Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Why Your Networking Isnt Working

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Why Your Networking Isn't Working We’ve all heard about the importance of establishing strong business relationships a million times. After all, it’s important to be able to go to people close to you, who you trust, when you’re in need of advice, contacts, or a job. Right? Weak ties actually get better results According to Wharton business professor Adam Grant, author of the new book, Give and Take, you should not in fact be relying on your closest networking contacts to help you get ahead. Grant cites a study by Mark Granovetter, which demonstrated that people were actually 58 percent more likely to get a new job through weak ties than strong ties. Could this simply be a numbers game? After all, we have many more weak ties than strong ties. Grant says no. Apparently, despite their good intentions, strong ties tend to give us redundant knowledge. They travel in the same circles that we do, and have similar perspectives. And in a competitive job search or difficult career change situation, this may not cut it. Weak ties, on the other hand, know different people entirely and can offer us more efficient access to novel information. So by reaching out to a weak tie, you are much more likely to hit upon something that wouldn’t normally come your way. Like what youre reading? Have a look at the full piece at Intuits Fast Track blog.