Social Networking Paper

Introduction

We were fortunate to interview seven successful executives, entrepreneurs and leaders across multiple industries and nonprofit organizations on networks. These insightful interviews significantly reinforced class teachings. Overall, we gained valuable wisdom on the various methods employed by these leaders to build, maintain, leverage, and expand their networks. Our primary goal was to assess the effectiveness of each leader's network and identify how it contributed to their professional success. To measure its effectiveness, we evaluated critical components including trust, diversity, reciprocity and brokerage. Key network recommendations gleaned from the leaders conclude our analysis. Network maps of the selected leaders are depicted in the Appendix.

We had the privilege to interview the following seven diverse senior leaders:

Executive Backgrounds:

FG (Revere - Peter, please confirm) One of the U.S. Catholic Archbishops. He is a spiritual leader to almost 2.4 million registered Catholics and leads over 20,000 employees. Key network quote: "Without the network you cannot build a successful future for any organization"

GC (Revere) CEO of the fastest growing technology company in the world. He is a serial entrepreneur; he was a leader or board member of some of the largest technology firms: Yahoo, AOL, Hachette. His network motto is "network is not who you know but who knows you". The former Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel calls him "the most wired, successful and liked sales executive in Internet marketing." Key network quote: "My network is my 'social capital'. It is my most important asset."

JA (Revere) CEO of a privately held $400M global manufacturing company with more than 2500 employees across the nation. Over the last two decades, JA has held a CEO or Presidential position for two prestigious marketing and printing organizations. Key network quote: "My network is critical; I depend on it for leveraging ideation, referrals, and managing risk. Their unique perspectives compensate for my blind-spots."

JR (Dawes) Senior Vice President of a major global pharmaceutical company. Key network quote: "No matter how busy you are, you need carve out the time for people".

KS (Dawes) CFO at a Fortune 10 company division within the financial industry. She manages more than 30 people. Over 20 years experience in the financial/accounting field. Key network quote: "If you're introverted you will have to work your network much more actively, if you're extraverted you network will most likely come to you."

LS (Revere) CEO of a private healthcare communications publishing and social media house in Manhattan. He is a year-old turn-around specialist at Growth-Stage, multinational, and early-stage companies. Key network quote: "They are people I trust and who we've provided mutual support to over the years."

PA (Dawes) Chief Sales Officer with a quota of $38 billion at a large global telecommunication company. He manages a large sales force consisting of over 10,000 people. He is responsible for all of the company's sales and distribution functions. He has more than 25 years of experience with technology and telecommunication companies. Key network quote: Need quote

Network Assessment:

Dawes Network: KP serves as a primary example of a modern day William Dawes. She has a tight circle of trusted confidants however there is limited diversity in the participants' skill-sets. Furthermore, the two distinct network cliques have a high degree of self-similarity and could potentially bring an agenda into various interactions. KP's network is trustworthy and will surely be effective for venting frustration or informal chatting but due to its inherent structure will likely do little to help her truly expand her effectiveness as a leader.

Revere Network: GC typifies a modern-day Paul Revere. He exhibits all the characteristics of an effective network: high trust, high diversity, high brokerage, low redundancy. GC has a strong grasp of reciprocity and invests countless hours on nurturing his relationships. He schedules time weekly for network activities. Because of the career zigzag worldwide, he builds diversity: industry, country, occupation. GC builds a viral effect by delivering value to people who join his network.

Trust

During our interviews "trust" was a core characteristic each leader required as a prerequisite for their professional and social networks. All four (correct classification?) leaders characterized with a "Revere" network and all three (correct classification?) leaders characterized with a "Dawes" network believed they had trust among them. We believed a deeper dive during our interviews would allow us to discover if trust truly exists or if it was perceived.

PA went through a $72 billion dollar corporate merger in which 90% of all executives were retained. However, he noted the necessity of "converting previous competitors (and now adversarial peers) into assets." PA and pre-merger colleagues were not warmly received by their new peers. PA and his team utilized redirection with their new team: "the board of directors made this merger decision." In addition PA discussed reciprocity as a key component of building a new relationship and trust. PA's team asked for help from their new peers and did not act arrogant, rather genuine. PA concluded with describing rationality in the post-merger organization - "either you were on the bus or not." PA and his team made it clear the merger "was one of equals" but if you were not on the new bus - there is no room in the organization (and his network).

We believe PA's approach was very similar to Clendenin's in which he went through the various stages of building a relationship in an atmosphere of distrust. He turned many enemies into assets and created a culture which could prosper. Subsequently, PA tried to build a culture of diversity and brokerage after he built a network of trust.

The foundation of FG's "Revere" network is trust. FG's core principals are based on giving and he very rarely "asks". He "always gives people the benefit of the doubt." He "always looks for what gives them life, energy, and for what makes them proud." FG is highly successful because he makes sure his network understands the value of giving within the Church's own network of parish's, schools, volunteers, and members. FG's ability to give vs. ask, builds bonds of