Last June I wrote a post on gender & networking based on linkedin's research. "Who's better at networking? Men or Women?" is a question I've been asked over for two decades. I first wrote about the issue for San Francisco Examiner career series. It's now part of my "BeenThere-SaidThat" collection.
LInkedin's "research" findings on gender- based "social" networking prompted me to blog about the issue because it caused quite a stir. It was reposted, repeated and retweeted. The good news is that the "report' REstarted conversations. Unfortunately the information is based on a survey and not validated research.
Social Research Provides Viable Information
LInkedIn's info is based on activity on the site that deals with jobs/referrals etc. It's a safe place for many to have visibiliety that requires no realtime presence nor F2F networking. A better place for viable and valuable information on gender aspects of networking (which I first addressed in 1992 and again in Networking: Beyond the Buzzword--an ebook for a Time Warner imprint) is the social research rather than graphs of activity on a site such as linked- in.
While many networking activities happen online, woe unto anyone who forgets how much of real connecting happens off-line. In fact, executive search experts and job counselors recommend that we take our networking offline and offsites to cast a more secure net.
Networking: A History Lesson
Some of the history of the term "networking" : it was coined in the late 1970's by women who observed the "old boys" ways and were shut out of the "game". And it was a gender- biased term for years that referred to women doing business as we formed women's groups, professional organizations and networks. After a number of years, some males noticed that women actually had a better idea of the process and they embraced it. Of course, many of males continue to equate networking with a spread sheet activity that is quantifiable and now monetize the process. Those of us who live our lives networking know that simply is not what savvy networking is.
Linkedin's findings certainly stirred up the pot and received much media attention. Although I've been a member for over seven years and a fan of linkedin, the findings best serve as conversational fodder rather than a realistic overview or answer to the question I've been asked for over 2 decades: Who's better at networking; men or women?
Answer: Read the research!
UPDATE: In January, Dr. Ivan Misner and his co-authors released Business Networking and Sex...It's Not What You Think. On a Today Show interview, Dr. Misner said that women are better at networking because we are "relational, not transactional". Their research is based on 12,000 responses of men and women and provides interesting insights and information we can embrace.
