3 types of people you need in your organisation

I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. He's the sort of perceptive writer who knows how to scratch beyond the surface of everyday life and dig the scoop out of the most reluctant of news-makers.

I was particularly interested in the Law of the Few which hypothesizes that the success of any social epidemic depends on the involvement of people with a very specific and rare set of social skills.

The Connector has the extraordinary gift of knowing people and acquaintances. They are expert networkers and are often involved in many social and professional circles by virtue of their love to know people. As such, they have the ability to connect different circles of people together.

My BSM Prof, Dr Yeoh, is an example of a Connector. She has this unparalleled ability to network with people from all types of sectors - academia, entrepreneurial startups, government, real estate, banking, consulting, healthcare, fashion etc. - and make an unforgettable impression with them. The fact that we are already into the 7th round of the BSM Middle East (SMU's longest running BSM programme) since 2006, and benefitting from the contacts, discounts and offers of assistance (even during a recession) shows the relational power she has with the Arabs (who are very relational people) and our BSM partners. Indeed, her name has become synonymous with the BSM programme and it is impossible to imagine if the BSM Middle East programme will be possible without her.

The Maven are information brokers who are experts in a particular field or market, not by virtue of their work, but by their passion. They desire to pass on what they know to others out of a genuine want to help others.

My friend, Nathaniel, is a politics Maven. He's the go-to-guy if you need the latest updates on politics in Singapore, and he will gladly spend the afternoon with you just to persuade you to get involved with politics. He's the guy who asks the longest questions at forums - with a prepared sheet of questions (along with facts and data from his pre-forum research), and spams his friends with news updates on politics or to get them to sign-up for related events.

The Salesmen are charismatic people with powerful negotiation and sales skills. If there's anyone who can sell ice to eskimos, it's them - people with the gift of the gap and the ability to make people agree with them.

They remind me of two guys from the SMU Broadcast & Entertainment - Ben and Terence. They are the typical guys you need on your team if you want to make a sales presentation or craft a sales pitch. They have the uncanny ability to communicate their point across and make you want to agree with them without making you feel wrong (or dumb). These are the guys who have already anticipated your question and doubts during the Q&A, and have already prepared three possible answers to any question.

Based on social network theory, these three types of people are what we call social nodes. As shown below, they form the basis of linkages between different groups of people and organisations, facilitating the spread of information and ideas that has allowed tremendous progress to be made in various fields and our way of life.

So where does this bring us?

Moving beyond the context of starting a social epidemic, how about recruiting or identifying such people in any organisation, and allocating them to a role that best brings out their gifts that will benefit the organisation?

Most of the time, we fail to appreciate such people for their gifts, or underestimate the immeasurable importance of their roles within the organisation.

Two years ago, I made the case that every EB team in AIESEC should at least include someone with the inside knowledge of how the school functions, who knows the right people from the various school offices or student groups, and takes an added interest in how things function beyond their AIESEC community. It will be a bonus to have an expert networker who knows people from different social and professional circles.

They have the potential ability to link their AIESEC community up with so many possible partnerships, people and resources in their own backyard. By virtue of their exposure to different circles and ways of doing things, they also bring a fresh perspective and approach to the organisation.

But yet, we discourage our members from joining other CCAs or take up other commitments beyond AIESEC, nor do we actively nurture such people to take up leadership positions within AIESEC. Worse still, we let these people leave the organisation by flawed member retention strategies.

I do hope that we can one day conduct some social audit of the organisation to identify such people, and bring them into the fold from the peripheral. It's truly a waste of their talent and unique social roles if they are not properly utilised.