CULTIVATING YOUR WEAK TIES

Click Mark Granovetter, University of Chicago, published a paper in 1974 on a study of 282 men and how they got jobs. He looked at how they found out about the position, who gave them referrals, how they landed interviews, and who had helped them. The study found that when they approached strangers, they had little success, but with friends, help was given.
 
The most surprising finding was they received the most help from casual acquaintances, “professional friends”, friends of friends. Granovetter called these connections “weak ties”. These weak ties, numerous and varied, gave the men access to social networks they otherwise don’t belong and proved more useful than strong-tie relationships. Strong ties in one’s network can provide high-quality mentoring, developmental relationships and safety.
 
What changed in the last 40 years? Nothing! Your network, and your network’s networks, are as important as ever, and according to predictions on the job market of the future, will be even more so. These ties gave power to global movements such as civil, disability and voting rights. They apply to business, in fact to any interaction between people towards an outcome. In Mathematical Sociology they are responsible for most of the structure of social networks.
 
Have you found your weak ties useful?
 
Please comment and share.
*Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians on Pixabay
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