Jack/Zen posts his four laws of networks. I particularly liked his first “Luck = consciousness x transparency”. He explains
Luck is one of the most powerful and accessible currencies in networks and as luck would have it it happens at the intersection of (network) consciousness and being transparent about one’s gifts and passions.
He also mentions the word curiosity, and I guess I like “luck = curiosity x transparency” even more.
His second law is “Innovation = learning x diverse connections”. I suppose most of us would take that to mean knowing lots of people from diverse fields. I’d add that it could also be about opening up our existing relationships… for instance, work teams are often surprised at how productive conversations are when they stop talking about work and get to know more about each other as people.
I like his advice that applying his third law, “Influence = credibility x location”, means
Your voice can soften and you can put your spam weapons down
Finally his fourth law is “Network growth = introductions x generosity”.
You can quibble with these laws but I think what matters is that we’re moving away from hierarchy to networks (or wirearchy). A vast amount of management literature, as Harrison Owen points out, is based on false assumptions of closed systems.
