HBR Women at Work Boxed Set (6 Books)

6

Networking Doesn’t Have to Be a Drag

A conversation with Inga Carboni

If you hate networking events, it may be comforting to hear that experts don’t think they’re a great way to build strong relationships anyway. There are more natural, less transactional, and more effective ways to make real connections with people, especially within your company.

Inga Carboni, a professor at the College of William & Mary’s Mason School of Business, studies the characteristics of a strong network and common challenges women face when building theirs. She and her research partner, Rob Cross, analyzed networks within 30 organizations—about 16,000 people in total—to map who was connected to whom and how. They then interviewed hundreds of female executives about ...