same network. King blends large-scale research with personal anecdotes and stories from well-known figures to illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of each style. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding one's own networking style to build more meaningful and productive relationships, and it provides practical advice on how to do so effectively.
Marissa King: Social Chemistry
Marissa King is professor of Organizational Behavior at the Yale School of Management, where she developed and teaches a popular course entitled Managing Strategic Networks. Over the past fifteen years, she has studied how people's social networks evolve, what they look like, and why that's significant.
Her most recent line of research analyzes the individual and group-level behaviors that are necessary for large-scale organizational change. She is the author of Social Chemistry: Decoding the Patterns of Human Connection*.
In this conversation, Marissa and I explore the three major categories of personal networks — along with the strengths and challenges of each one. We make the invitation to strengthen your existing network instead of trying to further expand it. Plus, Marissa highlights several practical tips to more fully leverage the power of your own network.
Key Points
There are three types of networks:
Expansionists have extraordinarily large networks and tend to be well known. They tend to be inspiring in both social and professional settings.
Brokers generate value by bringing together from different social spaces. Their networks have large information benefits and are innovative. They are adaptive and have better work-life balance.
Conveners build dense networks where all theirs friends are also friends. They enjoy deep trust and reputation benefits. Conveners tend to be great listeners.
Maintaining great relationships with your existing network is often more productive than attempting to grow entirely new relationships.
Those with very close relationships have been able to weather the storm of the pandemic with little impact on loneliness.
We tend to underestimate both the strength of our networks and the willingness of others to help us.
A starting point to improve the strength of your exiting network is either to be generous to someone by helping them in some way or to ask for support with something that might be helpful to us.
Resources Mentioned
Social Chemistry: Decoding the Patterns of Human Connection* by Marissa King
Assess Your Network
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