Leveraging the True Power of Networking
The article “Leveraging the True Power of Networking” contains a discussion of the founder and CEO of Wpromote’s own experience and advice on professional networking. He emphasises the importance of networking in general because certain connects can be extremely helpful for professional gains. He mentions that you need to keep an open mind about who you talk to because simply growing your network and having a lot of connections is important. He describes an example in which you may even want to network with less well known companies as these may result in an increased mutual beneficiary connection rather than trying for form a connection with a company that already has a lot of power. The larger companies or people with a very established network may be less interested in talking with you and will be less likely to be a beneficial source down the line.
I think this is a very direct application of our study of power in social networks. By having more connections a person is more likely to be “powerful” in his network. Professional networking is an attempt to increases mutual benefit relationships and to increase the sources of information and the ability to make positive “deals” with others. Also the example with the more or less powerful networks is a demonstration of how it is more difficult to make a beneficial deal with an entity that is much more powerful than oneself. Instead, two less powerful entities can make a deal with each other that is more beneficial.