Episode 40: The hell of networking

May 20, 2014

All the career manuals say it: to get ahead on the work front, you have to keep expanding your network. But for a lot of women, there's something about networking that doesn't appeal. Actually there are a lot of things that don't appeal, from the difficulty of walking up to total strangers and introducing yourself to the feeling of fakeness networking can sometimes induce - not to mention that many networking opportunities are focused around male interests. That said, there are probably men who also dread networking. But women aren't doing it to the same degree men are, and when they try, they hit barriers. Women's careers are suffering as a result.

Photo by Hans Poldoja, used with Creative Commons License (http://bit.ly/1hZSrzN)In this show, I talk to three guests about how to get over the horror of networking, why it's important, and how a huge network - and a dash of daring - have helped one woman's career.

20 minutes.

Show notes:

Kimberly Weisul is the co-founder of the site One Thing New.

Dorie Clark is the author of Reinventing You.

Mary Kopczynski is CEO of 8 of 9 Consulting.

This is a blog post I wrote about Mary's networking advice after I heard her speak on an 85 Broads call - it's one of the most re-tweeted things I've put on social media.

Dorie Clark wrote a piece on the Harvard Business Review blog called Three Mistakes to Avoid When Networking.

Here's the piece Kimberly wrote on how to work a room that made me want to track her down for the podcast.

Harvard Business Review blog: Two Ways Women Can Network More Effectively, Based on Research.

McKinsey's research on women and the workplace also talks about networking and women's exclusion from informal networks.