When it comes to building and managing your social capital, it is much better to give than to receive.
Whether he or she realizes it or not, the businessperson providing resources to colleagues, getting to know them as people, and helping them solve problems is creating social capital. So is the political leader who forges personal connections and builds trust with leaders of other countries. They are creating a valuable asset on which they can draw later, when they are the ones in need of resources or support.
Too often, people see social capital solely in terms of what they can get from a social network, rather than what they deliver to the network. However, when they haven’t forged strong bonds with the others in that network—when they haven’t created Orbits—they haven’t created much in the way of social capital at all. The incentive for others to provide resources and support to them is relatively low, because they haven’t provided such value to others. They’ve failed to see that social capital is both an asset and a responsibility.
When you view the strong bonds you forge with people as an investment in social capital, the value you’re creating in terms of resources and support seems more tangible, more worth the effort.
We can connect with more people than ever before, but our old methods of remembering important details are inefficient at best, ineffective at worst. Consider the discipline and competence successful professionals demonstrate. Too many people fail to apply that same discipline to the relationship-centric aspects of their personal business. And that disconnect is often the difference between success and failure.
Diligent relationship management is as crucial as managing any other resource. Your focus should be to discover, implement, and refine the tools and techniques for creating, sustaining, and deepening the relationships that make up your personal and professional networks. Think about what you can give to those in your networks that can earn their trust and consequently access to their networks. In the end, it’s much better to give than to receive!
