A core principle of Sustainable Networking is equitable mutual exchange, including both information and support. You learn about the other person so you can help them. They learn about you so they can help you. You help each other, and this creates a compounding virtuous cycle where you both benefit.
When I introduce this concept in workshops, I frequently get a question like:
I’m a student. How can I possibly offer support or assistance to someone who is advanced in their career? They have more resources and a bigger network than I do. What could I possibly have to offer?
This is a great question. A student or recent graduate just starting out in their career has less influence and fewer resources than a well-established, mid-career professional. And there will be a natural power dynamic in a relationship between the two. This changes the balance in terms of what equitable exchange looks like, but it does not preclude the student or early career professional from offering support.
Equity vs. the power dynamic
Equitable exchange is easier in a peer-to-peer relationship. You have about the same resources and level or type of need based on being in roughly the same career stage. Things get more complicated when one person is significantly more advanced in their career than the other. The student-advisor relationship is a special case of this nature, and we’ll go into it in detail. Beyond that, there are less formal networking relationships between people at different stages of their career; mutual exchange and support is absolutely possible in these relationships, and we’ll discuss what that looks like and some practical ways to offer support across the power dynamic.
The student-advisor relationship
An important and fundamental relationship with a strong power dynamic is the one between student and advisor. In a Sustainable Networking context, wherein both parties support each other, how can a student help their advisor? Should the student even attempt to achieve equitable exchange in this relationship?
A student can absolutely help their advisor. This consists, primarily, of being a good student. For example, by studying hard and internalizing what they learn, which typically correlates with making good grades (but not necessarily). In a STEM context, it includes doing good work in the lab and publishing papers. Those papers will have the advisor’s name on them and add to their public body of work. If the student presents the paper at a conference, they are representing their research group and advisor. Doing these things—and doing them well—adds to the advisor’s reputation and prestige.
In turn, a good advisor will mentor their students, give them the support and resources they need to succeed, support their graduation, and help them find a good job.
What the two parties exchange is different than in a peer-to-peer relationship, but it is still an exchange, with each party contributing to the other. This is how the relationship is designed.
(Not all advisors are good and the relationship doesn’t always play out this way. Based on my very anecdotal data from getting my own Ph.D. and listening to the experience of my friends and former classmates, I would have to say truly good advisors seem to be in the minority. How to find a good advisor and how to deal with a bad one are topics for future newsletters.)
Networking with established professionals
There is still a power dynamic in a relationship between two people at different stages in their career. The relationship typically isn’t as intimate or as formal as the student-advisor relationship, and so, there isn’t an established rubric for what the less advanced person can do for the more advanced person.
The key to finding ways to help is recognizing that both people, regardless of career stage, have different resources and experience. They have different origin stories, different perspectives, and different networks. They may even be from different generations. One might have “more” than the other, but what they have isn’t going to fully overlap. It is in the places where there is little or no overlap that support is most possible.
Ways to support across the power dynamic
Here are some ways that you can support people in your network, both peers and people who are more advanced in their career:
- Amplify their content: Post or re-post their latest paper, article, or talk, tagging them to boost their reach. You can also share directly with others.
- Celebrate their milestones: Publicly acknowledge their major accomplishments, awards, or book releases on professional platforms.
- Nominate them: Put their name forward for honors within professional societies, alumni groups, or industry organizations. You can also write letters of support when others nominate them.
- Share relevant resources: Send them targeted papers, tools, or news that aligns with their specific interests.
- Make curated introductions: Connect them with people in your network who are doing complementary work or share their interests (personal or professional).
- Recommend them for speaking opportunities: Suggest their name when event organizers, podcasts, or student groups are looking for subject-matter speakers.
- Send follow ups: Build the relationship by sharing how you successfully applied their advice or research, showing them the tangible impact of their efforts.
What equitable exchange looks like is flexible
Bridging a power dynamic isn’t about matching resources one-for-one; generous, thoughtful support that flows both ways is going to look different for different relationships. Everyone has a unique perspective and a different set of experiences and resources they can use to support each other, regardless of their career development. And, ideally, sustainable networking relationships exist over the long term with a natural ebb and flow. Power dynamics will shift and reduce over time, but mutual and equitable exchange is possible at any stage.
First published in the Virtuous Cycles Newsletter on 21.08.2026
by Christina C. C. Willis
Sustainable Networking 