
Why should you build professional relationships? How can you make connections outside of your normal social circle?
Jeffrey Pfeffer argues that your networking should prioritize building “weak ties” with as many people as possible. This means casual relationships that don’t involve too much interaction.
Here’s how you can make several relationships that will move your career in the right direction.
Focus on Quantity Over Quality
Pfeffer says that weak ties are more valuable to your career for two key reasons. Firstly, weak ties are likely to introduce you to new people and organizations that will increase your social capital. Secondly, it takes minimal time and effort to create a weak tie with someone, meaning you can gather a large number of weak ties that connect you to a vast and diverse network.
As an additional tip, don’t restrict yourself to building professional relationships in your own industry. You never know which ties could prove useful later. For example, say you volunteer for a local charity and get to know a few of the board members. Then, if your boss mentions that she’d like to host a charity event, you can offer to connect her with the executives of that charity. Now the power you built outside of your company is helping you build power inside of it as well.
(Shortform note: In addition to the practical benefits Pfeffer discusses here, casual acquaintances—what he calls “weak ties”—can have unexpected mental and emotional benefits as well. Some studies have shown the positive impact that such relationships have on people’s happiness: The more acquaintances you have, and the more frequently you interact with them, the more likely you are to feel happy and satisfied with your life. Therefore, even if it never ends up helping your career, a friendly conversation with someone like a bartender or another congregant at your church can improve your life in other ways.)
Conversely, “strong ties” refers to your relationships with your family and closest friends. Such relationships are certainly rewarding in their own ways, but they aren’t a good way to build power.
Pfeffer explains that this is largely because your closest friends and family probably have similar social circles to you, meaning they won’t help your influence spread as far. Therefore, trying to build power by forging strong connections is very inefficient—you’ll spend a great deal of time and effort maintaining those close friendships, yet end up with a relatively small network.
(Shortform note: While relying only on strong ties for networking would be slow and ineffective, your closest relationships can still be invaluable to your life and your career success. In Thou Shall Prosper, Orthodox rabbi Daniel Lapin says that Judaism views such strong bonds as crucial sources of support and motivation; you’ll be much more likely to succeed if you know that your family and close friends believe in what you’re doing. Furthermore, it’s a longstanding tradition in Judaism for friends to fiercely debate one another, giving rise to greater understanding and new insights for everyone involved. This principle also applies in business, where a powerful person’s friends and family can point out mistakes and offer suggestions that others might be too intimidated to bring up.)