Want a world class network?
Instead of sending random Linkedin requests, try this.
This tangled web cloud is the peer network of early 20th century abstract artists. The grey lines connect artists who knew each other. Friends, or at least acquaintances. The names closest to the center (like Georgia O’Keeffe) are the most connected.
In 2019, Professor Paul Ingram of Columbia University published a first-of-its-kind paper on the careers of 90 pioneering abstract artists.
The paper explored fame.
Why do some talented artists become famous? And others don’t?
Prof. Ingram found that great art doesn’t necessarily correlate with fame.
But a diverse and influential network does.
Creativity matters. But not as much as you’d think. It’s a good start, but the artists with powerful friends got more famous.
Andy Warhol and his muse, American actress and fashion-model Edie Sedgwick, along with their entourage in NYC in 1965.
But what do we do with that?
For those of us who didn’t grow up at prep schools and country clubs, where do we start? How do we build ours?
Strong networks aren’t built by sending holiday cards and Linkedin connection requests.
Strong networks require a foundation.
And the foundation of a strong, enduring network is being a person of value. Consistently. Over a long period of time.
By helping a colleague win a big client.
By referring a high-performing friend to an executive who hires her.
By collaborating with smart peers on successful projects.
By introducing two people who benefit from the connection.
When Chadwick Boseman was in college at Howard University, the future Black Panther star was accepted to a summer theater program at Oxford.
But he didn’t have the money to go.
One of his professors was Phylicia Rashad (Clair Huxtable), and she asked a friend to help. Denzel Washington stepped in and paid Boseman’s tuition that summer.
He went to Oxford.
Chadwick Boseman, left, at the 1998 Midsummer in Oxford program.
Strong networks are built by nurturing real relationships with a diverse group of peers and maybe some role models a few decades ahead of us who’ve built careers we’d like to model.
The best way to nurture real relationships is by being a person of value.
Consistently.
Over a long period of time.
And by leaving people better than we found them.
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