For Women In Business, Simply Being Well-Connected Is Not Enough

Engaging in the same networking activities as men, such as golfing or having a beer together, the logic seems to go, will increase women’s exposure to work opportunities.  A new study by Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management professors Brian Uzzi and Yang Yang suggests this advice isn’t quite right. While it’s true that highly connected women tend to land better jobs and build their businesses faster, the most successful women also have something they cannot get through “beers with the boys”: close ties with female peers.

Here's the key:

“Men really need a network that’s going to maximize their access and exposure to market information,” says [co-author and Professor] Brian Uzzi. Women, however, “need the same thing men need and one thing more.”

Specifically, women need “private information,” which may include insider tips about a company’s leadership culture and politics, or hints about how to make an impression in a male-dominated industry, for example.

Read on to understand that for a woman to land a top job, she needs different types of networks than men.  Simply being well-connected is not enough.