When I was going through finance recruiting, one of the largest aspects of the process I had to learn was networking. It’s not the most fun experience. However, interestingly, during one of the million and one information sessions I went to, a recruiter pointed out that women and POC tend to create closed networks. They gravitate towards people that look like them which in turn, disadvantages them in the work force.
Research has shown that your network is the greatest indicator of your career success. Therefore, having a diverse network is imperative to rising up the career ladder. When you look at the heads of most fortune 500 companies, most are straight, white men. A surprisingly large number of them are named John (which is very problematic when there are more Johns than women). Therefore, with the assumption that people gravitate towards people that look like them, it shouldn’t be a surprise that most senior leadership at large companies are straight, white men.
When I first stepped on to Brown’s campus, I made the very conscious decision to be friends with people that look nothing like me. I noticed that many South Asian students tended to gravitate towards their own clan and were unwilling to push themselves out of their own comfort zone. I don’t blame them. It’s easy to find common ground with people who have shared the same foods, culture and festivities growing up. There’s nothing like finding someone who actually knows what fuchka is (i.e., the greatest street food in the world). However, I knew that there was very little to learn in terms of cultural perspectives from people who had lived very similar experiences to me. And I knew there were many benefits of creating a network (and more so, personal relationships) with different groups of people.
Is it the job of women and POC to reach out to different groups? Yes, but it’s a two-way street. People in positions of authority carry equal (if not more) responsibility of reaching out to us. We may not be the same gender, color, or have the same cultural experiences. But we should be able to find common ground in intellectual thought, opinions, or how trashy the Bachelor is (but still amazing TV). And if we don’t, then we should be able to have a constructive debate about our differences. Not avoid each other altogether.
I have gained so much from having a diverse group of friends and mentors from all corners of the world. Thus, I ask people to reach out to people who don’t look like them. The ones who look like you will always be there, and that relationship will always be easy. But couple that with people who don’t and your network will become infinitely more powerful.
