Certain Uncertainty

25Curve Benders: Quality vs. Quantity of Strategic Relationships in the Future of Work

David Nour

The key characteristic of twenty‐first‐century business is instability. Companies can no longer be confident of their hold on customers, markets, or even their own employees. We can't predict which products, technologies, or even entire industries will take off, while others stagnate.

In this environment, we need to rethink professional relationships that lead to career development. The conventional wisdom emphasizes the power of weak ties: the advice is to connect with a lot of people, including many in different industries, areas of expertise, regions, or social circles. To get to the next level in your career—either a job offer or an introduction to someone with an opportunity—you need to cast a wide net: it's all about quantity over quality. You're likely to get a break not from your friends, this logic says, but from someone you barely know. Developed in the 1970s by the sociologist Mark Granovetter, this approach continues to be the common advice to people looking to advance in business.

Weak ties may have worked well in the late twentieth century, but they fall short in our uncertain today and tomorrow. I've coached dozens of ambitious executives over the past decade, and I've seen a different story—the benefits of investing in fewer yet dramatically more strategic relationships. Instead of appealing to a great many possible leads, my experience suggests you are better focusing ...