An Art of Networking: An amateur attempt

In management, they talk so much about these PR skills and power of networking. By ‘they’, I mean professors and students. Even I fell into the trap, I read some of the papers of Harvard Business review and some of the small management tales about it but still I was not convinced. The crux of most of the papers was that whether you like it or not, one has to be good in the art of networking to be a successful manager. I am not convinced about it. Neither I am able to appreciate these papers. May be at some later stage in life,  I will realize it. Right now, as a student, I think I am not in a position or well qualified to comment but still can put forward my opinion on the subject. 

What is Networking? 

In simple words, it is to use your contacts to get a favor. But one thing what I feel about all this is that when you take a favor for someone, then you also have to favor him later on in your life. And think, if the person simply ask for something impossible, how would say ‘No’ to them then.

There is a race among managers these days to increase their networks. One of the research paper, I was reading states that every new relation you make will decrease the strength of your current relations by 10%.  To understand it better, if A and B share a very good relation with 100% bonding in them, then if anyone of them makes any new relation, then it will reduce their bonding to 90%. This is only a research paper. Exceptions are always there. But, I am convinced with this research paper.

Also, simply interacting with someone and making friend him on Facebook and following him on twitter will simply not add you in his network. It will give you only mentally satisfaction and I have seen that some of the relations survive till the time nobody asks the favor.

The only question I am confused about  right now is that, ‘Are relations are different from networks?’

Is Networking is only professional or can be personnel ?

Are relations are only personnel or can be professional?

I see people in my batch who are always busy in collecting the business card of any personality visiting our college and then don’t share these visiting cards with anybody. Every interaction, every greeting smells of motive. I wonders what they expect from them. I have seen my friends talking irrelevant things with them. This happens when you want to talk but lack content.  Perhaps, this is networking. I think what I need now is  another course in networking techniques and all that. I also want to use my brain. Heart does not always work. Sometimes, I too feel that I should talk to more people in my batch but another reasoning that justifies my present state is that I have enough number of friends and contacts. There is no point in numbers but what matters is the bond between the relation whether it is ionic or covalent(O just remember some concepts studied once in chemistry, read them as strong and weak).