“The scarcest resource is not oil, metals, clean air, capital, labor, or technology. It is our willingness to listen to each other and learn from each other and to seek the truth rather than seek to be right.”
— Donella Meadows, Scientist, Educator and Writer
Many years ago, before VIM Executive Coaching had transitioned from a life’s yearning to reality, we were associated with a fairly large organization that was a true “education” in understanding human behavior. For the most part, people got along. When someone needed help, they generally received support.
However, we well remember one fellow for whom the word cooperation, seemed a foreign concept. In those ancient days before a pandemic and virtual meetings, when folks often met face-to-face with associates in trade organizations, vendors and suppliers, many of our colleagues amassed impressive business card collections and later on, important email addresses and contact information.
So, one day, we approached this fellow in regard to a new technology we had heard of, and wondered if he might have a contact? He eyed us suspiciously for he was secretive to the extreme.
“I might know of someone who is an expert in this area,” he responded.
We need to take a step back and say that his many contacts could neither help us, nor hurt us, in the overall scheme of things. Our knowing a contact in a technological area could benefit no one other than our organization. If that contact could help advance our mission, it would help all of us, wouldn’t it?
He allowed a slight smile because, for a second, he had power. He had something we needed. We practically begged him for the expert’s name. He carefully opened the combination lock of a briefcase, and produced one of several stacks of business cards, pulled one from the stack and acquiesced to giving us the contact. It was the opposite of authentic networking.
Different times, same music
There is the modern-day trope of the so-called “flat world,” where anyone can now access most any kind of information with a simple search in a matter of nano seconds. As with most tropes, it is untrue. Of course, a 12-year-old can typically locate information as quickly as a 52-year-old however, the interpretation of that information, finding the most appropriate source, or an understanding of applications is altogether another matter. The more isolating technology influences our work lives, the more the concept of authentic networking suffers.
In a recent Inc. online article on networking (May 17, 2026), it was noted:
“Most entrepreneurs begin by building contact lists. As they scale, they discover something more consequential — the highest-value networks aren’t built on transactions. They’re built on proximity to insight, influence, and decision-making.”
Yes, executive leaders can build a hundred lists, a thousand lists, however true networking to help problem solve, is more basic and truth seeking; it is in the development of human-to-human relationships. There is no true power to list building, the power lies in communication and sharing. Collaboration in this time does not require more AI-driven software, but human authenticity.
The catch in all of this, is that authenticity is a by-product of mindful communication. And as skills such as mindfulness, authenticity and legitimate communication are generally overlooked in the digital world, workplaces are becoming as locked-away as the briefcase with the combination lock.
To build those high value networks, organizations might best start by tearing down the walls of separation and noise. Power struggles should have no place in an organizational desire to network.