As we head into the Fourth of July weekend, here’s a thought that’s been on my mind…
One of the biggest risks in business isn’t that your network is too small. It’s that it becomes too familiar.
As our careers progress, we naturally surround ourselves with people we trust. They understand our business, our industry, our customers, and the challenges we face because they’ve often lived through many of the same experiences. Those relationships are incredibly valuable, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
The challenge is that familiar networks often produce familiar thinking.
Over time, we begin asking the same questions, hearing the same perspectives, and reinforcing the same assumptions without even realizing we’re doing it. The people around us aren’t lacking intelligence or creativity. They’re simply drawing from many of the same experiences we are, which makes it increasingly difficult to see our business, our careers, or our opportunities through a different lens.
One of the things I’ve noticed over the years, both in my own work and with the companies I advise, is that meaningful breakthroughs rarely come from finding someone with all the answers. More often, they come from introducing a different point of view into the conversation. Sometimes that perspective comes from another industry. Sometimes it comes from someone much earlier in their career. Sometimes it comes from a founder solving a completely different problem. What they all have in common is that they’re asking questions nobody else in the room has been asking.
I’ve come to believe that one of the greatest values of an outside perspective isn’t that it gives you better answers. It’s that it changes the questions. Once the question changes, new possibilities begin to appear. The challenge you’re trying to solve may not have changed at all, but the way you see it has, and that often makes all the difference.
As many of us take a few days to unplug this weekend, it’s also a good opportunity to reconnect. Reach out to someone outside your usual circle. Have the coffee you’ve been putting off. Call someone from another industry. Ask a question you’ve never asked before. Sometimes the greatest value of those conversations isn’t the relationship you build. It’s the assumption you leave behind.
Looking back, I can’t think of many meaningful changes in my own career or in the businesses I’ve worked with that began with a perfectly crafted plan. Most began with a conversation that challenged an assumption, introduced a different perspective, or connected two ideas that had never belonged together before. Those conversations didn’t just create opportunities. They changed the way I thought, and once my thinking changed, my direction usually followed.
The older I get, the less I believe growth comes from having all the answers. More often, it comes from exposing yourself to people who help you see the world differently.
“Your 50” is a 50-week reflection series about realigning, activating, and expressing what comes next.