Your Net Worth is Your Network

Your net worth is your network. — Lisa Lambert, UPWARD

I’ll be honest: networking is not my strong suit. I hold, maybe, one trump card. The temptation is to excuse it. “I’m an introvert.” “I’m busy.” “It takes time away from the work.” Et cetera, et cetera. The words ring hollow even to my ears.

The difficulty of a thing doesn’t mean it isn’t to be attempted. I should know; I regularly prove the fact to myself. Public speaking? Check. CrossFit (at least for a time)? Ditto. A Tough Mudder? Sure thing. I refuse to let fear or the promise of difficulty keep me from trying a thing.

Why, then, haven’t I fought harder to network? It could have something to do with comfort zones. Allowing myself to believe that focusing on doing good work alone will be the ticket. Good work, excellent work, is a must, but it doesn’t do much on its own, maybe even more so in this day and age of fast-flying social media updates. The man in Proverbs receives attention from the king because of his skilled work, but someone likely whispered something in the king’s ear. No one gets an audience “just because.” They get an audience because they know someone who knows someone who knows someone else.

Then again, it could be a sort of apathy, a willingness to slide in an area where sliding is a death note. As Lisa Lambert says, “Your net worth is your network. It’s the lifeblood of a professional career.”

That isn’t to say I don’t have solid people in my network. I do. I have some solid aces and kings in my hand, but I need to add to them. I can still lose the game with only those two or three cards. I have to get outside my comfort zone and do the hard thing, no excuses, and play a different strategy. It’s time to place a new wager, and this time I’m going to bet it on networking.