The Network Factor: How to develop the potential of networks to achieve your goals and increase your opportunities in life and business

By Stefano Calicchio

What is the network factor? How does it affect people's quality of life? What are the hidden rules that allow you to use networks to your advantage?

We all live in multiple networks, but few people stop to think about how they work. In this book, I will explain how to enrich your networks in a constant and continuous way, thus providing you with the resources you need to recognise and increase your opportunities and achieve your goals.  In particular, we will discover together the rules on which building and developing a strong network is based. This is exactly the system of principles and strategies that are often completely ignored by most people because they are highly counterintuitive. This guide takes you by the hand and takes you on a step-by-step journey in which you will discover how to turn on the switch of your networks, how to learn the basics of personal networking and how to become more influential. You will discover the scientific rules for harnessing the power of networks in relationships, how to foster the development of your financial network and how to generate multiple career opportunities. Finally, the last chapter of the book will address the impact of networking on personal health and well-being.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stefano Calicchio
• Release date: Jan 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9791220244619

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Introduction

Welcome to the world's first book on how to develop the Network Factor. I began to understand the importance of networks and the influence they have on our lives many years ago, when I was doing my first research on viral marketing and the spreading properties of viral ideas.

The idea of networks as universally recognised systems was not yet as widespread as it is today. The Internet was just beginning to attract media attention with the new economy, which would soon turn out to be a speculative bubble. In those days, many believed that the network would be an ephemeral game dedicated exclusively to computer enthusiasts.

But despite these prejudices about computer networks, people were beginning to become increasingly aware of the presence of networks and their influence in their daily lives. After all, each of us unknowingly exploits an incredible number of networks in our modern lives. From the electricity grid to the car and rail transport network to the web and social networks.

Although at the time of my early research my focus was on modelling and developing an easily and universally usable strategy for spreading ideas in a viral way, it was clear to me early on that the principles and rules about the epidemic spread of memes within specific social structures could be the basis of a bigger insight or design. Simply put, what works well in marketing and advertising could work just as well for other areas of life.

My first efforts resulted in a book, first published in Italy and then in the main Anglo-Saxon countries, which was cited as a reference text in a number of theses and academic publications. This was an encouraging result, which made me realise immediately that I was on the right track. People are very aware of the potential of networks to enrich their lifestyle, but there is no real instruction booklet enabling them to take full advantage of these new opportunities.

After many years of study and documentation, I have now finally managed to decode the broader picture that had unfolded to me during my early analysis of viral marketing phenomena. I synthesised these new discoveries through a principle that could easily gather and simplify the best strategies for controlling and managing networks. Thus the Network Factor was born.

In the course of my independent research, I have always been struck by the way in which an individual's network can completely change his or her very existence. Human beings base their lives on social relationships, yet there are still very few technologies and theories that can universally explain how networks are formed and how they can be exploited to one's personal advantage.

The most interesting thing about this is that nobody seems to really notice this enormous potential. Just like the law of gravity before Newton's famous apple, the Network Factor is a social and material mechanism in which everyone is embedded, but of which most people are completely unaware.

Einstein understood and explained this when he said that our way of thinking creates problems that the same level of thinking cannot solve. So, if you really want your decisions to have more potential within your life, you have to make a lateral leap in your line of thinking, reconsidering your whole existence also in terms of networks and social networks.

How many times have we heard phrases like 'that person was less prepared than the others, but he had the right knowledge to secure the promotion' or 'his new business was extraordinarily successful, but it was all too easy with the partners backing him on everything'.

What is truly incredible is not that these types of people succeed so easily, but that most observers find something to be amazed about. All you have to do is open your eyes and take a fresh look and you will realise that these people have a discriminating element on their side that is as sensible as it is useful: the Network Factor.

This brings us to the fundamental idea that permeates this manual: to succeed in today's society, you need to develop your networking skills. It does not matter what your real goal is: to get a promotion, to open a company, to volunteer, to develop a new political movement... the fundamental skill needed to succeed in all these is to be able to build and constantly nurture your social, economic, work, health, and so on network.

Let's take a practical example. Have you ever heard or used the expression: 'money is not a problem'? When you have a good business idea, money is never an issue, because anyone will be happy to lend their money to an activity that generates copious and continuous profits over time. So how come there are so many people with good ideas but without the practical inspiration to build them?

When a person cannot find enough money to realise a business idea, the real problem is not a lack of money, but rather a lack of network.

Sometimes a large sum of money at the start can be completely irrelevant, whereas the right advice is crucial. People with a poor network find it difficult to realise their goals, whether in the financial or business sector.

Over the next few pages, I will explain how to enrich your networks in a constant and continuous way, thus ensuring that you have the resources you need to make the most of your life in all its aspects. In particular, we will discover together the rules on which the construction and development of a solid network is based. This is exactly that system of principles and strategies that are often completely (and tragically) ignored by most people because they are highly counterintuitive.

It will be an exciting and unique journey that will give you a new awareness of your network and skills that you are unlikely to develop on your own. If you are ready to gain a new awareness of how to interact with the networks around you, you just need to turn the page and start reading.

1. How to turn on the network switch

How to turn on the Network switch

Complex systems are one of the wonders of our world. Think of something so complex that it can only be grasped as a whole, and you get a pretty good idea of why people struggle to gain a clear understanding of what is going on around them. Only a few are able to grasp what is behind the general view of things (knowledge is power, said Bacon).

The interesting thing is that those few are the ones who usually develop an enormous possibility to intervene in the external reality and at the same time have real possibilities to achieve ambitious goals.

The world today is as articulated as it is self-organised. Everything seems to flow with the utmost ineluctability in an apparently harmonious way, but without any apparent order or precise design. An (apparently manageable) chaos seems to dominate all human existence.

Sometimes, as chance would have it,