The weakest link

“Let your hook be always cast, in the pool where you least expect it there will be fish”, Ovid

Conventional marketing courses will tell you that you’re either selling into a B2B market or a B2C market.?Not sure what that means??It simply meant that you’re either a business selling to another business or a business selling to end consumers.?

In days gone by this represented a fundamental way of thinking about your marketing.?Talking to consumers directly required an ability to reach masses possibly mastering newspapers, above the line advertising and getting your pricing and distribution right for mass consumerism.?Whereas if you were a B2B seller you’d be thinking how will the organisation I’m selling into sell this onwards to consumers, how can I help them do this?

Some of this remains true but the advent of social media and our ability these days through youtube to have millions of followers and yet not own a single property or building of our own shows that the traditional walls and thinking are breaking down.?And that represents a different way of thinking about our networks and our connections.

In the book How to be a power connector Judy Robinett outlines that all of us have links and connections of varying strengths in our networks.?We have strong links and connections and we equally have weaker links and connections.?You may assume therefore that what’s needed is a strategy of:

-???????Extracting maximum value from the strongest links

-???????Turning optimal links and connections into strong links

-???????Culling the weakest links

And Judy (who knows a things or two about this stuff) suggests this is a strategy that will fail to succeed for a number of reasons

1.?????It takes a lot of effort to truly cultivate and maintain strong connections and links and so assuming that you’ve got an actual job to be doing you probably won’t have the energy, time or stamina to be able to sustain many super strong links.?

2.?????Setting up a strong relationship on the basis of value extraction is somewhat predatory and transactional and not the greatest strategy for long term success

3.?????Research shows that your weaker links can be a critical bridge between your existing circle and network and another.?In other words, ignore the weaker links at your peril because they could be the breakthrough connection you really need in the future

LET ME ASK, HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR JOB?

This sounds counterintuitive so let’s explore a bit more.?Research in 1974 by sociologist Mark Granovetter asked business people who had changed jobs how they found their present position.?The assumption was that they had found it through a close network of associates.?But instead it turned out that five out of six people had found the role through acquaintances and people they met rather casually through work.

IT ALL STARTS WITH PARKLIFE

In my neighbourhood there is a great park and it consists of different zones that clearly attract different people.?There is a sensory garden which attracts slightly older people and those who want some peace and quiet.?There is inevitably the playzone that has slides and attractions for younger children and so attracts families and grandparents.?There is an area that people tend to gather in groups for picnics and family gatherings.??

There is another space where you can set up your barbecue without setting fire to neighbouring trees and so on.??In this park when people approach it there are definite tribes who use the park in a particular way.?They know the park as a whole but they know one space more intimately and they also recognise and know the people in their particular space.?Not just because of the space but also the commonality of interests that mean they tend to hang out in the sensory garden, the playpark and so forth.

THE INTERCONNECTORS

Then there are people who spend the majority of their time in one zone but drift between others and these are the interconnectors.?You may be a staunch member of your sensory garden tribe when someone from the playpark tribe comes in for a short breather from the screams of toddlers.??This passing acquaintance is a connector between your tribe and the playpark tribe.

And so weak links are a very important connection between your network and individuals you might otherwise never meet, know or even have a concept of their existence.?Your strong links share all your values which is why you like them, know them and trust them in the first place, but they may not be offering you the stimulus of an alternative perspective.??Your weaker links don’t know you so well, don’t maybe feel the need to know you so well and they can provide you with alternative perspectives and ways of seeing things.?They bring diversity and value to your thinking.?

And more times than not the critical connections are made not through your closest links but through friends of a friend.?Weak links don’t expect a whole lot in return for an ask as there isn’t a closeness of relationship that produces an obligation to respond.

DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE VALUE OF WEAK LINKS

If you’re still in any doubt then on LinkedIn try posting a message “to my network” a simple ask.?Right now for example I’m considering something called an “evergreen webinar product” to help people who want to know more about Thriving Leadership join my coaching programme but without the intensity of a one on one discovery call.??So, I might call on my network – “hey does anyone have experience of evergreen products”.?

Likely within a day I’ll have a whole range of recommendations and the majority of them will be from people either in the periphery of my network or friends of friends.??If I follow that up with “Great would anyone be up for sharing their personal experiences”, I’ll get a whole new range of connections coming forwards.??If I confined this question to my closest strongest links, I’d be fishing for insight in a very small pool and therefore get very limited insight too.

Remember that at all times the sands of your relationship links are shifting constantly.?People have their own lives to lead and so strong links today will start to wane and possibly come back into alignment again.?Weaker links right now could become your stronger links in the future.?

In short you really don’t have to think about culling and pruning your relationships and connections.?Instead, be happy with no more strong connections than you can count on two hands, but see your weaker connections as part of the vast pool of insight and opportunity that lies at your disposal, some day.?Not every day, but some day.

That’s it for this time, let me know what you think in comments, if you like Thriving Leader why not share with someone you think would benefit. We’re all trying to grow. Discover lots of articles just like this, podcasts to develop yourself for free and how to fire up your quietly successful career at www.ianbrowne.com