http://www.businessinsider.com/the-6-people-you-need-in-your-network-2014-7
I recently attended a professional leadership forum conference with my company focusing on networking and skill building. My biggest take away from the conference was me thinking about how do I keep my network right sized and diversified within my company. I knew that certain skills, whether soft or technical, needed to always get sharpened, but I had never really reflected on how well rounded my network is until after the conference.
This article describes 6 key players that everyone should have in their professional network. This network really applies to a network beyond your workplace. For us, this certainly means our classmates. Here are the 6 key players the article describes:
The Finance Guru
This is someone who has greater financial literacy than you. They are someone who will encourages you to be savvy with your finances and make good financial decisions.
The Connector
This is the social butterfly. The one who is always interconnected and can introduce you to other people. He/she is the relationship developer.
The Mentor
The article describes this best with a quote from Christine Hassler “It’s important to choose a mentor who is living a life you respect and want to model — not just someone who has a job or career path you would want,”
The Innovator
This is someone that is always up to date with your industry trends and forward thinking
The Leader
This is someone who you look up to the most professionally. They are people that should be picked very selectively and are utilized for the infrequent major work situations you need consultation on.
The Frenemy
This is someone who has the same career path as you. Its good to have that because competition forces use to be better. In this case your antagonist is your helper.
Check out the article and see who is and who isn’t in your network and try to fill those gaps.
Great article! Another way I was thinking about the article was that these roles are something that you should strive to be for others. Although it is not likely for someone to be all of these roles, it is possible to be more than one at a time (for instance finance guru and innovator).
That’s a great way to look at it. We all really should figure out what role we play in other people’s network. Great point.
This is a great way of categorizing those we expect to have the most profound impact on our career growth. Identifying a correct person in each category is not always easy. I cannot say for sure that I have a clear cut mentor but I have several people I look up to. I however think it is really important to have one who is at a position similar to what you are trying to attain and is easily approachable.