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(323) 652-9451In the weeks leading up to launching my own firm, I was hungry for resources and, frankly, inspiration. Someone had loaned my wife a copy of The Start-Up of You, co-authored by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and business journalist Ben Casnocha. If there is a book with a title better fitting what I’m doing, I can’t think of it.
The book is a breeze. Hoffman reaffirmed my belief that most of the billionaires starting up these companies that strike it huge really are a different breed and, far more than any politician, hold the keys to our collective future.
While parts of the book do address the topic suggested by the title, e.g., who you are and where you are going with your career, either on your own, leading an enterprise or as an employee, its real strengths are found in a topic close to Hoffman’s heart (and wallet): one’s network. If you’re reading this and aren’t yet on LinkedIn, and don’t have an idea of its (absolutely FREE) capabilities, then you’re missing out on the biggest resource out there. Unless, of course, you’re career consists of measuring the shade under a rock.
Hoffman’s view is that everything in finding and building your career and future revolves around the size and strength of your network. And he makes a good case. Here’s how he lays out this premise:
“Even if you realize the fact that you are in permanent beta, even if you develop a competitive advantage, even if you adapt your career plans to changing conditions — even if you do these things but do so alone — you’ll fall short. World-class professionals build networks to help them navigate the world. No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team. . . teamwork is eminently on display in the start-up world. Very few start-ups are started by only one person. Everyone in the entrepreneurial community agrees that assembling a talented team is as important as it gets.” (Id. at 83.)
Not surprisingly, Hoffman takes ample opportunities to show off how active users of his product–LinkedIn–have a real advantage in building and nurturing their networks. Time-out here for a personal, real-world testimonial. I’m writing this at the end of my first week as a sole practitioner, as a true blue Start-Up. All the days, months and, frankly, years, leading up to this week I’d been quaking in my boots believing that I’d find myself sitting in desperation by a silent phone, waiting for it to ring with a possible client. Anyone who’s gone from a firm to a solo practice knows the feeling. Alas, this didn’t happen! It turns out that, as a direct result of my career update, that featured on the LinkedIn timeline of each of my 1200+ LinkedIn connections, I received two solid referrals that I converted into two brand new paying (I hope) clients! It’s pretty hard to argue with this result, wouldn’t you say? If you’re still not on LinkedIn, and referrals play a role in how you get business, you’re missing out. I’m just sayin’.
Back to Hoffman. He illustrates how one’s network, at least as quantified and managed on LinkedIn, is exponentially larger than one might imagine. For the benefit of anyone not familiar with how LinkedIn works, anyone who accepts an invitation to connect with you on the site is part of your network of “1st degree connections.” But, contrary to what you might intuitively believe, your network does not stop there. It also includes a collection of people who are connected with your 1st degree connections. These are your 2nd degree connections. And anyone connected to your 2nd degree connections are, you guessed it, 3rd degree connections.
What I found most interesting about the book is Hoffman’s argument that expanding your circle of so-called weak relationships can expand opportunities in ways that focusing solely on maintaining and nurturing your relationships with “allies” or those close to you will not. Certainly allies will be the first to come to your aid and do whatever they can to further your cause. But, Hoffman points out, your closest relationships are not likely to expose you to new, different and varied opportunities. Invoking a 1970s study by sociologist Mark Granovetter, Hoffman writes:
“[S]o-called cliques . . . are groups of people who have something in common . . . limit your exposure to wildly new experiences, opportunities, and information. Because people tend to hang out in cliques, your good friends are usually from the same industry, neighborhood, religious group, and the like. The stronger your tie with someone, the more likely they are to mirror you in various ways, and the more likely you are to want to introduce them to your other friends. . . .
In contrast, weak ties usually sit outside of the inner circle. You’re not necessarily going to introduce a looser connection to all of your other friends. Thus, there’s a greater likelihood a weak tie will be exposed to new information or a job opportunity. This is the crux of Granovetter’s argument: Weak ties can uniquely serve as bridges to other worlds and thus can pass on information or opportunities you have not heard about. We would stress that it’s not that weak ties per se find you jobs; it’s that weak ties are likely to be exposed to information or job listings you haven’t seen. Weak ties in and of themselves are not especially valuable; what is valuable is the breadth and reach of your network.” (Id. at 105-06.)
Again, it’s this insight about the relative strength and importance of what we would otherwise consider weak relationships that I found to be the book’s most original and compelling point. I recommend The Start-Up of You to anyone for whom a broad network is a crucial component for success. According to the book, that’s pretty much everyone.
The Defense Research Institute (DRI) is seeking new members and I promised to do my part with this public service announcement.*
I’ve belonged to DRI since my first year of practice and I have found it to be a great resource and, at times, a lot of fun. Over the years, I’ve belonged to the Young Lawyers, Products Liability, Trial Tactics, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Commercial Litigation and Employment and Labor Law Committees. With a few exceptions, I’ve tried to hit at least one conference every year, often in Chicago, but sometimes in really exotic destinations like Scottsdale or Las Vegas.
The benefits of membership include well-planned, well-executed conferences, a monthly print magazine, For the Defense, which generally has focused and relevant articles, and multiple online e-newsletters. There are expert witness databases and certain substantive law committees have very active listservs. There’s also a blawg, DRI Today. The real benefit from my perspective, though, is the opportunity to belong to an (inter)national** network of thousands of practitioners who can serve as both referral sources and substantive law resources. I met some great people at the conferences and I’ve kept in touch and tried to refer business to many of them over the years.
Take a look at DRI. There’s a discounted membership for lawyers practicing 5 years or less. And if you’re interested in joining, let me know and I’ll hook you up.
*With guitar!
** Including Canada.
Congratulations 2012 law school graduates! Welcome to the war. Wear sunscreen.
Seriously, though, I have a piece of advice I wish I had known and followed almost 20 years ago. Make a list of every person with whom you attended law school (not just your graduating class, but all 3 or 4 years) that you know/knew even remotely. Don’t limit it to people you hung out with or even liked. Make it every single person who would recognize you or your name. For every person you list, do everything thing you can to gather that person’s contact information and put what you have (even if it’s only an email) in your Outlook or digital or old school address book. Then, as often as you feel comfortable, but at least every Christmas (or commonly recognized holiday in mid-December, Kwanzaa or whatever), reach out to that person with some kind of communication (written or phone) wishing them well. A holiday card on actual stationary will do the trick.
This process will be a lot easier if you start right away with an email or other note wishing the new graduates among them good luck on the bar exam. When bar results are announced, reach out and congratulate those on your list who passed. Suggest you’d like to keep in touch.
I cannot overemphasize how much of a career shaping or changing habit this can be. Many (ok, let’s face it, most) of you are going to struggle for the next 12-24 months trying to secure agreeable employment. But every graduate will eventually find something. This is just the beginning. The people on your list will move. Their career and life choices will take them in directions both vertical and lateral. Yours will, too. From my experience, the farther we get from college or law school, the more we wish we’d kept in touch.
If you adopt my suggestion, fast forward 20 years and picture that classmate you marginally knew in 2012, but with whom you made an effort to keep in touch, in the year 2032. He or she is no longer a fresh law school graduate. He or she is a senior partner at a firm, or active in business, or maybe at home raising a kid. Or maybe, he or she has just been hired as assistant general counsel of a potentially great client who, as it turns out, needs counsel in your practice area. Or he or she is a rising star at a prosecutor’s office or other government position and in a position to influence lateral hiring. The possibilities are endless. The point is that, with a minimal, but regular, expenditure of effort, you could be positioned to leverage relationships to help shape your career in ways you cannot presently imagine.
And I don’t mean to suggest that such relationships exist just to be leveraged. Who knows, with just an occasional email or note, that acquaintance from law school could grow to be your best new friend.
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