Headline Jan 26, 2018/ ''' *ORIGINALITY* IN ORBITWORKING '''

''' *ORIGINALITY* IN 

ORBITWORKING '''

''IF WE DON'T CHANGE THE WAY WE TEACH, we'll be in really big trouble in 30 years,'' Jack Ma -Ali Baba's founder and chairman.

THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM AT Davos has always had a women problem. The reality is that masters, not mistresses- still run most of the universe.

Men lead most of the  world's biggest companies and hold most leadership political positions. And that determines who gets to go to the four-day power confab in Swiss Alps every year, organizers say.

CRITICISM, hand-wringing, incentives and quotas over the years have done little to bolster female participation.

''Pathetic'' is how Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, described the place of women at Davos in 2012 when female delegates counted for 17 percent.

She suggested setting a quota of 30 percent. [In 2017 -women's participation reached a record high    -slightly more than 20 percent.]

TIME ENOUGH, to break this, and at least every corporate mold?

Similarly, researchers found that in hospitals, the radiologists who ended up with the most desirable networks were the ones with the highest performance nine months earlier.

And in banks, star performers attracted bigger networks and were more likely to maintain those ties. Achievements don't just help us make connections, they also helps us sustain those connections.

Not long ago, I watched a colleague try to climb a ladder of success solely through networking.

For a few years, he manged to meet increasingly influential people and introduce them to one another. Eventually it fell apart when they realized he didn't have a meaningful connection with any of them.

Networking alone leads to empty transactions, not rich relationships.

It's a lesson I have learned in my own career. I once emailed an entrepreneur I admired and got nothing in response.

Some months later he contacted me out of the blue, with no memory that i had tried to get in touch before. he had attended a talk I gave and wanted to meet -and now he had proof that i could add value.

My students often believe that if they simply meet more important people, their work will improve. But It's remarkably hard to engage with those people unless you've already put something valuable out into the world.

That's what pique the curiosity of advisers and sponsors. Achievements show you have something to give, not just something to take.

Sure, you can fire off cold emails to people you respect -they're just a click away -but you'll be lucky if 2 percent even reply.

The best way to attract a mentor is to create something worthy of the mentor's attention. Do something interesting , and instead of having to push your way in, you'll get pulled in.

The Network come to you.

Sociologist call this the Matthew effect, from the Bible : ''For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.''

If you establish a track record of achievement, advantages tend to accumulate. Who you'll know tomorrow depends on what what you contributed yesterday.''

I don't mean to suggest that success in any field is meritocratic.

It's dramatically easier to get credit for achievements and break into the elite if you're male and white, your pedigree is full of fancy degrees and prestigious employers, you come from a family with wealth and connections, and you speak with a foreign accent.

[Unless it's a British accent, which has the uncanny ability to make you sound smart regardless of what comes out of your mouth]'

But if you lack these status signals, it's even more critical to produce a portfolio that proves your potential.

Of course, accomplishments can build your network only if other people are aware of them. You have to put your work out there. It shouldn't be about promoting yourself, but about promoting your ideas.

Evidence suggests, that tooting your own horn doesn't help you get a job or a board seat, and when employees bend over backward to highlight their skills and accomplishments, they actually get paid less and promoted less.

People find self-promotion so distasteful that they like you more when you're praised by someone else -even if they know you've hired an agent to promoting you.

So step fretting about networking. Take a page out of the George Lucas and Sara Blakely playbooks:
Make an intriguing film, build a useful product.

And don't feel pressure to go to networking events. No one really mixes at mixers. Although we plan to meet new people, we usually end up hanging out with old friends.

The best networking happens when people gather for a purpose other than networking, to learn from one another or help one another.

In Life, it certainly helps to know the right people. But how hard they go to bat for you, how far they stick their necks out for you, depends on what you have to offer.

Building a powerful network doesn't require you to be an expert at networking. It just requires you to be an expert at something.

If you make great connections, they might advance your career. If you do great work, those connections will be easier to make.

Let your insights and your outputs    -not your business cards...... do the talking
 
With respectful dedication to Professor Adam Grant, Wharton School, and the author of  ''Originals'', 'Give and Take' and the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world.

See Ya all ''register'' on !WOW! -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011:

''Rates and Overrates''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless