Works
- How Leaders Create and Use Networks, Harvard Business Review, 2007
In Tactics of Organizational Politics
Ideas
Operational, personal, and strategic networks. Drawing on a study of 30 managers moving into leadership roles, this Harvard Business Review article distinguishes operational networking, aimed at doing one's current job well; personal networking, outside contacts for learning and advancement; and strategic networking, the ability to marshal information, support, and resources from one part of a network to achieve results in another. Many managers neglect the strategic kind.
What it explains
Ibarra explains why moving into a larger role requires relationships beyond one's own unit and current tasks: the strategic network is what lets a leader assemble support for a direction before it is needed.