Social Capital Mentor

Craig forwarded me an interesting posting in the Wall Street Journal concerning the importance of office popularity.

You might think you left the world of cliques and in-crowds behind when you left high school.

You’d be wrong. The benefits of being popular extend all the way into the adult workplace, based on research in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Here’s how this question is commonly positioned: Which is better: office popularity or job performance? Framed like that, the answer is obvious. We want to think that job performance is king.

We want merit to rule the day

Of course, we all want to be the person who consistently performs at a high level. No person with a shred of integrity wants to think that they got to where they are because of their ability to schmooze. We want to think that if we’re competent, we’ll be rewarded accordingly, regardless of what fickle people might think of us. There’s a practical reason for this point of view. Anybody who has ever worked for a family business realizes the utter frustration that is the norm when merit has no bearing on rewards.

It’s not that simple, though

The problem is how this question is framed. It’s limiting to look at this as an “either/or” question; it only serves to polarize a subject that requires more nuance.

Simple Reality #4:

Popularity is more useful than indifference or contempt

Popularity matters in the office. Wishing it didn’t is sort of like wishing morning breath didn’t stink. It does. Get used to it or don’t kiss in the morning.

There’s a great story about an Italian Army Officer in WWII. His Command announced that only married officers would be promoted, except in cases of extreme bravery. He promptly ended his engagement with his heiress fiance. When asked why he abandoned his love, he said that he didn’t want anybody to ever think that he got promoted just because he was married. Men like this are easy to admire. They generally don’t do too well in the world, though.

Perception of your work is shaped by how people see you

But beyond the obvious benefits of popularity, there is the unspoken, deeper advantage which I’ve talked about in previous posts. A person’s perception of your work is unavoidably shaped by his impression of you. Your work, regardless of how exceptional it is, will have a hard time getting the credit it deserves if you are generally disliked.

Everyone needs a safety net

Spend any significant time doing a job and you’ll get to a point where you work product takes a downturn. Maybe you’re sick. It could be problems at home with your spouse. Whatever the case, you have a distraction and your work will suffer as a result. If you’ve stored up some Social Capital, you can use it here. Your coworkers will cover for you in the short run. Your bosses will cut you slack on your review. However, if they don’t like you, a drop in performance is just a handy excuse to get out the long knives. Pretending this isn’t important is foolish arrogance. I learned this lesson the hard way.

Popularity is not Social Capital

I want to make a very important distinction here. There is a tremendous difference between popularity and Social Capital. Popularity is primarily a function of your personality. It is generally measured by how many people think positively of you.

Social Capital is different. It is measured by how much certain individuals will go to bat for you. I have “friendships” with people whom I would never socialize with or share anything even remotely personal with. Yet, if they needed something from me, I would do everything I could to fulfill their request because I know them to be capable and honorable. By “capable” I mean they have an ability I may have need for in the future.  By “honorable” I mean that they will remember they owe me a favor when it comes time for me to collect. There’s no affection here. Just a sense of utility. We do, however, wrap it in the guise of friendship for the ease of communication and the sensitivities of the people around us. But we have no illusions.

This is different from being liked, or popular. The French have a great saying that, translated, goes like this: “That man is so good, he’s of no good to anybody.” We all know the person that everybody likes but no one takes seriously. Take no stand and popularity is easy. It will be interesting to see how long President Obama’s general popularity can sustain his high poll numbers as he starts making real decisions and alienating people as hard decisions invariably do.

Remember, even though Social Capital is more useful than popularity, popularity is still better than contempt or indifference.

I don’t care if anybody likes me. I do want them to see me as capable, resourceful and honorable. You’ll have a beer with the guy you like. You’ll slay dragons with the other guy. This is less a matter of personality and charm than it is of habits. Stick with me and I’ll share some of those habits with you in future posts.

Bitches, gripes, smart remarks? Send ‘em.

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