The Power Of Social Capital [Psychological Safety Week 2026]

Oh, OK.

So you can tell us a little bit more about social

capital.

So you've probably heard the phrase, it's not what you know, it's who you know, right? And it's a slightly simplistic expression, but it kind of alludes to the importance of our relationships and our networks and to this thing called social capital.

Because, you know, kind of if you think about it, you know, the relationships around us can shape the information that we receive, the opportunities that we hear about, the impact on the support that's available to us, and also whether or not we feel able to speak openly.

Yeah.

Yeah, the things that spring to mind there are kind of old boys network, you know, or even nepo babies.

That's quite a common one at the moment, isn't it? Oh, that's

very, yeah, very topical, you know, kind of post-reading.

Yeah, so social capital is the resources that reside in our social networks.

So in other words, you know, it's not simply the number of people that we know, it's what our relationships enable, you know, the access to knowledge, to influence, to trust, to support, advice and opportunity.

So, yes, if we bring it back to thinking about Nepo babies, I saw that Cruz Beckham was on the stage in Reading.

And in terms of the social capital that he has in terms of access to people, influence, support, advice, all of those things, he has a good network and he has he has strong social capital through his parents.

Yeah, definitely.

He's a spice baby.

And actually, social capital matters at work.

And that's where that's where I'm going to focus most of the time.

But as we're talking about now, it's not necessarily just limited to work.

You know, our families, friends, communities, professional contacts, they all provide kind of different forms of social capital.

Yeah.

OK.

So what do we actually mean by social capital?