Fortune
conducted extensive research to identify the best networker in the United States.
The goal was to use online social networks to figure out who had the most connections to America’s
most powerful people. The staff compiled a list of the
Fortune
500 CEOs, as well as
Fortune
’s
lists
of the 50 smartest people in technology, the 50 most powerful women, and the 40 hottest rising stars
in business under age forty. Then, they cross-referenced this list of 640 powerful people against
LinkedIn’s entire database of more than ninety million members.
The winning networker was connected on LinkedIn to more of
Fortune
’s 640 movers and shakers
than anyone else on earth. The winner had more than 3,000 LinkedIn connections, including Netscape
cofounder Marc Andreessen, Twitter cofounder Evan Williams, Flickr cofounder Caterina Fake,
Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz, Napster cofounder Sean Parker, and Half.com founder Josh
Kopelman—not to mention the former chef of the Grateful Dead. As you’ll see later, this networker
extraordinaire is a giver. “It seems counterintuitive, but the more altruistic your attitude, the more
benefits you will gain from the relationship,” writes
LinkedIn founder
Reid Hoffman. “If you set out
to help others,” he explains, “you will rapidly reinforce your own reputation and expand your
universe of possibilities.” Part of this, I’ll argue, has to do with the way networks themselves have
changed and are still evolving. At the heart of my inquiry, though, lies an exploration of how the
motives with which we approach networking shape the strength and reach of those networks, as well
as the way that energy flows through them.
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