Business Networking and Sex - Ivan Misner [18]
Now let’s look at the survey results to understand the way networking wields such power.
The Role Networking Plays in Success, By Gender
As you can see in Figure 2.2, both women and men overwhelmingly agreed that networking played a role in their success. More women than men answered positively, and though the difference is small, it is statistically significant.
Some respondents, such as this one, thought that women were actually better at networking than men:
Women are better networkers than men. They take longer to trust people, but if you use nonthreatening approaches and utilize follow-up, you will succeed with them.
Additional differences become even more apparent when the data was flipped to compare the yes and no responses. Notice in Figure 2.3 on page 31 that men, by a fairly wide margin, made up a much larger percentage of the group who felt networking did not play a role in their success. You will see that those people who said “no” tended to be men by a fairly wide margin, almost 60 percent. Only 40 percent who felt networking wasn’t part of their success were women. Consequently, while most people said that networking played a role in their success, slightly more were women.
FIGURE 2.2—The Role of Networking in Success, by Gender
FIGURE 2.3—Opinions on Attributing Networking to Success, By Gender
WHAT DOES “STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT” REALLY MEAN?
“Statistically significant” is a term that sometimes confuses people, but it really means that the results are solid and if the same study were to be conducted 100 more times, 95 of them (or more) would yield the same results.
Imagine that you’re running a marathon and all the conditions are perfect on the day the race is held. The weather is a comfortable 60 degrees Fahrenheit, you’ve got your most comfortable shorts and T-shirt on, and you’re feeling fit and well prepared. There’s only one tiny thing that doesn’t fall into the perfect category. It’s something you notice at mile five: a minuscule pebble in your shoe. Even though it is so small that you could barely see it if you had the time to take your shoe off, the blister it creates could make or break your running time. A pebble in a runner’s shoe is statistically significant, though very small.
As you can understand from that analogy, “statistically significant” also means that the tiny result is something that cannot be ignored, and usually either indicates or causes other things.
Why did more women than men feel that networking played a role in their success? Some of the comments by the survey respondents shed light on the answer as shown here:
I believe that my success with networking and receiving referrals comes because of my inherent nature to nurture. The nurturing aspect is what drives me to see a project through to the end, to make sure my client is successful. This same drive makes me a good networker, but not a pushy one. The nurturing instinct may be the biggest difference between men and women networkers.
Whether women are actually more “nurturing” than men in general is beyond our scope here, but these respondents touch on important points:
Women look out for one another and take the time to find out about people.
Women mirror some of their lifelong practiced, childhood-acquired playground social tactics at networking meetings. They seek common ground with others and ask questions that show concern, such as whether or not it was difficult to find parking.
Could the same be said of men? Do early social experiences in the sandbox shape each gender’s behavior, values, and perspectives in fundamental ways that impact their adult networking agendas? The woman who shared the comment above certainly thinks so.
Both our data and respondents’ comments reveal that women