Hello, and welcome to The Deep Dive—a weekly close-up look at an idea, issue or trend that’s shaping Asia’s future. We’re happy to have you with us. Please send your comments, questions and favourite networking tactics to editor@generationt.asia.
Networking is not a new thing. But it is quite a new concept. People have always leveraged personal connections for professional gain, and gone out of their way to cultivate those connections for that specific purpose; but the notion of networking was properly conceptualised in the latter half of the 20th century, with all the accompanying architecture of experts and self-help books, and only really became a common term in the 1980s.
It emerged at first as a way of fighting back against exclusion, with marginalised groups forming networks as a means of mutual support when they were denied traditional routes to success. These days, with networking thoroughly embedded in the lexicon of business jargon, it’s understood more broadly as a way of leveraging your social capital professionally, for the benefit of your own career or of the company you work for; if you’re entrepreneurial, they’re likely to be pretty much the same thing. Meeting lots of people and cultivating contacts with the relevant ones can bring business opportunities, clearly, but it can also provide also information, advice and mentorship.
Actually doing it well, of course, is another matter entirely. It’s more art than science, a reflection of your personality rather than something you can learn in a classroom, but mainly it’s about listening to other people and understanding their wants rather than focusing on your own, or keeping score of who’s brought the most benefit to whom, assuming that any relationship worth having is a long term one. There are also ethical considerations: if advancement comes from personal connections rather than merit, that could be viewed as a form of corruption, or could easily slide into it.
The globally interconnected nature of today’s world means networking has only become more important recently. And these days, like almost everything else, it’s migrated online—social media represents a form of networking, and a site like LinkedIn is a specific attempt to replicate the business networking model online.
Of course, in Asia the art of making, keeping and using connections is an ancient one, and personal relationships are more embedded into the business cultures of East Asian countries in particular than almost anywhere else on the planet.
So how can you benefit from better networking—and how can you get better at it? Let’s take a Deep Dive.
QUOTABLE
“Networking is all about connecting with people. But then again, isn’t that what life is about? The more time you can find to get out of the office and build true friendships, the further your startup will go.”
—Jay Samit, independent vice chairman of Deloitte and author of 2015 best-seller Disrupt You!
BY THE NUMBERS
150
People can only have a maximum of 150 people in their friendship network, according to anthropologist Robin Dunbar; in fact it’s known as Dunbar’s Number. (So if you have 1,000 Facebook friends, most of them aren’t really your friends.)
41%
41 percent of professionals would like to network more but don’t feel they have time, according to a survey of 750 businesspeople by software company Rzye. A quarter of the survey’s respondents said they did no networking at all.
303 million
LinkedIn, the world’s largest business networking website, has 303 million active monthly users; 40 percent of them visit the site daily.
US$12.50
Meeting people in person pays off. Companies make a return of US$12.50 for every US$1 they invest in business travel, according to forecasting and analysis company Oxford Economics.
1721
One of history’s great masters of networking, US founding father Benjamin Franklin, formed a sort of proto business networking organisation called the Junto in Philadelphia in 1721, aged 21.
THE EDIT
5 Stories To Get You Up To Speed
The Art Of Networking And Why It's Essential To Doing Business The Guardian
Why One CEO Says "Networking Is Dead"—And What You Should Do Instead To Boost Your Career CNBC
15 People Who Are Taking Networking To A New Level Fast Company
Personal networking is the most effective way of finding work, according to career management company Right Management, accounting for 46 percent of successful job searches.
VIRGIN.COM
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Notable names in networking
The Digital Networker Reid Hoffman The leading co-founder of LinkedIn, the world’s leading business oriented social network, Reid Hoffman is also a co-founder of PayPal and a prolific venture capital investor. The power of networking certainly seems to have worked for him; Forbes estimated this year that he’s worth about US$1.8 billion.
The Expert Robbie Samuels One of a large industry of networking experts—see also the likes of Michael Hughes and James Barber—Robbie Samuels focuses on networking at conferences, and is the author of 2017 book Croissants Vs Bagels: Strategic, Effective, And Inclusive Networking At Conferences.
The Notable Networker Arianna Huffington Frequently described as the world’s top networker—although she says she doesn’t network—Arianna Huffington is best known as the founder of the Huffington Post. Her connections have helped her become president of the Cambridge Union, both a conservative and liberal political commentator, and founder of wellness platform Thrive Global.
Gen.T Spotlight
Three Honourees To Follow
Anna Wong and Ines Gafsi Anna Wong (pictured) and Ines Gafsi help entrepreneurial women internationally benefit from the power of networks through their platform Female Entrepreneurs Worldwide. Founded in 2015, the Hong Kong-based organisation is a gathering place for women both online and offline, with everything from networking events to masterclasses to a marketplace connecting women in startups. READ MORE
Elaine Kim Singapore-based social enterprise Crib, which Elaine Kim co-founded, provides networking, business matching and training to women with entrepreneurial aspirations. She is also the co-founder of family-friendly co-working space Trehaus. READ MORE
A QUICK QUESTION
We want to hear your opinion
Do you believe networking is essential to your professional success?
Thanks for all of your responses to last week's question on fake news. According to the results, 50 percent of you have fallen for a fake news story.
DID YOU KNOW?
You should make eye contact between 60 and 70 percent of the time to forge an emotional connection, according to a study by US communications analytics company Quantified Impressions. Most of us only do so 30 to 60 percent of the time.
GIPHY
ONE FINAL THING
Still a winner
One of the earliest self-help books and to this day one of the best-selling, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People was preaching the gospel of personal connections to win advancement as early as 1936—and its lessons are still relevant today.
