We've all heard the old adage; it's not what you know, it's who you know. While this has always been true (ask anyone with an MBA where the real value of that time and money comes from), it's becoming even more of a necessity today.
The next decade will almost certainly see companies becoming leaner and competition for career opportunities fiercer. Your network isn't just important, it's your most valuable professional asset.
Networking has evolved dramatically over the past few decades. What once required physical presence at industry events, alumni gatherings, and company mixers has expanded into digital spaces. LinkedIn has transformed from a simple resume repository to the go-to professional network for knowledge workers. Industry-specific Slack channels, Discord servers, and membership communities have created unprecedented access to people previously unreachable.
With all these technological advancements, something fundamental remains unchanged: meaningful human connections are driving the best career opportunities.
Why Networks Matter More in Today's Economy
The increasing integration of AI into workplaces is reshaping how we think about professional value. As companies deploy more sophisticated AI tools to handle routine tasks, the premium on uniquely human “power skills” (relationship building, trust establishment, and emotional intelligence, etc) will skyrocket.
Consider these developments:
- AI-powered resume screening will make getting past initial application hurdles harder without an internal referral.
- As companies become leaner, decisions about who to keep and who to hire often come down to relationship capital rather than just performance metrics.
- The rise of remote work has simultaneously expanded geographic opportunity while making personal connections more difficult to establish, creating a premium for those who excel at building digital relationships.
- AI can and will replace a lot of knowledge work but cannot replicate authentic human connection and trust. As AI handles more cognitive tasks, our uniquely human ability to form meaningful relationships becomes a hard-to-replace professional skill.
In this new economy, those with robust networks enjoy a distinct advantage. They receive earlier information about opportunities, more generous introductions, and benefit from the psychological principle that people prefer to work with those they know and trust.
Last year, when my wife and I welcomed our first child, we instinctively considered her future network — who she'll grow up around, what teachers will influence her, and what friends she'll make. This parental instinct reveals a profound truth: who surrounds us shapes who we become. The friends, educators, and mentors in her life will expand or limit her horizons in ways we can never fully predict.
This same principle applies professionally. The colleagues, mentors, industry peers, and even competitors in our orbit dramatically shape our trajectories.
Leveraging Opportunity Agency
The quality of these connections, not just their quantity, determines much of our professional fate.
It's important to distinguish between different types of network connections. In today's social media-saturated environment, we often conflate popularity with influence. They aren't the same.
True influencers aren't those with massive LinkedIn followings but individuals with "opportunity agency" - the decision-making authority to create real opportunities.
A marketing director with hiring authority and budget might have only 500 LinkedIn connections but possesses significantly more value to your career than a content creator with 50,000 followers but no organizational influence. Proximity to those with actual decision-making power has always been valuable, but as organizations flatten and teams shrink, this proximity becomes even more crucial.
Just this week, I saw a perfect example from a friend, Michael Pierce, who was advising a client struggling with a stalled enterprise deal at a major bank. Despite deploying every traditional sales tactic, the deal remained stuck.
Michael simply asked: "Have you looked at your network for anyone who's served as an advisor or board member for financial institutions?" The client discovered they had three such contacts. One reference call later, and the deal moved to contracting the following week after months of stagnation.
Strong relationships can't be manufactured or forced. They emerge naturally from genuine connection and authentic help offered without expectation of immediate return. The most successful networkers focus on providing value first rather than extracting it.
Effective network building isn't about collecting connections; it's about cultivating relationships. Quality decisively trumps quantity. Five deep, trusting professional relationships will generate more opportunity than 500 casual acquaintances.
The Chief of Staff Network: A Case Study
The Chief of Staff Network I founded in 2016 has been a testament to seeing these principles in action. Members consistently report that the network they develop within the community delivers more concrete value than any educational content or tools we provide.
What makes the community effective isn't its size but its specificity. By curating membership around shared challenges and complementary expertise (in this case current & some former Chiefs of Staff), we create an environment where relationship formation happens naturally and delivers immediate value. The “give and take” nature of private communities means the more you put into it, the more you will get from it. But that uniquely unlocks opportunities to form fast and highly trusted relationships.
My own career trajectory is a clear example of the power of these communities in action. Every significant role I've secured came through a connection—either someone who recommended me directly or provided crucial information about an opening before it was widely known. The majority of those connections, including my current co-founder, came through my own membership in the Chief of Staff Network.
The best opportunities rarely find you through job boards; they find you through people who know your capabilities.
Future-Proofing Your Career
As AI and automation reshape industries, career stability increasingly depends on adaptability. Your network functions as both an early warning system for industry changes and a safety net during transitions.
Those with robust networks receive inside information about emerging roles, and benefit from warm introductions when seeking new positions. In uncertain times, your network becomes your most reliable insurance policy.
This dynamic will only intensify as AI-powered workplaces accelerate the pace of change. While technical skills have diminishing half-lives, network capital remains durable.
As AI handles more analytical and routine cognitive work, the premium placed on human skills like relationship building, empathy, and collaboration will grow. The most future-proof professionals will be those who excel at the deeply human art of connection — something no algorithm can replicate (I may stand corrected here).
In an era of AI-driven automation and rapid workplace transformation, the value of human connection has never been greater. Your network isn't just a source of opportunity — it’s your most durable professional asset. By focusing on cultivating meaningful relationships and aligning with those who hold "opportunity agency," you can future-proof your career.
