Harvey Mackey (1997). Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty: Networking— The Only Networking Book You’ll Ever Need. Doubleday. [notes by RSS, June 23, 2008, July 1, 2012] [book written for people in the business world]
Chapter 4: HARVEY’S TOP TEN LIST of the Most Important Things a Network Can Do [RSS: example of how personal networks are a vehicle for “agency” – confronting and overcoming structural obstacles, and “empowering” oneself and the youth/students that are mentored by you (“institutional agent”).] (Emirbayer & Mische): •
human agency as a temporarally embedded process of social engagement (Emirbayer & Mische) 1) informed by the past [e.g., network orientation, Stanton-Salazar] o o 2) oriented toward the future (as a capacity to imagine alternative possibilities); thinking network-analytically, “how my network and networking skills can help me achievement my goals” 3) toward the present (as a capacity to contextualize past habits and future o projects within the contingencies of o f the moment—i.e., the present circumstances
1. A network replaces the weakness of the individual with the strength of the group. [emphasis mine, RSS] •
Join the group that has the experts you need. [p. 15]
2. Mirror, mirror on the wall.
[getting feedback from a trust group of peers—e.g., p eers—e.g., we read each other’s drafts for our edited e dited volume] 3. Know thine enemy through thine network. [p. 17] Michael Corleone [of the Godfather film]…our first move business executive/ganster says, straight out of Machiavelli, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Because, as everyone in business knows, you have to know what the competition is up to. [RSS: Educators and youth workers work work in an environment and school system system that is invested in “reproducing social inequality,” ….thus, the privileged get served first, in terms of policy and funding, and the quality of resources, including school teachers, [etc.]; compensations to low status students and school comes in second. second. As an advocate for minority youth, one has to maintain ties to those who are more oriented toward serving the privileged, before serving minority youth. To strategize effectively, so as to counteract these policies and practices, one has to keep one’s “enemies close.”
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“intelligence gathering” [remember] PEOPLE LOVE TO TALK! [p. 18]
[In the worlds of education and youth intervention, we often have to professionally engage gate-keepers and decision makers that DO NOT share our commitments to “social justice” and the authentic empowerment of minority minority youth. To be effective requires that that we learn…. how to engage them; how to persuade them; how to listen to them talk about abo ut policies and decision making that will impact the youth/students you serve. (if you intimidate them, they will not spill information, not make concessions) ] • • •
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4. My network can help you expand your network. (p. 18) [starting your career in business]: Best bet: a family advisor, particularly a lawyer or a banker, a rich relative, one of your parents’ bosses at work—anyone old, experienced in business, with a wide range of contacts and some personal or professional connection to your family. Like contributors to a political campaign, people who donate help to you have a vested interest in seeing that you succeed. •
A. [Youth workers seek help, advice, and guidance from more powerful and more experienced institutional agents (for youth): they become invested in your success they may share ties in their network with you they provide key funds of knowledge and “institutional support” (StantonSalazar, 1997) [e.g., Stanton-Salazar, 1997]: o bridging, or the process of acting as a human bridge to gate-keepers, social networks, and to opportunities for exploring various "mainstream" institutions (e.g., university campuses); o Organizational/bureaucratic Funds of Knowledge (e.g., knowledge of how bureaucracies operate--chains of command, resource competition among various branches of bureaucracy) o Knowledge of Labor and Educational Markets (e.g., job and educational opportunities, requisites and barriers to entrée; knowledge of how to fulfill requisites and how to overcome barriers) • • •
[RSS: A relationship to another ‘institutional agent’ is not just a “dy ad,” but a connection to the individual AND his or her network; every person pe rson is embedded in a variable va riable number of social webs; thus, by connecting with an agent, and building a relationship with that agent, one potentially has added a whole new web to one’s network.]
5. A network can enrich your life anywhere in the world. (p. 20) How many non-Americans are in your nework? Nationale In France, a huge percentage of the corporate bigwigs are graduates of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration or the Polytechnique.
[RSS: how many in your network are…..? People born into a high class status? People who do not share your same racial/ethnic background? People of the other gender? Immigrants from another country? People of a different religion that you?] • • • • •
6. A network can provide you with new experiences and knowledge. (p. 22) (Stanton-Salazar, 1997) 7. Networking can help you help others. (p. 23) < ---------------------
Networking can be very rewarding for people who work the system on their own behalf. It can also be rewarding for people who work it on behalf of others. When I’m asked for a favor, I’ll often tell the caller, “I’ll be happy to make a ‘best efforts’ attempt on your behalf—on one condition.” “Uh-ho. What’s that?” “If I deliver, than I want you to make a donation for $________ to ________ charity.” (I fill in the blanks on the difficulty of the task at hand and a kind of seat-of-the-pants rotation among the United Way, the American Cancer Society,…..) Volunteering for community organizations can put you yo u in touch with the heavy he avy hitters in town. New kid on the block? Poor but talented and ambitious? The people who make up the boards of these outfits tend to be your community’s corporate leadership. Here’s how you can get to meet them and show them your stuff, by making yourself—and your skills—known to them. By doing so, you’re adding valuable contacts to to your network. [RSS: Building ties to powerful agents in community, political, and business organizations:
[RSS: Building ties to powerful agents in community, political, and business organizations: Youth educators / youth workers & advocates……. adv ocates……. need to do more than work directly with youth [students] one needs to engaged in various organizations where one can interface with people with power and influence; in the process of working within the organization, one can advocate for the youth one serves; one can serve as a “bridge” between the youth you serve, and the ‘big wigs’ who make things happen in the community. • •
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Thus, an educator and youth workers becomes as “institutional agents” when they build personal ties to gate-keepers and powerful agents in important community, political, and business organizations: Educator/youth worker ------------------------------------------------------------ VIPs [powerful agents] in community, political and business organizations] 8. Job security? Don’t rely on the corporation? Rely on your network . 9. A network can make you look good. (p. 27) No salesperson who knew the names of his customers’ kid ever went broke.
10. A network expands your financial reach infinitely. (p. 28) [RSS]: A. A network permits you to benefit from the strength of the group (the strengths of those individuals in the group, the strength of the collectivity: enforcement of norms (normative model, Coleman, Portes) P ortes) the varied expertise within the group the resources accumulated by the group, …exchanged or shared within the group (resource model, Nan Lin); • • •
B. Membership in a close and cohesive c ohesive network of trust peers----getting feedback from a trusted group of peers before you take your project into the larger world; “entails the provision of regular, personalized, and soundly-based evaluative feedback, advice advice and guidance which incorporate the thoughtful provision of institutional funds of knowledge as well as genuine emotional and moral support” (Stanton-Salazar, 1997) opportunities to practice your relationship skills, networking skills; •
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.., knowledge of how to negotiate with various gate-keepers and agents; building supportive/cooperative ties with peers well integrated in the school…. (StantonSalazar, 1997) • •
a space where one can build up one’s integrity (practice ethical behavior) [ practicing practicing ] Institutionally Institutionally Sanctioned Sanctioned Discourses Discourses (i.e., socially acceptable ways of using language and communicating) (Stanton-Salazar, 1997)
C. Know thine enemy through thine network.
D. My network can help you expand your network. •
A relationship to another ‘institutional agent’ is not just a “dya d,” but a connection to the individual AND his or her network; every person is embedded in a variable number of social webs; thus, by connecting with an agent, and building a relationship with that agent, one potentially has added a whole new web to one’s network.
E. A network can enrich your life anywhere in the world.
One key measure of a “cosmopolitan network”: diversity of ties within that network [see Stanton-Salazar & Spina: 2000, “The Network Orientations of Highly Resilient Urban Minority Youth.” The Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, 32, 3 (referee journal) (review/critique of research literature, and theoretical essay).
STEP 2: TIME TO PRIME THE WELL. Chapter 5: Prepare to Win (p. 33) Before you meet new people, before you make that call, do your homework. Find the common ground. Determine where their needs and interests lie. Make that connection. RSS:
1) “’Google’ them.” [internet] 2) ask around, ask trusted sources about the new person; 3) don’t be bashful to let people know that you went to some length to inquire about the person; but let them know your genuine motive: To make a person connection, to get to them better; that you were interested in their personal background because you are interested in people [“in their humanity”]; that you enjoy finding out what you have in common with this new person.]
