Danielle's Harvard Highlights 2011: Squirrels, Smiles and Whoever has the money writes the rules...

Day 4 - Thursday 5 May 2011

Building and Maintaining Strong Social Networks

By now, our cohort of 63 women is beginning to feel the physical effects of a mentally, physically and socially demanding and fulfilling week. But the program continues...

Our lecturer, Amy Cuddy begins today's sessions with a case on Heidi Roizen a socialite and networking dynamo from Silicone Valley. The power of strong social networks in today's business environment is indisputable in my opinion. Ms Cuddy provided a few tips for building networks:

Be opportunistic (but not selfish)
Think long-term
Be pragmatic
Reciprocate

Expanding on this, Ms Cuddy suggested to:

invest in extra-curricular activities
use projects and assignments strategically
create your own community of interest
declare yourself an expert
favour active rather than passive networking opportunities (i.e. instead of attending a networking event, host a dinner party of strategic contacts in your home)
recognise you will have to "waste time"
consider what you do or love that makes you unique and leverage that individuality

To analyse the strength of your existing network Ms Cuddy suggested to consider the following:

1. Diversity/breadth

Look to develop a range of contacts in your network, e.g. contacts who are senior, junior and peer, contacts outside your firm, office and industry, contacts within and outside your professional specialty, contacts in your identity groups (e.g. hobbies). When thinking about diversity/breadth in your network, consider which groups are over/underrepresented and look to remedy imbalances.

2. Depth/closeness

Consider the mix in your network of depth and closeness. We have different types of relationships with the people in our networks. We have strong (close) ties with our core network (who may act as our personal board of directors/advisors) and we have weak ties with a more extended network. Be mindful of the strength of weak ties. Weak contacts (or acquaintances) are very valuable. Because there's a little distance between them and you there's less risk for them to recommend you, which partly explains why acquaintances help people find new jobs more than friends and family.

3. Density/leverage

Consider what percentage of your contacts are already connected and be mindful that value is added as a function of the number of sectors you can reach and connect.

Session 2 was on THE POWER OF NON-VERBALS

Amy talked about our "mirror neuron system" and how Botox users have trouble reading emotions in others because of this, i.e. because their facial muscles are deadened and therefore less expressive, the people they communicate with mirror this "emotionless" expression making it harder to read their expressions and intentions. Click Botox for information on the research that made these findings.
I'm sure you can imagine the spirited discussion that followed on this topic amongst a group of international executive women!!

WARMTH AND COMPETENCE
The key message in this session was that according to Amy's research, warmth and competence account for 80-90% of variance in the initial judgements we make of other people.

Keynotes from this session include:

People judge others on warmth first (i.e. what are your intentions towards me).
Warmth carries more weight in overall evaluations.
People judge others on competence second.
People need to connect before they lead (assuming you are above the bar on competence)
We can project warmth by:

making Duchenne Smiles
using immediacy cues (gestures that engage the other, such as leaning forward, reaching out, listening and nodding, authentic enthusiasm)
mirroring

We can project competence by:

using expansive posture and movement
being relaxed, but not too relaxed, i.e. shoulders down, eyebrows down, but not slouching
using defined gestures with defined spaces/pauses in between
facing forward and squaring off our bodies

NEGOTIATION

Myra Hart facilitated our afternoon sessions on Negotiation and Entrepreneurship.

Key notes:

The estimated cost of replacing an employee is 150% of their salary.

Faulty assumptions about negotiations:

My choice is either a yes or a no (negotiate a fit)
My title speaks for itself (negotiate authority)
I can pick up the slack (negotiate for help)
Resistance to me (and my agenda) will take care of itself (negotiate buy-in)
My performance speaks for itself (make your value visible)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

When assessing investment or new business opportunities, here's a checklist of things to look at:

concept/business model
people behind the venture
defensibility/competition
execution
scalability
market demand
financials

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources we currently control.

Sources of opportunity include:

technological change
social change
political change
economic change
psychological change

Whoever has the money writes the rules...

After today's lectures I really needed some exercise to clear my head and stretch my legs. I made a visit to the Harvard Business School gym and did a few laps of the indoor track before spending some time on the cycling and running machines. I then jogged my way back to my dorm.

not your average running circuit... the beautiful grounds of Harvard Business School

SQUIRRELS - FRIEND OR FOE?

So... those of you who know me well know how much I love hiking and the Australian natural environments. I'm often amused when I run into international tourists on various bushwalks etc, how they freak out when they see Australian fauna such as lizards, spiders etc... animals us Aussies are quite accustomed to seeing on a regular basis. Well I have to eat some humble pie, because whilst running through Boston, I have to admit, I freaked out when I saw my first squirrel. I just wasn't expecting it and when I saw it I realised I didn't know if it would want to bite me or just do it's own thing. It turns out they're just interested in food, not humans. The ones I've met seem quite wary of humans in fact. But here are a couple of photos I picked up on my runs...

So Thursday was our final night on campus and to commemorate this a reception was held followed by a dinner. Here are some photos of me with some of the participants from the Womens Leadership Forum: