Network with a
Clean Conscience
If the thought of professional
networking makes you squirm, you’re
not alone. A recent study found that
networking for the purpose of career
advancement makes some people
feel immoral and physically dirty.
“People feel that they cannot justify
their actions to themselves, and
the lack of justification comes
from the difficulty people have in
framing some forms of networking
as motivated by a concern for other
people versus a selfish concern,”
said study co-author Tiziana
Casciaro, an associate professor
of organizational behavior and
human resource management at
the University of Toronto’s Rotman
School of Management.
Networking can be critical for career
development, so that uneasy feeling
may hold back an otherwise highperforming employee from moving
up the ladder at work.
Casciaro and fellow researchers
Francesca Gino of Harvard Business
School and Maryam Kouchaki of
Northwestern University’s Kellogg
School of Management based
their findings on both laboratory
experiments and a study of lawyers at
a large North American firm.
The researchers found that lawyers
who held positions of power in
the firm were less likely to report
feeling impure while networking and
networked more often. Those who
held less power in the office reported
that networking made them feel
dirtier and that they were less likely
6 Coaching World
Those negative feelings can be
overcome when people start to
see networking as being about
more than just themselves, such
as an opportunity to develop the
networker’s knowledge of their
industry, with the benefit being
passed on to whomever they work
with, said Casciaro.
Networking can be more palatable if
you feel that you have something to
offer in return.
“Don’t underestimate what you can
give,” said Casciaro.
The study was published in the journal
Administrative Science Quarterly.
—Lisa Barbella
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Keeping Current
to do it. This imbalance is likely to
reinforce the existing power structure
and make it more difficult for those at
the bottom to advance.
Not Just Nature
or Nurture
Is “genius” a matter of genetics, or can
anyone achieve greatness through
dedication and hard work? According
to new research from Michigan
State University, your belief about
this question can literally affect the
functioning of your brain and your
ability to achieve goals. The study
suggests that simply being told that
effort trumps genetics can cause
instant changes in the brain and
prompt subjects to perform better.
To conduct the study, researchers
split participants into two groups
and instructed them to read one
of two articles about the nature
of intelligence. The first article
stated that intelligence was largely
genetic and immutable. The second
article stated that intelligence was
malleable—that the genius of brilliant
individuals, such as Leonardo da Vinci
and Albert Einstein, was “probably
due to a challenging environment,”
and “had little to do with genetic
structure.” The subjects were told
to remember the article’s key points,
then to complete a set of reactiontime tests while the researchers
monitored their brain activity.
The participants who read the
“immutable” article showed an increase
in attention to their responses (as
if they were more conscious of
their own performance), but no
improvement in the task from trial
to trial. In contrast, the subjects who
read the “malleable” article showed an
increased attention to the task itself,
and an improved performance from
trial to trial.
Lead investigator Hans Schroder, a
doctoral student in clinical psychology
at MSU, says that regardless of the
“nature vs. nurture” debate, simply
holding the belief that intelligence is
malleable creates positive effects in
the brain, and thereby encourages us
to work harder. He noted that “giving
people messages that encourage
learning and motivation may promote
more efficient performance,” while
“telling people that intelligence is
genetically fixed may inadvertently
hamper learning.”
The Takeaway
We all possess different strengths
and abilities, some more malleable
than others. But it’s interesting to
see that by simply believing that
change and growth is possible, we
encourage our ability to change
and grow, and in doing so, work to
develop our highest potential.
The study appears in the journal
Biological Psychology.
—Justin Hannah