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As a first-year law student, networking is a full-time job for me right now. Part of that job is continuously finding new ways to make new relationships and maintain the ones I already have. In this research, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn quite a bit about networking and share some of my takes (like in my TEDx talk here). Across all my research, however, something that seems to always resurface as a best practice is the Franklin effect. Named after Benjamin Franklin, this networking tip has survived for a couple of hundred years as one of the best around.
Franklin is, of course, famous for many things. One of my personal favorite stories about him, however, is now a studied phenomenon in psychology. As a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, Franklin’s political goals were being interrupted by another member of the assembly. Wanting to get on the man’s good side, Franklin did his research and discovered the man owned a rare book. Franklin requested to borrow the book, read it, and returned it with a note thanking the man for the act. Afterward, Franklin wrote in his autobiography that, “When we next met in the House, he spoke to me (which he had never done before), and with great civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions, so that we became great friends, and our friendship continued to his death.“
As psychologists have studied what Franklin already knew, many have used this story and subsequent findings as a networking method: if you want to make a powerful connection, find a favor they would do for you. It not only subverts expectations, but gets them invested in you. While this is absolutely useful for networking purposes, it’s also a useful insight for us to assess our relationships.
Hopefully, many of our relationships function in mutuality – give and take. Not that the give and take is necessary, but willing. Humans thrive in being able to share with one another; we are social creatures, after all.
Not all are mutual, however. Those that are not give us a good chance to sort them: are they relationships where we give more or relationships where we take more?
The relationships where we give more, according to Franklin and subsequent researchers, are the ones we’re most likely to feel fond of. Shouldn’t we give extra attention, however, to those who are pouring themselves into us? Upon pouring back, we now allow both parties to enjoy the effects of the Franklin effect and perpetually boost each other up, creating the give and take that allows us to naturally thrive.
One should be careful, as well, not to fall into the belief that taking without giving is a superior outcome to taking and giving. When we think of a typical economy, we are inclined to this belief. If someone gives me $100 and I give them $100, I’m no better off. Knowledge and relationships, however, are not the same. By sharing what we know, it removes nothing from us, and the other can more adequately fill in the gaps of what we do not know. If, in a group of 10 people, each person must choose between serving themselves or 9 others, everyone would be better off if even only 2 of the 10 choose to serve others instead of themselves. Not only would the two servants come out just the same, but all the others would be enriched twofold. If all 10 decided to serve one another, each person is 10 times better off than if he only took care of himself.
Franklin is, no doubt, a great role model for networking. We must be careful about removing his remarkable networking ability from the purpose of his networking. Even in making his rival a friend, Franklin did it to better help the Pennsylvania Assembly and serve the people of Pennsylvania. Beyond that, he didn’t simply allow the man to give him the book and take advantage; Franklin considered him a dear friend – Franklin poured back. We must wisely use such power that Franklin has revealed to us. It is advantageous to take, but most advantageous if we intend to give back. The greatest favor we can ask is the chance to return one.
“A generous person will be prosperous, And one who gives others plenty of water will himself be given plenty.” Proverbs 11:25 [NASB]
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