Darryl L. Howes - The Networking Playbook: Transform Your Social Capital into Professional Career Success

The Networking Playbook

The Networking Playbook

Transform Your Social Capital into Professional Career Success

Darryl L. Howes, MSc

The Networking Playbook:
Transform Your Social Capital into Professional Career Success

Copyright Business Expert Press, LLC, 2022.

Back cover photography copyright www.richardbudd.co.uk, 2021

Cover design by Charlene Kronstedt

Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission of the publisher.

First published in 2022 by

Business Expert Press, LLC

222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017

www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-63742-189-5 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-63742-190-1 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Business Career Development Collection

First edition: 2022

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Kev.
And for George and Carl. Two best friends who were brought back together by happenstance. And connected again. With grateful thanks for the loving kindness of my immediate family: Debbie, Nicki, Steph, Amanda, and Karl.

London, January 2021

Description

Is your career headed where it needs to go? Disappointed and disengaged by job interviews? Dont sit back and wait for things to happen. Get more done! Design your career and deliver your life!

People networking must be an essential element of any professional and personal development program. Your individual success proceeds from building valuable relationships that advance your life project and supercharge the achievement of your goals.

Management of your networking activity isnt about deceit or Machiavellian sharp practice. Instead, it involves starting with the end in mind, thinking about your direction of travel and having a values-based route map to get there.

Networking is not a nil sum gameyou win/I lose. Instead, its about making the pie bigger in terms of opportunities. Lets work together, find out what we have in common, harness our creativity and make the pie as big as possible! Turn up! Follow up! And keep it up!

Whether you are a first-time or experienced networker, The Networking Playbook will coach you in the skills required for success, allowing you to plan and control your future. Introducing valuable insights and information from psychology, sociology, and anthropology, its the one career advice book that puts you in charge of successful networking.

Keywords

career; professional; networking; job search; career advice; personal development; networking playbook; success; management; coach; plan

Contents

Darryl is one of the best networkers in the UK. If you need to understand the who, what, when, where, and how of people networking, get in touch with him.Derek Arden, International Negotiation Expert, and author of Win Win: How to Get a Winning Result from Persuasive Negotiations, London, England

The book goes into much greater detail than any other book on networking I have read; yet allows a person some latitude as to how they will network, via the authors scaffolding approach. Although extensively researched and abundant with technical references for those who wish to have them, the book is extremely readable. The summary bullet points at the end of each chapter were invaluable in helping me plot my networking roadmap and routes. This is a wonderful book really something special.Tim Durkin, Leadership Expert, Certified Speaking Professional, and author of Moving from Promise to Performance: 17 Sure-Fire Strategies for Better Results at Work and at Home, Dallas TX

Darryl Howes has written the opposite of a text book an networking. Its a playbook thats action orientated, dispels the most common myths around networking such as just be yourself or find your tribe and provides not only relevant examples but signposts the reader to deepen their practice and mastery of such a vital topic. A book that can not only help you develop your social capital but also your life. Highly recommended!Steven DSouza, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry. Author of Brilliant Networking and Co-Author of the award winning Not Knowing trilogy http://www.stevendsouza.com, London, England

This is a well written book which will be useful to those starting out in their careers who wish to learn more about the art and importance of networking and to those with more experience, but who wish to improve their effectiveness. Far from being a dry textbook, it is written in an engaging and easily understandable style which makes it a very enjoyable read.John M. Hodson, Senior Vice President, Handelsbanken, London, England

This book will be enorously valuable to anyone who needs to improve their networking skillsin other words, almost all of us. It is packed with practical advice and insights into how to build up effective relationship which will help us get where we want togo not only in business but in life, supported all the way through by compelling evidence and lively anecdotes. What comes through strongly is how none of these efforts will succeed unless we are sincere and authentic in the way we reach out to others.Charles Fowler, Chair, Human Values Foundation, London, England

Darryl is an inspiration when it comes to networking. He has encouraged me to expand my horizons and gain the confidence to reach out to others. On publication day, I was first in the queue at my local bookstore.Stuart M. Leeds, I/O Psychology Master of Science student, Bath, England

This extremely well-researched book will be invaluable to all who wish to implement or develop their personal networking strategies. During my extensive business career, I have consistently stressed the importance of networking to my management team. Some got it, many did not. This book will be invaluable to those who may know what they should be doing, but none the less struggle to implement it. The author guides and advises on all aspects of effective networking and the Strategic Business Networking framework really hits home, allowing you to get it quicker and better than any other networking book I have read.Godfrey Lancashire, Business Adviser, Mentor and Coach. Cofounder and co-owner, London House International, Dorset, England

We are about to witness a seismic shift in the world of work. And I dont mean all this stuff about working from home, or teleworking, or flexible working, or whatever todays buzzword is. That has been going on to a greater or lesser extent since the word telecommuting was formally coined in the early 1970s.

No, its something deeper than that. We are going to witness the acceleration of a model that challenges long-held beliefs around what it means to be a manager or to be an employee. What work means in common parlance will also change.

Im not saying this will happen overnight and, as William Gibson (as cited in Pettman, 2009) said, The future is already hereits just not evenly distributed, but change is coming and, like a wildfire, if it catches it is likely to be rapid.

Rather, I mean that the processes initiated by large-scale freelancing platforms such as Upwork, People per Hour, and so on will develop further. Of course, books have talked about this before. The Start Up of You, by LinkedIns key founder, Reid Hoffman, is one particularly good example.