Network Power: Have You Ever Experienced It?

You know I’m passionate about networks … and their power. Since late ’90 Castells‘ trilogy on Network Society has become my Bible. I’ve read every book he wrote.

Building networks has become my profession and today I’m tagged an expert. This WE I have to write a chapter for a book which will be published in Portugal, and next week I’ve been recruited by the EC to share my experience with civil society in Belgrade.

You have seen Avatar. Perhaps the network of life by Fritjot Capra inspired the script. He actually called it web but the concept is the same: everything is connected. Plotinus inspired me. The Neo-Platonist philosopher wrote about the unity of life articulated into ideas living within and through bodies. I connect the latters to make the formers thriving.

You saw the power of networks in the last revolutions: orange, roses, tulips, green and the one in Moldova which doesn’t have any color or flavour as I know. Media, twitter and mobile phones were the weapons. Obama won the election because raised more money using internet while Aznar, former Spanish PM, lost the election when his lie on Madrid bombings reached every voter through SMS.

You saw this in TV. Have you ever experienced it? I did recently.

Last week Prof Valerio Melandri asked me to help him with a research. He recently invited me at the Festival of Fundraising at Castrocaro Terme. It’s the best event I have ever attended in Italy. Moreover, he had joined Euclid. I had to help him.

Valerio needed information on tax relief for charitable donations to persuade the Italian Ministry to improve the Italian law: the famous 5 per 1000. In Italy you can donate 0.5% of your income tax to a charity included in an official list approved by government.

That was a challenge. I told my self: “I’m not an expert in tax and donations. How can I find the information when I have just few days and no money to pay a consultant?” the solution was in the network!

I asked Valerio to formulate the questions to get the answers he needed and send them to at least one of my contacts in every industrialized country including Israel, Russia and the US.

I covered more or less 30 countries and we received an answer from 20 countries. This is not just me but network’s power: first hand information, quick and free.

I asked Valerio to write an article about it once he has persuaded the Italian Ministry. This is a case study.

Next time someone takes the piss because you are ‘wasting time’ networking, quote me: Networking is in your core business. Thanks to it you build your infrastructure for:

– Knowledge sharing
– Cross-border&boundary partnerships
– Peer evaluation
– Standard in your industry

Don’t forget the lesson!