Pull : networking and success since Benjamin Franklin / Pamela Walker Laird.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Laird, Pamela Walker, 1947-

Series:

Harvard studies in business history ; 48.

Harvard studies in business history ; 48

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Business networks--United States--History.

Business networks.

Success in business--United States--History.

Success in business.

Businesspeople--United States--History.

Businesspeople.

Social networks--United States--History.

Social networks.

Social capital (Sociology)--United States.

Social capital (Sociology).

Physical Description:

xiv, 439 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Networking and success since Benjamin Franklin

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2006.

Summary:

Redefining the way we view business success, Pamela Laird demolishes the popular American self-made story as she exposes the social dynamics that navigate some people toward opportunity and steer others away. Who gets invited into the networks of business opportunity? What does an unacceptable candidate lack? The answer is social capital--all those social assets that attract respect, generate confidence, evoke affection, and invite loyalty. In retelling success stories from Benjamin Franklin to Andrew Carnegie to Bill Gates, Laird goes beyond personality, upbringing, and social skills to reveal the critical common key--access to circles that control and distribute opportunity and information. She explains how civil rights activism and feminism in the 1960s and 1970s helped demonstrate that personnel practices violated principles of equal opportunity. She evaluates what social privilege actually contributes to business success, and analyzes the balance between individual characteristics--effort, innovation, talent--and social factors such as race, gender, class, and connections. In contrasting how Americans have prospered--or not--with how we have talked about prospering, Laird offers rich insights into how business really operates and where its workings fit within American culture. From new perspectives on entrepreneurial achievement to the role of affirmative action and the operation of modern corporate personnel systems, Pull shows that business is a profoundly social process, and that no one can succeed alone.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION Connections at Work

CHAPTER 1 Social Capital and the Mechanisms of Success

CHAPTER 2 Organizing and Synthesizing Social Capital

CHAPTER 3 Social Rungs on Corporate Ladders

CHAPTER 4 Contacts and Buffers

CHAPTER 5 The Business of Integration

CHAPTER 6 Strangers on the Ladder

CHAPTER 7 Uncovering the Power of Pull

CHAPTER 8 Social Tools for Self-Help

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-420) and index.

ISBN:

9780674039872

0674039874

OCLC:

923111646