CHAPTER 11
Build a Network of Peers
Read It
The higher you go, the fewer people can tell you the truth. Direct reports hesitate around power, managers care about organizational goals, and teammates often share your blind spots. A peer network isn't a social task of meeting more people—it's an external system that keeps your judgment calibrated. Its real value isn't opportunity; it's having someone willing to point out when you're starting to believe your own reasoning too much.
Open full image ↗Draw It
Two common paths exist: outward through writing, speaking, and communities, or inward through cross-team collaboration. The distinction that matters isn't internal versus external, but the difference between ambient connections and relationships where you can ask for honest help. Following many industry voices gives input, but it can't replace a few deep personal connections.
Rethink It
When you face a problem no one in your organization can discuss, asking strangers for advice rarely gets you the truth. Trusted feedback comes from long-term mutual understanding: knowing what someone has been through, and what constraints sit behind their advice. Writing can start a connection, but relationships grow through sustained responses, help, and shared experience.
Take It With You
A large network increases visibility; deep relationships improve judgment.