Mark Granovetter’s Theory: “The Strength of Weak Ties”
Or put differently, why you want to create a business community for yourself that includes people with whom you don’t usually interact.
Professor Mark Granovetter is widely known for his work in social network theory, particularly his theory on the spread of information in social networks. Information fuels our careers. We need current, meaningful, diverse, and reliable information in order to make choices, find jobs, determine preferences, choose targets, secure new clients, retain existing clients, and add-value at every turn. “Strong ties” often provide information you may already have; “weak ties” are a source we can’t overlook:
- Close friends are your “strong ties” and are part of a densely knit set of individuals who very likely interact with one another socially and professionally.
- Acquaintances, and certainly those who you do not know well, are “weak ties”. Where there are weak ties, there is a “low density” network, one in which possible relationships are few as weak ties are less likely to be socially involved with one another than strong ties.
- According to Granovetter, “acquaintances – as compared to close friends – are more prone to move in different circles than oneself.” Our current friends and business colleagues are likely to move in similar or overlapping circles. The information within those circles is likely to be “much the same as that which one already knows”. Therefore, when you interact solely with your “strong ties”, you are not likely to expose yourself to new ideas, new contacts, new opportunities, and new information.
Networking with “weak ties” – new people from entirely different circles, professions, and/or communities – ensures that you are exposed to new ideas and opportunities, which is vital to one’s career.