Can Do #17: Networking has a much deeper purpose than you think
(Mrp, The Universe #022, NFT, 2022)
Welcome to the 17th edition of Can Do, a newsletter where I share my journey of building a Career Multiverse™.
You can also read my previous editions and follow me on Twitter.
Newsletter at a Glance
Career Multiverse™: Networking
Podcast: Is a Portfolio Career Right for You?
Tweet: Become a VC for your own ideas
Career Multiverse™
Networking can lead to life-changing results, and I am not talking about the obvious ones, such as finding a job or connecting with an interesting person. It goes much deeper than that.
On Tuesday, I was supposed to attend a very exciting event, Friends Building the Future (of Work). It was organized by a Gen Z work futurist, speaker, advocate, and LinkedIn Top Voice for Gen Z Creators. Danielle is an unbelievably impressive young woman. We had a great time getting to know each other recently, and I was looking forward to the event. Unfortunately, I got sick over the weekend and could not travel to New York City.
Before catching a cold, as I was preparing for the event, I reflected on my experience with networking and how it has impacted my life.
Had I attended the Tuesday event, I would have been one of the most senior people there. Most attendees were Gen Zs. I belong to the tail end of Generation X.
That reminded me of when, in December 2008, I was the youngest person in the room at a Financial Women’s Association (FWA) event. FWA is a serious organization that is only open to women in the financial services industry. You have to be sponsored by two existing members to have your membership application accepted.
That 2008 event was a transformative moment in my career. It was the genesis of the Career Multiverse™ and all of the ideas I have been developing and sharing over the past several months.
Most women at the event were senior bankers and financial industry professionals. They were Executive and Managing Directors at Citibank, JP Morgan, PNC, and other Wall Street firms. Sadly, many of them had just lost their jobs.
It was the peak of the 2008 financial crisis, and seeing people lose their jobs was not unusual. What made these women different was their stories. They had spent 25+ years at the same firm. They had sacrificed their personal lives and time with their families to dedicate themselves to their jobs and prove to everyone that they were just as capable as their male counterparts, if not more so.
These women had achieved a lot, and then it all came crashing down in a few short months. They were nowhere near retirement age. They still had to work, but where? Not only did they lose their jobs, but they also lost their identities.
As someone who was still relatively early in her career, that experience left a huge impression on me. I never wanted to be in that position. Without knowing it at the time, I started to formulate a radically different career path for myself. I began to see a commitment to one organization that could toss you out on the street at any moment as being utterly ludicrous. Why would anyone want to put themselves in that situation?
Of course, nothing is that simple. From an early age, we are taught to believe that a traditional career path, where you have only one job, is the safest and most stable way to earn a living. But there I was, surrounded by dozens of women showing me that lesson was false.
Diversifying my income streams became a mission for me. It was very difficult to achieve that in 2008, and it is still hard to do that today. Regardless, it is a must, and it is the first lens through which I evaluate every opportunity.
Networking gets a bad rap. Once again, it goes back to what we were taught. Most people associate networking with attending large events, talking to total strangers, and collecting as many business cards as possible.
I have a different take on networking and what it can do for your career. I'm now working on a product to help Gen Zs start their career journey the right way.
Podcast
Is a Portfolio Career Right for You?
This week, I am sharing a podcast episode instead of an article.
The podcast episode was a promotion for the book, The Startup of You: Adapt, Take Risks, Grow Your Network, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman, Founder of LinkedIn, and Ben Casnocha, a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur, author, and venture capitalist.
The authors discussed how our lives go through seasons. Sometimes, we are super focused on one thing, and at other times, we are more diversified. Highly successful people tend to lead very focused and specialized lives in the first half of their careers and switch to a portfolio career later in life.
The authors described career options as a continuum that goes from focus to portfolio.
Laser careers: you are super focused on one job only
Main thing careers: you are starting to explore some side or passion projects
True portfolio career: your career is a mix of various projects
I ordered the book this morning. I can’t wait to read it and understand what they see as a path to a portfolio career.
Tweet
I treat my career as a VC. I know that many of my projects will not go far, but one or two will hit it big.
Thank you for reading!
Alina