Renee Shea

Last week I was fortunate to be invited to run a session for a group of young leaders through Investing In Greatness @iigaus. This is an incredible organisation that offers professional development and networking to multicultural professionals who are on track for board and industry leadership.

The brief was networking. But, typical of me, I didn’t give the usual advice.

Most networking advice boils down to “here’s how to sell yourself better.” Have your pitch ready. Work the room. Follow up fast. It treats networking as a transaction. There’s an underlying current of “what can you get from people” or “how do you make yourself memorable in ninety seconds”. That version of networking has its place. But it doesn’t necessarily help you build something that actually lasts.

Instead we talked about mycelium. The underground network that keeps a forest alive. It’s invisible, reciprocal, slow. A young tree can be kept alive by an older one quietly sending it what it needs. This is what I see as the benefits of a strong network. A community of support that helps lift you up. Everyone plays a part, whether or not they get to actually see a payoff (because it’s often not just about that).

These are networks that build slowly over time. With folks from different stages and backgrounds. Some connections may send you work or job opportunities. Others may have your back while you take another hit and help you get up. Some you learn from and some you lift up.

If one path closes, the network routes around it, the way mycelium does.

Nothing about that is a pitch or a performance.

To me that’s a network - and a community - that’s worth cultivating.

Side note: Lucky I’m not super precious about how I look or I would have to sack my photographer @dukuinspires for these expressions!