Female Networking Is Hard—Here Are 3 Tips for Success

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "We Should All Be Millionaires" by Rachel Rodgers. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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Do you need more friends as a woman? What’s the key to mastering female networking?

Having a close network of women is great for support and inspiration. You can learn a lot just by observing or talking to other successful women who’ve been in your position.

Below we’ve compiled tips on female networking from Rachel Rodgers’ helpful book We Should All Be Millionaires.

How to Build a Close Network of Successful Women

Rodgers proposes a way to use your time and energy: Build a network of successful women who can support you and your financial goals. A close cohort of women can provide you with gender-specific support, a sense of belonging, and more opportunities. Rodgers explains that the majority of highly-successful women practice female networking.

Why Women Must Network Differently Than Men

Research supports Rodgers’s suggestion to form a close network of women and reveals why this is: Women benefit from receiving “private” information, which includes insider tips and gender-specific recommendations—for example, how to navigate social dynamics or work in an all-male team. Men, on the other hand, only need “public information” to succeed. Public information is more surface-level and includes knowledge of new job opportunities or salaries.

Some experts argue that private information is crucial for women because they face different societal standards and obstacles than men. By forming a close network of women, you can receive and share more private information that well-connected male contacts may not have.

Rodgers offers tips on how to cultivate a small, close network of women:

Tip #1: Join new communities. You don’t have to limit yourself to professional groups. Rodgers recommends you simply find a community that shares your beliefs, values, and interests and focus on building sincere relationships with other women.

(Shortform note: In Your Money or Your Life, Joseph R. Dominguez and Vicki Robin write that beyond providing you with support and opportunities, joining communities and forming sincere relationships also helps save you money. They write that loneliness is expensive because you have to rely on things (which cost money) to fulfill your needs. On the other hand, members of communities share freely with one another, which allows you to fulfill your needs and other people’s needs without spending money.)

Tip #2: Reach out to friends and colleagues you’ve lost touch with. One way to reconnect is to do something for them. For example, you could reach out and tell them that you voted on their entry in a photography contest.

(Shortform note: In Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi provides tips for identifying what you can do for others as a way to reconnect: Check their social media posts for clues and remind yourself of their goals. If you still can’t figure out what you can do for the other person but want to get back in touch, consider doing something to support their health, wealth, or children. Ferazzi writes that these are things that everyone consistently values.)

Tip #3: If you can’t find the community you’re looking for, Rodgers suggests you create your own group based on your interests.(Shortform note: How do you go about creating your own group? Rodgers doesn’t provide specific advice, but others suggest you first define the purpose of your group: Consider what long-term aspirations you have for your group and what value you’d like to provide to your members.)

Female Networking Is Hard—Here Are 3 Tips for Success