Lecture on building a smart and strategic network which helps you reach your goals. This will explain why you only need 20 connections.

1. Networking

2. A strategic approach
to networking
Networking as a
young professional
05-11-2015

3. Who am I?
• Erik van Vulpen
• Entrepreneur
• Student
• Law
• Occupational and health psychology
• Business Administration: S&O

5. Outer circle
X mensen
Inner circle
15 mensen
U
90% of your social resources come from 10% of
your network: Your inner circle

6. Good ways NOT to Network

7. Why is networking important?
• 60-80% of jobs are landed through networking(!)
• A strong network makes a promotion happen faster (Singh &
Vinnicobe, 2002)
• Roughly 11% of salary is related to your network’s quality (Wolff &
Moser, 2009)
• Roughly 14% of your happiness in your job is related to job having a
strong network (Wolff & Moser, 2009)

8. Good ways NOT to Network

9. What is networking?
• Fun
• Building sustainable relationships over time
• Being authentic
• Giving and helping
• Strategic
• Smart
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”

10. How CEOs build their network
Debby: “My current role is really a product of a relationship I formed
over a decade ago that came back to me at the right time. People may
chalk it up to luck, but I think more often that not luck happens through
networks where people give first and are authentic in what they do.”
Cross & Thomas, 2014

11. Strategic view on networking
Analyze your current network and diversify
your connections towards your goal
Cross & Thomas, 2014
Analyze Diversify Capitalize

12. Exercise
• Put your main mid-term goal on top
• Write down the names of the people who compose your core
network on the left in rows
• Write down 1 to 6 in columns
• Classify relationships by the benefits
they provide
1 2 3 4 5 6
Jan x
Piet x
Klaas x
Geert x
Ben x
Bas x x

13. 6 types of people in a CEO’s network
Performance (specific)
1. People who offer information or expertise
2. Influential people
3. People who give developmental feedback
Support and happiness (generic)
4. People who give personal support
5. People who add a sense of purpose or worth
6. People who promote work/life balance
Cross & Thomas, 2014

14. Performance

15. 1) People who offer information or expertise
• Peers in other functions, divisions, geographies
• Sharing best practices
• Contacts who inspire innovation
• Experts
• Clients

16. 2) Influential people
• Formally powerful people
• provide mentoring
• sense-making
• political support
• Informally powerful people
• Influence
• Help coordinating projects
• Support among the rank and file

17. 3) People who give developmental feedback
• Give developmental feedback
• Challenge your decisions
• Hold you to a standard
• Push you to be better
• Mentor you
E.G. your boss, trusted colleague
or spouse

18. Support & Happiness

19. 4) People who give personal support
• Colleagues or a boy/girlfriend
who helps you get back on track
when you had a bad day
• Friends with whom you can be
yourself

20. 5) People who add a sense of purpose or worth
• Bosses or customers who
validate your work
• Family members or a spiritual
leader who show you your work
has a broader meaning
• Parents

21. 6) People who promote work/life balance
• People with whom you play
sports and hold you accountable
• People who stimulate mental
engagement
• People who promote your
spiritual well-being (music, art,
religion)

22. Last but not least: Energizers vs. de-energizers
Energizers:
• Trustworthy
• Committed
• Self-less
• Give
De-energizers:
• Point out obstacles
• Critique people instead of ideas
• Inflexible in thinking
• Fail to create opportunities
• Miss commitment
• Don’t show concern for others
90% of anxiety at work is created by 5% of your network

23. Every 6 months
Back away from redundant and
energy-sapping relationships is
Analyze Diversify Capitalize

24. “It’s better to know a few people really
well than a lot of people a little”