Our network is important for success and fulfillment. In her post ‘A Smarter Way to Network for Decision Makers‘, Valeria Maltoni reports “According to research conducted by Rob Cross and Robert Thomas, the executives who consistently rank in the top 20% of their companies in both performance and well-being have diverse but select networks —made up of high-quality relationships with people who come from several different spheres and from up and down the corporate hierarchy.”
There is a way to network more deliberately so as to more effective. What I find particularly interesting is the need to have diverse networks. The quote above concentrates on a closed organization but of course networks need to transcend arbitrary boundaries and this principle is applicable to our personal network in general. It can be a particular network related to a religion, sport activity, children school, combined with one or several work-related networks.
I firmly believe that a lot of the value I personally bring to people comes from my exposure to very varied industries, countries and practices. Having a number of very different networks creates a lot of value and many opportunities.
I am learning to be more deliberate about this diversity. What about you?
