After reading Shyamal Majumdar’s “Build your own village” (February 18), I was reminded of a study by Fred Luthans about the difference between successful managers (rapid promotions) and effective managers (performance excellence). It found that the former spent most time on networking and the latter the least. Another study by Sylvia Ann Hewlett said that among high performers in organisations only those go up the ladder who have “sponsors” to advocate their case to the decision makers.
There is no doubt the world has made a paradigm shift from “your work speaks for you” to “who is your spokesperson” to gain ascendancy. Instead of being one of the important parameters, it is becoming the main yardstick for career advancement. The flip side is that networking is sliding down in its ethical content from building mutual trust to Machiavellian politicking, backbiting and one-upmanship. It asks the quiet efficient people to come out of their closed spaces and build relationships with key people and provides a smooth ride to artful networkers making up for their skill deficit.
Y G Chouksey, Pune
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