November 10, 2026
The old line, “it's not what you know it's who you know” is only half true - who you know matters, but you also need to know what you're doing. Success usually depends on who you know and what you know.
Learning how to think critically and communicate clearly is largely the point of higher education. That's the “what you know” part. The “who you know” is one reason you came to GW and SMPA rather than going to another university. We have a strong and loyal alumni network. Our adjunct and full time faculty have and share their networks. SMPA is all about the who and what, theory into practice.
You know how to learn the “how.” You've spent most of your lives in classes. The “who” can be more stressful. It can feel like another college task, like learning how to do laundry or do data analysis. That task is generally called networking.
Networking is hands down one of my least favorite things to do. The thought of walking into a room full of strangers with the goal of establishing relationships I can exploit for personal or professional gain turns my stomach. Unsurprisingly, I'm terrible at it.
On the other hand, I know a lot of people who do lots of things. Many of those people help me out when I ask, and when asked I help them. One reason I have a large network is that I've been around DC for a long time, people tend to accumulate with time. Another reason is that I go out of my way to nurture relationships with people I think are interesting. Some of those people end up helping me but the point isn't the use-value. The point is meeting and keeping in touch with interesting people. The other side of that is that I try to be someone others want to be around, regardless of my potential use-value.
The work isn't entirely passive. I comment on and share interesting things I see online. I email or text people for no reason other than to say ‘hi,’ I congratulate people on things they brag about and promote whatever their latest project is. I go to events that sound interesting. That's not networking, it's being curious and supportive and keeping in touch. Rather than network I try to learn new things, meet new people, and maintain and nurture relationships.
A lot of these relationships are “weak ties” - people I see or talk to only occasionally. Those ties are important and maintaining them is easy to do. Comment on and share what people in your universe post online. Go to events when asked (or just go to events) with the goal of having fun or learning something. Text someone you haven't talked to in a while simply to say ‘hi.’ Stop stressing about networking. Keep making friends and developing relationships with interesting people. Keep in touch with people and keep being someone worth keeping in touch with.
One of my favorite books on the topic is Taking the Work Out Of Networking by GW alum Karen Wickre. She is smart, interesting, absurdly well-connected, and seriously dislikes networking. Worth a read. And as an example of what I'm talking about, I'm going to send her a link to this post and thank her for helping me get over networking and focus on relationship building.