My Network While Working in Sydney - Essay Example

Heading: Global experience professional development-(Networking plan) Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date: Part 1 My network table while working in Sydney Name of the contact Who introduced me to the contact To whom did I introduce the contact Cooper Johns Me Lily Lai Peter John Yuan Xia Jack Thomas Charlie Jones Charlotte Peters Peter John Peter Richardson Me I established the above network when I was working in the marketing department in Sydney’s computer sales firm. I was working under Cooper Johns who was the head of the marketing department. Cooper was closer to me because of the frequent interactions that I had with him in the course of my duties as a sales representative in the department. It is through working with Cooper that I first met Peter John, who was an outsider but a close friend of Cooper Johns. I later came to learn that Peter John was a supplier broker with a number of international connections. When I got introduced to Johns, he looked critical and inquisitive about my future aspirations as I was still in college. He seemed interested in making new friends and sharing ideas, I also shared the same vision and especially in a field that was both within and outside my profession. It is through Peter Johns that I got connected to Lily Lai and Charlotte Peters. Lily Lai worked as a computer analyst in another firm near Sydney while Charlotte Peters worked in a nearby restaurant as an accountant. Peter Johns therefore acted as a super connector since I was able to meet other professionals from different firms within and outside the town. Yuan Xia was then my college mate and was an international student studying international business; I introduced him to Peter Johns. In the course of duty, I was able to meet with Peter Richardson an English man who runs a number of websites for selling products online. Peter Richardson became a close friend as a result of my interest in learning online business. He helped me acquire sufficient knowledge on the fundamental requirements of running a website that could generate income without much hustle. As evident, the network I created as a result of working in Sydney helped me acquire knowledge on other diverse fields as well as turning the little I knew to who I knew. Working under Cooper Johns also gave me adequate skills of what it takes to perform in a marketing position because it took more than daily office work to make sales in the company. My super connector Peter Johns was also critical in the sense that he helped me meet other strategic people as well as increasing my scope of the people I know. According to Uzzi and Dunlop (2005,p.56), private connections are the key to power and also diverse skills sets that position one better in the business world. The other principle that is emphasised by Uzzi and Dunlop (2005,p.58), is the aspect of a hybrid network that is not an echo chamber, and this is what I will try to improve in my future network in order to widen my scope beyond my profession. This is because an echo chamber network is created within people of similar interest or professions and it essentially locks out criticism necessary for development through diversity. Part 2 Introduction The event that I attended was organized by a combination of college graduates and private sectors in Sydney with an aim of aligning different career paths. The title of the seminar was multidisciplinary strategic career planning. Many college and University students were invited to the event in order for them to interact and also hear professional advice from different business people in diverse fields. The major objective of the meeting was to reiterate the need to bring together different careers in order to solve world’s problems faster than it is being solved because of the gap between different careers. With different speakers from diverse business and academic fields, the essence of the meeting was clearly seen from the beginning. To me, this was a moment to meet and form long term business and career friends. After learning the basics of networking, I felt confident to make more friends and thus be in a strategic position both in the business perspective and professionally. Main Ideas: The main objective of this professional event was to interact with other students from different career fields, learn the essence of multidisciplinary career planning and finally network with future business leaders within and outside Australia. The progress of the event Before the meeting began, the organizing committee gave students the opportunity to interact and socialize for about an hour before the official beginning of the meeting. During this period, I met several people and I was able to quickly interact with them and share contacts. As Uzzi & Dunlop (2005) emphasize in networking preparation, shared activity was critical to diverse networking and building a network requires trust, diversity and brokerage. I was able to use trust to people that I met by beginning to be open up to them an aspect that created trust which then enabled free interaction with me (Agin 2009). I particularly remember one lady who offered me her dad’s business card as I was pursuing a career related to her dad. This was a major breakthrough because it demonstrated how quickly she had trusted me to an extent of giving me her father’s business card. After socializing for one hour, I had managed to get three major contacts that I intended to follow-up after the end of the seminar. The meeting then commenced with the seminar coordinator explaining the major objectives of the meeting. Graduate students were then given an opportunity to give their views about the need to have a multidisciplinary approach to our careers in the modern world. One point that really awakened my senses on the need to have a multidisciplinary approach was when one graduate stated that no one particular person knew how to make a mouse despite its fundamental role in the computing world. I had never thought of such a thing, but it was amazing to note that even the biggest computer companies like HP, Microsoft, IBM and Dell did not know how to make a mouse or even a single product that they manufactured after all. The reason for this was because all the raw materials like plastics, infrared devices of a mouse were made by other companies who also got plastics from plastic companies. The plastic companies bought the plastics from other mining companies and the chain goes one. After the graduate students had given their perspective of multidisciplinary approach, it was now time for the business leaders to give their approach. I clearly remembered one business leader commenting that even the smallest business required a multidisciplinary understanding if one needed to reduce the cost of operation. It was going to be difficult to run a small computer shop without basic understanding of accounting if one was a computer scientist (Debaise 2009). This was a clear demonstration of the need to comprehend basics of other fields beyond your field in order to increase our networking skills and problem solving skills. When the meeting concluded and I was able to meet more people and also share with one business leader. As pointed out by Thuraisingham (2009, p.5) in order to increase you own knowledge, it is important to tap wisdom from other people within and outside your professional field. As Uzzi & Dunlop (2005) stated, the more you network the level of information that you know will turn into who you know, this was very practical after the meeting ended. As Butow & Taylor (2009) states, networks with people from the same profession forms fundamental ladder to meeting people who are from other professionals if one is open minded. Online LinkedIn created by Reid Hoffman has provided a fundamental pathway for professionals to meet and share ideas. As Darling (2005) states different career paths converge to create a company and different ideas creates sustainability through enhanced competitive advantage as a result of increased talents and potentials from different people. Conclusion In this event, I was able to interact with other students, business leaders of different fields and create a network with them. I was also able to appreciate the need of multidisciplinary career planning. From the major talks by the graduate students and business leaders, their ideas opened the scope of my mind to appreciate the need for multidisciplinary approach and the need to create a network from a shared activity and not only from self similarity principle which restricts access to diverse world view which stifles creativity. I gained knowledge of the world operation after the meeting and also understood the aligned business world that depended on each other despite their diverse business processes and market niches. I believe that in future, multidisciplinary course units should be taught in colleges and Universities in order to develop a balanced view of the world as it is and also promote open networking skills. I will personally develop better strategies of expanding my network scope in order to include more people from different fields. This will be useful in acquiring useful private information that will be necessary to be successful as information is power. References Agin, F & Howes, L 2009, Linkedworking: Generating Success on Linkedin the World’s Largest Professional Networking Website, Four Eighteen Enterprises (DBA 418 Press), New York. Butow, E & Taylor, K 2009, How to succeed in business using LinkedIn: making connections and capturing opportunities on the Web's #1 business networking site, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, London. Darling, D 2005, Networking for career success: 24 lessons for getting to know the right people, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. Debaise, C 2009, ‘Web pioneer works Networks’, The Australian, 27 November, p. 11. Thuraisingham, M 2009, ‘Tap into the wisdom of others around you’, The weekend Australian, 15 February, p. 5. Uzzi, B & Dunlop, S 2005, ‘How to build your network’, Harvard business review. vol. 83, no. 12, pp. 53-60. . Read More