Whom do you know
For far too long, getting onto the best career path depended on the people you (or your parents) know — your network.
Networks are nothing new.
Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Silicon Valley and Downing Street are just a few powerful ecosystems where networks reigns supreme.
Moreover, in the age of social media, the prevailing wisdom is that networking is the thing to do, the sine quo non to future success.
Well, let’s (re)think.
We think the conventional wisdom is wrong, and here’s why.
Networks are a ticket to the “fast track” for those who have networks.
But networks create a huge barrier for those (often not as privileged, but equally or even more talented) outside these networks, for whom they’re nothing but an impenetrable moat.
In reality, networks divide (any) universe of people into insiders vs outsiders.
Networks and opportunity are in conflict with each other.
Networks create barriers, which, when you come to think about it, are antithetical to what we want to achieve by using the awesome power of the Internet.
We want to level the playing field, and make it wide open to all.
But that’s not all.
Networks also work like echo chambers; they perpetuate sameness and revert to the mean while killing diversity and reducing creativity and ingenuity (not to mention fairness and fair chance).
Now, if you’re an employer or a college hunting for the best future talent —
Do you want to go the network route and get more of the same?
Or…
You’d rather find the unique, the extraordinary, and the hidden?
We’ll share more, quite soon.
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