S:1233 Distinction: To Connect vs. To Network(Distinctions are subtleties of language that, when gotten, cause a shift in a belief, behavior, value or attitude.)


[The very first S3MC was delivered August 2nd, 1995, at the beginning of a weekly meeting of a business networking group in Dallas (CEO Network). As I explained in the introduction to my book, Money, Wealth & Freedom, I created the S3MC as a way to add value to the group every week. Yesterday the group had a reunion. Since I’m traveling and couldn’t attend, I wrote this S3MC to help explain a bit of why our group was so successful for so long. You see, we didn’t just network…]


To Network is great and useful. It’s making sure you have a depth of resources to call on. And that you are a resource for others. No Lone Rangers, all highly successful people have networks that work.

To Connect is all that plus an intimacy which grows from knowing one another beyond the jobs we do or the businesses we have. You know their value systems, their reliability, their caring, their follow through. You become an advocate for the people you have Connected with and enjoy sending them customers and clients. And they, you.

A Network, as useful as it is, is only the What. Connections tap into the Who.

Your Network may be big. Great! Your great Connections will probably be fewer.

Both are good and useful. They’re just different.


Coaching Point: Do you enjoy Connecting with people?


Copyright 2019 Steve Straus. All rights reserved.