I was talking to somebody recently who is very well connected and creates a lot of value by bringing people and ideas together, across different organizations and sectors. 

They were feeling a bit deflated as the connections they had been making were very useful for others yet the initial spark of bringing people together with a shared goal quickly evaporated. I can really relate to this feeling and have been there many times myself.

"Thank you for the connection - moving you to bcc."

The value that connectors create - both as individuals or organizations - through weaving their networks of relationships, is spread around widely and therefore is inherently diffuse. This makes it difficult for connectors to derive value from connecting, and it is also very hard for any one person to support, or one organization to sponsor, as most of the value created accrues elsewhere. 

This is the Connector's Dilemma. 

Networking Not Working

How can a connector do what they do best and be appropriately recognised? One immediate problem is that once a connection is made there is often little need for further help. And in my experience, people often forget (myself included) how they connected in the first place. 

Few people can afford to be so generous with their time and connections without getting anything in return. Yet when the connector seeks to derive some value directly or indirectly, both can be problematic for different reasons. 

Firstly, seeking to extract value directly (i.e. charging a fee for example) for making connections is inherently flawed because by definition it’s a numbers game. You have to kiss a few frogs to find your prince after all. So for every connection that leads to something tangible, there are at least five that just don’t click for many reasons. Therefore charging is likely to leave the majority of your connectees unhappy as they can't quantify the value. 

Alternatively you can seek to derive value by monetising indirectly by charging for something else instead. For instance, to charge for consulting or speaking fees for example. This is generally how it works for me, most of the time. But that’s not ideal either as you have to focus on the other stuff that pays the rent, when the real thing that provides the most value is the connecting. This dilemma means that connectors are often few and far between and somewhat undervalued and overworked. 

So what alternatives are there: paying on results, paying it forward, membership token, subscription fees, micropayments? There could be a place for all of these but of course as soon as you put a price on something you risk cheapening it in some ways as it can create perverse incentives for all involved. 

Building Connective Tissue

How might we build more connective tissue and allow the connectors - whether as individuals or organizations - to do what they do best and focus on connecting people and ideas?

We’ve been doing a lot of work about systems change and building ecosystems recently, especially in response to the climate crisis. Here, this tragedy of the commons occurs at a much broader scale and is much more important. Everybody benefits from being part of a thriving ecosystem, tackling the biggest challenge on planet earth. But it is not in the best interests of any single person, organization or country.

And whilst ecosystems do grow and form organically, sometimes - as with the challenge and opportunity of climate - we need a much greater sense of urgency. And we can’t merely rely on the hard work and goodwill of the connectors. We need all the sparks, and the momentum thereafter, to build towards a common goal.

Hidden Connectors

I was very influenced by a guy at my first proper job, who used to just wander around our research institute and talk to different people about their work all day long. He was literally the best connected guy inside (and outside) of the institute and everybody had a story about how he had helped them solve a problem they were stuck in by making new connections. I saw first hand that he created a huge amount of value. Yet that value was hard to prove, so ultimately the senior management made him redundant as he didn’t have good utilization on his time sheets - a classic example of measuring value too narrowly in my view.

A few years later I met Steve Moore who took me under his wing after I had just arrived in London. He has a big personality and was always exploring progressive ideas and policies - not all of which I fully understood or subscribed to, but nevertheless meeting up with him was never boring. Over the years he introduced me to lots of people and opportunities. I know he did this with lots of other people too, and couldn’t really help himself. It’s an innate skill that can be taught and nurtured and developed, yet some people are just amazingly good at it. 

More recently, I've gotten to know Cassie Robinson , and we've worked together a few times, including exploring different ways of navigating around this dilemma (see 10:10 here ). She is very well connected in the worlds of design, social innovation, and more recently philanthropic foundations. Like many connectors, she describes herself as an introvert, and so it's taken us quite a while to really get to know each other, and yet I've learned that she is always thoughtful and often convenes inspiring discussions, and has introduced me to many interesting people over the years for which I'm very grateful.

All of these connectors have both a breadth and depth of relationships, which means they aren't always that visible in any one group, and therefore their contributions, whilst often pivotal, can also be undervalued and unappreciated.

Innovating is Connecting

The connector - whether an individual or an organization - provides access to opportunities and perspective. I feel proud to have become a connector - both as an individual, and through Liminal which is focussed upon building the climate ecosystem - and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Generous connectivity should be egoless, but how much potential gets lost along the way because of the Connector's Dilemma?

But I am also painfully aware of the Connector’s Dilemma and can’t help but feel that there has to be a better way of navigating our networks and trusted relationships. So who or what made connections for you that were helpful or even transformative? And how have you recognised and acknowledged those connectors? If you haven’t yet, please take a moment to do so now. 

We are all enmeshed in a web of highly interconnected people, places and organization, and so innovation is inevitable if we make better connections. Every person you’ll ever meet knows something you don’t, so try to make time and space to listen and learn from each other. If you do, you never know what might happen.