The Real Power of Networks

Networks are accelerators. But too often, we don't realize the power that networks can have on our lives, and the opportunities they can create.

The most common association with network is typically that of computers and information connected together, and increasingly, digital and social networks. These, of course, are not the only types of networks. Networks actually go back far before computers. Humans created networks using oral communication, writing, and then road. And, little known fact, even fungus creates huge, underground networks comprising nearly one quarter of the world's biomass.

Networks are often considered accelerators for civilizations: Like the roads did for Rome, the freeway system for the US, and the internet is currently doing for the world. In addition to the global impact of networks, they have huge impacts on us as individuals.

Regardless of what you use networks for, one thing is for certain: Being a part of a network, as a civilization or as an individual, you will experience acceleration. Individually, networks accelerate our personal growth, professional skills, and our career opportunities. But they do more than that, too. As seen in the video below, they also influence our physical, mental and emotional health. Some networks make people fat, and some make people happy.

Jacqui, Ivan, Jesse, Pilar, and I at
THE BEST dinner in Buenos Aires

Personally, never before has the power of a network become more apparent than in my time here in Buenos Aires. I might be far from home, but I'm staying here with two great friends I met skiing in Snowbird, Utah, in 2005. I just spent a few days walking around the city with two great friends from college. I'm volunteering with an organization (TerraCycle) that I met through online networking. I'm starting a new venture to connect professional volunteers with high impact social enterprises in emerging markets with a friend of a friend of a friend I met here in Argentina. I've been interviewing NGO leaders, entrepreneurs, and new start-ups to learn from their experiences. And while down here, I've even met with one of Silicon Valley's most influential start-up lawyers - all because of my network.

I'm quite confident that we all know the benefits of networking and that we should network. However, in reality, we already have potent networks, we just need to activate them.

---

Ask not what you can do for your network, ask what your network can do for you.

---