The notion that we often hear, that it’s the size of your network that matters, or the number of people you know, is simply wrong.

What is far more important than the number of people you know is the strength and the quality of your social connections.

There are three main styles of networking that people tend to use when navigating the social world:

• Conveners tend to form close, interconnected groups. They tend to have social networks populated by mutual friends.
• Brokers tend to have soci...

Research has found that conveners tend to be less lonely. In networks of conveners, where everyone knows each other, people also tend to have higher levels of trust in each other.

The downside of convening networks is that their members may have le...

Being a broker is likely to benefit us in contexts where innovation and creativity are valued, since brokers serve as the connecting link between groups with different ideas and experiences.

Brokers also appear to have better work-life balance, which may be due to their te...

Expansionists’ popularity can help them make important professional connections. Research suggests that we’re likely to find jobs through people we know, but particularly through acquaintances (who know about opportunities we don’t) rather than close friends or family.

Ho...

If you’re feeling like your social skills are a bit rusty or the prospect of attending a networking mixer has always put butterflies in your stomach, consider this:

• In social interactions, we tend to think others are judging us more critically than they actually are.
• Social...