Givers Gain, But...

The Rule of Reciprocity meets The Peter Principle

Givers Gain means that if you give referrals, leads or resources, the recipients will want to repay you.

As your network grows, however, it's harder to do because there are too many people to help everybody.

Sacred Cow Dung has something relevant to say here.

He points out that once your currently active network goes over 150 people, the quality of the relationship begins to deteriorate.

He also defines the networking style that can maintain an active relationship with a large number of people.

And, that's The Celebrity who does not relate to you directly but through a series of products or services (or performances) in which you are interested.

And, I suppose, a blog is a decent way to maintain a relationship with your network between major events (and might even become the strongest part of the relationship, itself).

Reference: Stephan Labuda

Canadian Headhunter

Comments

[Jim Durbin]

That 150 number is important. It represents the cognitive limit of the human brain.

There's a reason that a military company is capped at 150 people - after that the ability of the human brain to function as a member of the group is compromised. There's a company, profiled in Fast Company a couple of years ago, who splits every time they reach that limit.

Personally, I've seen it happen. When a company gets to that 150 mark, it loses its distinct personality, as the old guard that built the company is unable to work with recent hires because they don't have the capacity to communicate the company culture.