No. 76 - You Can Never Have Too Much Social Capital

Social capital is the strength of your relationship with another person.

The more social capital you have with someone, the more you can ask of him or her.

With your closest friends and family, you have virtually unlimited social capital. You can ask these people for just about anything.

With everyone else, you have a shorter supply of social capital.

There are five things to consider about social capital:

1. The more you have the better.

2. Try to improve relationships with people most likely able to help you achieve your goals. As your relationships deepen, so does your social capital reservoir.

3. Do not overdraft on your social capital. For example, don't ask someone to do something for you that is 'too much, too soon.'

4. Don't keep a running tally of what you do for whom. The game is not 'tit for tat.' Just continue to build social capital as best you can because you never know for sure when and how it will come back to you.

5. Ultimately, you can't be afraid to ask. Social capital is not an exact measurement. You will never know for sure until you ask another person for help.

"The ability to achieve our goals, fulfill our missions, and make our contributions to the world depends as much on our social capital (the resources available in and through personal and business networks) as it does on our human capital (knowledge, experties, and experience)." - Wayne Baker, Achieving Success Through Social Capital

Read more about business networking, or check out the work-in-progress book 'Street Smarts 101: Lessons Textbooks Miss.'

Click here to learn more about the book The Skinny On Networking.

Comments

[bryan]

Good Post. You get social capital by giving of yourself from time to time be it money or time. Accept invitations, get on the phone/text, give gifts etc. t build more of it and always remember that people don't forget what you did for them no matter how small or big