Thanking the Man (kinda) and Mobs for Morons

Hey everyone! I hope you are all having a great Labor Day weekend. I just finished reading the Harvard Business Review article on informal network. I thought it was fascinating to read about all the different people that make up these "underground" networks. It was actually fun to read about the different people and then figure out who in my organization is like that. I work for an Internet security company (I think I mentioned it in class last Wednesday) and there was one person that really exemplifies one of the positions within the network.

The article stated that there is a central connector within the org that everyone gossips to. There is a guy in my group who fits that description perfectly. Everyone (including myself) always goes and chats with him. He and I would always talk and joke about whatever came to our minds (it helped that I used to sit directly across from him). He is a very charismatic and likable guy. He and I really developed a rapport which was helped -- I think -- buy the fact that we were the two youngest guys in our group (and row). Everyone would talk to him and he would go out of his way to events that happened in their lives. In fact, he seemed to remember everyone's name who worked in our building which is no small accomplishment since there were at least 300 people in our building and probably half of their names were difficult to pronounce.

I also read the Mobs book but I made absolutely no sense to me. I think it said that the more complicated networks get the more they fragment but that could just be my toddler-like interpretation of what seems like a very complex issue. I think it is very fascinating but I think that the book is written in a way that makes it very difficult for me to understand it. I don't know about any one else but I for one am happy that we have multiple reading options open to us...