The answer lies deeper than the usual explanations. First, the gender difference cannot be attributed to women preferring the support and cohesion of cliques because men and women are equally likely to build clique networks. Third, men more often build same-sex networks, rejecting the explanation that women with entrepreneurial networks do poorly because their networks are too often built around other women. The real explanation, says Burt, turns on women being excluded from the informal communication networks among senior managers. Familiar with the rules of informal communication between men, established male managers have little experience with women as colleagues.
Normal business involves conflict and complexity sufficient to make outcomes uncertain.
Managers can avoid the added complexity of gender by focusing on projects proposed by male colleagues. The best network for a woman in Burt's study population involves a strong relationship with a strategic partner who has an entrepreneurial network. The strategic partner assures skeptical colleagues of the woman's ability, and adds the woman's name to lists of candidates being considered for key project assignments. The presence of such strategic partners in a manager's network, easily measured with social capital models, turns out to be the key factor distinguishing successful women from the unsuccessful. But the solution transcends gender.