im glad charles kadushin has his name and copyright symbol emblazoned on every page of his earth-shattering report. maybe soon he can trademark sleeping or breathing and give them names much harder to pronounce or understand. the things he mentions are pretty basic concepts. my favorite part is the citation of feld and carter that quotes "individuals are more likely to be friends if they are geographically close."
wow.
but no conversation about propinquity can be totally complete without homophily. this jargon explains why i am more likely to be friends with someone who grew up next to me and shares similar interests than a tribal bushmen in the south pacific. others in certain intellectual circles refer to this occurrence as "common sense".
all kidding aside, i think some of this study can be useful, but the key, as stated in the Harvard Business Review article, is putting it all to use. networking to network is a waste of time. when departments, people, processes, etc. don't stand to gain anything by being connected they should remain independent. just as a surgeon makes minimal incisions, orgranizations should make minimal connections....just enough to get the job done would be the most accurate way to put it.
focusing on the type of network used is also a valid idea. just having a general clue about the flow of information and the roles of people is enough to sense the way things are done. extensive drawings of nodes, lines, arrows, etc. are more often than not unncecessary. the bottom line of this is yea, networks are important, but, they should be used properly, and it needs to be understood that a network is created in the first place because of something else...it should not become the sole focues of those involved in it.
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"maybe soon he can trademark sleeping or breathing and give them names much harder to pronounce or understand."
QFT!!!
Thank goodness someone else feels the same way I do!! I have to admit you write about it a bit more eloquently than I did, but I completely agree with what you said about Kadushin just taking common sense and adding fancy words to it. I can now sleep more soundly--thank you Keith.
You mentioned that "networking to network is a waste of time". I agree with the fact that unless you have an organization or some solid and strong establishment, there is no point in investing in improving the situation.
However, while there may not be any known emphasis on networking I think that we need to acknowledge that in some industries (ones that are strongly built upon relationships with customers and clients) that the power of networking is far beyond just what we see. Its a strong hidden force that if you don't have, will set you back or make you a little less lucky (or just take you longer) to advance...
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