Pages:
1 page (275 words) Double spaced
Type of paper:
Discussion Essay Undergraduate (yrs. 3-4)
Discipline:
Cultural and Ethnic Studies
Title:
Building and using Social Capital
Sources to be cited:
0
Paper format:
MLA
Paper instructions:
Building and Using Social Capital
This week we are going to discuss social capital. We will look at what social capital is, what it means to build social capital, and share stories on how having social capital has helped us. Let’s start by understanding what social capital is. Social capital can be looked at kind of like financial capital in the sense that you must put money into your account in order to build up your savings and to have the ability to withdraw when needed. If we think of social capital like we do our bank account, we need to invest our time in building meaningful relationships so that we create opportunities, build community, improve overall quality of life, solve problems, and help others.
No matter how self-motivated you are or how much of an expert you might be at something, no one succeeds on their own. Building social capital is how communities are formed and helps empower everyone apart of the community to succeed in life. We can see the encouragement of building social capital in several large successful companies, because they realize the importance and value it adds to their success. A few companies I have personally seen this in are Cisco Systems and VMware. These companies along with many others have built a culture that encourages interaction with others and the building of relationships. They do this by creating common areas where employees can hangout, play games and relax on couches while at work. They also do this by strategically laying out where people eat so that they are closer together with larger tables so that you are more likely to sit by someone you don’t know.
Something I hear people say often is “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” It’s important to understand that it is not just all about who you know. What you know is just as important, because your reputation can make a big difference in how those people you know look and feel about you. I will leave you with a story on how building social capital has helped me in life. I have had 8 different jobs since the age of 16. I got each of those jobs because I either knew someone who worked there or because I knew someone who knew someone, and they gave me a good recommendation. I won’t go into each one, but I will share how I got my first job after getting my EMT license before even knowing if I passed the national registry test.
In 2010 I was working at Staples where I helped run the copy and print center. We had a job come in to print a bunch of training manuals for a company that ended up being printed backwards. When the customer came to pick up the order, he noticed the mistake and was worried because the training started the next morning and it was already pushing 6 o’clock In the evening. At this point I already had a professional relationship with this customer and wanted to make this right, so myself and my sales manager stayed after hours to correct our mistake. Our customer was so pleased with our dedication to providing a resolution to the problem that our relationship grew and our discussions moved towards getting to know each other on a more personal level. Our customer found out I was in school to become an EMT, to which he then informed me he was the owner of a private ambulance company in the area. Because of this one interaction I had a job as an EMT on an ambulance before I even passed the final test. Not only did I take him up on the offer I also became his operations manager. I could share many other stories on how building social capital has not only benefited me but has also allowed me to help others. Here are my questions for you:
Are you actively working to build social capital? If you are, how are you doing so? If not, what could you do to change that?
Think back to a time where you benefited from knowing someone. Share with our group the situation you were in and how having a social network helped you in that situation. It could be how you got a job, got something fixed, or maybe something totally different.
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