One of Newsweek’s Most Highly Anticipated New Books of 2021
Included in Adam Grant’s 20 Leadership Books to Read in 2020
Featured in HBR’s True Friends at Work & The Economist’s The Science of Networking
Behavioral Scientist’s Notable Books of 2021
Shape’s Best New Wellness Books Hitting Shelves In January
Next Big Idea Club Nominee Winter 2021
Publishers Weekly calls it a “smart debut“.
Included in the FT’s top business books for January
Social Chemistry will utterly transform the way you think about “networking.” Understanding the contours of your social network can dramatically enhance personal relationships, work life, and even your global impact. Are you an Expansionist, a Broker, or a Convener? The answer matters more than you think. Read an excerpt at Fast Company.
Included on Behavioral Scientist’s Summer Book List 2021 and on Strategy+Business’s Summer reading suggestions 2021.
order TODAY:
Reviews:
Booklist
…a fascinating study for anyone curious about human interaction.
Kirkus
A personable approach to one of the hot topics of our times.
The Economist
The book is full of wisdom and entertaining anecdotes
The New York Times Book Review
It turns out, most of us are social nincompoops. We're friends with whoever happens to be seated next to us at work or school. We go to happy hours to meet new people but end up talking to the three people we already know. We ghost our friends rather than face difficult conversations. And these seemingly small choices, taken together, have a huge impact on our life outcomes... King calls on us to be intentional not just with our individual relationships, but with our networks.
Publishers Weekly
…well-reasoned advice… perfect for those aiming to climb the corporate ladder.
Library Journal (audiobook)
…this book transcends more ephemeral approaches that treat social media as networks.
Yale professor Marissa King shows how anyone can build more meaningful and productive relationships based on insights from neuroscience, psychology, and network analytics. Conventional wisdom says it’s the size of your network that matters, but social science research has proven there is more to it. King explains that the quality and structure of our relationships has the greatest impact on our personal and professional lives. As she shows, there are three basic types of networks, so readers can see the role they are already playing: Expansionist, Broker, or Convener. This network decoder enables readers to own their network style and modify it for better alignment with their life plans and values.
High-quality connections in your social network strongly predict cognitive functioning, emotional resilience, and satisfaction at work. A well-structured network is likely to boost the quality of your ideas, as well as your pay. Beyond the office, social connections are the lifeblood of our health and happiness. The compiled results from dozens of previous studies found that our social relationships have an effect on our likelihood of dying prematurely—equivalent to obesity or smoking.
Rich stories of Expansionists like Vernon Jordan, Brokers like Yo-Yo Ma, and Conveners like Anna Wintour, as well as personal experiences from King’s own world of connections, inform this warm, engaging, revelatory investigation into some of the most consequential decisions we can make about the trajectory of our lives.