Why Networking Matters More Than Your Skills (And How to Do It Right)

Big Picture

Most of us have a limited view of what leads to success. We often attribute exceptional success to outstanding skills, something beyond our talents. As a working adult, you might be discouraged as you don't have the time or skills to be successful like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. If you had all those Zuckerberg skills, would you be famous and rich like him??

Why should you care?

If you look at skills as the driver of success, you will miss many opportunities under your nose. You will attempt to be exceptional, where you don't have a chance to succeed.

?Case in point

What if we could regress your age and time to 2004. You are a 19 year old Computer Science student at the University of Thohoyandou. The lecturer assigned you a project to build a system to help students connect with classmates.

?Since you are really talented, you develop a working model. Your friends and classmates love it. Do you think it would have grown to be as big as Facebook? Maybe not as big, do you think it would have taken off campuswide?

?I have my doubts it would have been successful even around campus in 2004. According to the World Bank, less than 1% of South Africans had smart phones, and 7.3% access to a computer. For the US, those numbers were 22% and 65%, respectively (US Census Bureau).

?We can therefore say, the environment and network matters.

Lesson: Networking Building

If the network matters, where are you planted? By network I mean your social group or people you interact with from time to time. One of my relatives spends most of his free time drinking with friends from home. They idolise him, because while they hold casual jobs which pay minimum wage he drives a new Toyota Fortuner. Is he in the right network?

?Secondly; are you visible in your network with the right reputation? The simple test of visibility and reputation is whether you can get an audience with people in your network. This is where social media networks fall apart. It will be extremely difficult for me to get an audience with my more than 6,000 people I am connected to on LinkedIn. What about you?

Lastly, do you have something of value you can offer? If you have something of value then make use of your network. A great network will help you access the right people and exponentially increase your odds of success.

Bottom line

Though your skills are important, they are not enough to achieve the success you deserve. How would you rate you network's potential to amplify your success this year?

?Quote:

Success is rarely a solo act. It's built on the foundation of strong relationships.- John Maxwell