Have You Met Any Connectors Lately?

Do you remember that Gladwell not only stayed at the bed and breakfast recommended by a maven, but he also passed on that recommendation to several others after his stay? That is the result of a maven word of mouth. When a maven passes on information, five out of five recipients not only follow the advice but also pass it on themselves. Mavens epitomize the "strong tie" in relationships.

On the other hand, the next type of person that I want to address is the master of the "weak tie." These people are connectors. They skim along through society making acquaintances and place a high value in the casual meeting. Once a connector has met you, that connector knows you. He or she will happily give information about you to others. Whereas the maven endlessly researches, a connector gets information from personal contact. Mavens spend their time finding out from books, publications, and the internet. Connectors spend their time meeting people face-to-face or voice-to-voice.

During these conversations, connectors draw out information about the person with whom they are talking. Connectors have a natural curiosity which makes them interested in others. Their energy and sociability encourages others to converse easily with them. In addition, connectors' self-confidence prompts them to ask questions which give them valuable information that they remember. After a brief conversation, a connector will know more pertinent information about you than you realize.

You see, connectors are collectors of people. They genuinely like people and want to know more about each person as an individual. When you have talked with a connector, you will feel that person was interested in you and got to know you. And that is true. A connector wants to make your acquaintance out of curiosity and sociability.

It's what a connector does with what he or she learns about you that makes connectors a critical link in spreading information via word of mouth.

Since connectors are curious and love people, they tend to meet many different kinds of people. These people are from varying professions and backgrounds. Connectors will sit down and talk with anyone and find the conversation interesting. They will then file that association away for future reference. When a connector comes across a person who could use that association, the connector does not hesitate to encourage one person to contact the other.

In doing so, connectors interconnect different circles of interests and professions. Connectors take the information learned from two people of different circles and see how the two could benefit from knowing each other. Then, they act on this knowledge and introduce people who otherwise would not have met. Connectors have their feet in many circles, and they use their acquaintanceships to bring seemingly unassociated circles together.

Gladwell cites an excellent example of connectors' helping others find a job. In his classic 1974 study, Getting a Job, Mark Granovetter interviewed several hundred professional and technical workers from the Boston suburb of Newton. Not surprisingly, he found that 56 percent of these people got their jobs through personal connections. Surprisingly, however, most of these personal connections were through "weak ties" with 55.6 percent seeing their contact "occasionally" and 28 percent seeing that contact "rarely." These contacts were acquaintances. They were connectors.

Connectors' acquaintanceships affect the movement of information through different circles of people. They connect people to people and people to information that might not otherwise have been connected. As Gladwell says, "Connectors bring the world together."

Have you met any connectors lately?