What if all the advice we’ve heard about networking is wrong?

What if the best way to grow your network isn’t by introducing yourself to strangers at cocktail parties, handing out business cards, or signing up for the latest online tool, but by developing a better understanding of the existing network that’s already around you?

We know that it’s essential to reach out and build a network. But did you know that it’s actually your distant or former contacts who will be the most helpful to you? Or that many of our best efforts at meeting new people simply serve up the same old opportunities we already have?

In this startling new look at the art and science of networking, business school professor David Burkus digs deep to find the unexpected secrets that reveal the best ways to grow your career.

Based on entertaining case studies and scientific research, this practical and revelatory guide shares what the best networkers really do. Forget the outdated advice you’ve already heard. Learn how to make use of the hidden networks you already have.

This guide throws out the old rules of professional networking and reveals the proven principles that actually work:

• The Strength of Dormant Ties: Discover why reconnecting with former contacts and colleagues provides more novel information and valuable opportunities than meeting total strangers.
• Filling Structural Holes: Learn how to become an indispensable broker who creates value by connecting disparate groups and bridging gaps in your industry.
• Becoming a Super-Connector: Uncover the science of how the most connected people build and maintain their massive networks—and how you can too.
• Resisting Homophily: Understand the powerful trap of seeking out similar people and how it can limit your career, create dangerous blind spots, and stifle innovation.