Network Intelligence:

Your Company Can’t

Thrive Without It

REID HOFFMAN
Hi!
My name is
Reid Hoffman
and I’m an
entrepreneur
and investor.
I cofounded
LinkedIn in
2003. Today we
have more than
300,000,000
members
around the
world.
What was the last really hard
problem you solved at work?
 Here’s an example from my career.
!

When I worked at PayPal, we had to figure

out how to beat a competitor: BillPoint.
 And they were backed by Wells
Fargo and owned by our most
important business partner: eBay.
 To beat BillPoint, we
needed to outthink them.
I asked all the members of my team to
talk with friends, business partners,
and even BillPoint employees to get
as much market intelligence as they
could.
We found out two important things.
1. BillPoint thought its
relationship with Wells
Fargo mattered most to
customers.
 2. …and eBay users (the
customers) didn't care about
BillPoint’s bank relationships.

They just wanted

an easy to use product.
Armed with that knowledge,
we focused on ease of use,
among other things.

We beat BillPoint. eBay ended

up buying us for $1.5 billion.
 What’s your current challenge?
Here’s what most people do when
problem solving.
!

They schedule a meeting with all the

smart people at their company who
might have ideas.
That’s a good first step
— talk to people.
The most valuable professional
information is often in
other people’s heads.
People — not Google, not books, not
blog posts — have the information you
need to solve tough problems.
 People can offer advice that’s time-
sensitive.

People can tailor advice exactly to your

situation.
!

People often know things that

are not yet public on Google.
 Great information and insight
from the people you know can
be a significant competitive
advantage.
!

We call it…
N E T WO R K
INTELLIGENCE.
When it comes to knowledge
in a highly networked era…

who you know

is often more valuable than

what you’ve read.

Now, when you are facing a
truly hard problem, you
should also look outward.
There are more
smart people in
the world who do
not work at your
company than the
total # of smart
people who work
at your company.
!

So look beyond
your office.
If you’re a manager…

If you do…
Yourteam
Your teambecomes
is bigger than lot
a whole youbigger.
think.
If you have 5 people working for you
and they each have 75 different
contacts outside the company…

The network intel team is actually

375 people strong.

(It’s even bigger if you count

2nd and 3rd degree connections.)
CEOs tend to be big networkers —
they talk to a lot of people in the
industry at large.
 …But they forget
their employees can do the same.
 When your employees share
what they learn from the
people in their network (about
technologies, competition,
talent), they help you solve key
business challenges faster.
An externally networked workforce
is critical to an innovative company.
 It’s also great for your
employees’ careers. By helping
them strengthen their external
network, you’re improving their
long-term career prospects.
 So encourage them to engage
their network on a regular basis.
HERE’S
HOW.
1.

Ask your employees:

“Who are the 3 smartest
!

people you know who don’t

work at our company”?
2.
Empower your employees to
network with those smart
people on company time...

And the company dime.

 HubSpot’s Learning
Meals program allows
employees to expense
meals with interesting
people in the industry
so long as the
employees share what
they learned.
“
My one regret is that
we didn’t put the
Learning Meals
policy in place from
the start at HubSpot.
- Dharmesh Shah
Founder and CTO
3.

Encourage your employees to

be active on social media.
4.

Celebrate employees who have

large Twitter followings and
lots of LinkedIn connections.
For their annual conference, HubSpot
wanted to bring in a big name speaker
like Arianna Huffington.
!

To do so, they tapped the power of

their employees’ networks.
The organizers made a list of employee
Twitter accounts and went through
them to find the employee with the
strongest connection to Huffington.
!

That employee reached out and

Huffington quickly accepted the
invitation.
 HubSpot employees also have two
times the average! number of LinkedIn
connections, and! those employees
share, comment, or like updates at
eight times the average rate.
 The payoff to a having a workforce
!

well connected on LinkedIn?

!

HubSpot attracts two! times the average

number of candidates
! for the job
opportunities it posts on LinkedIn.
NETWORK INTELLIGENCE
is a part of

THE ALLIANCE
between company and employee
 THE ALLIANCE
The employee’s career is transformed.
!

A strong professional network is one of

the most important career assets a
person can have. As a company, you’re
helping employees build their networks.
THE ALLIANCE
The company is transformed.
!

Network intelligence from all

employees helps managers make
better strategic decisions.
An Alliance will help you
recruit, manage, and
retain great people to
your company. And solve
key problems faster.
Everybody wins.
Learn more in my book
with Ben Casnocha
and Chris Yeh: The
Alliance.
!
We show you how to
set up network
intelligence programs
at your company.

Get the book today ▸

And we show how
these programs help
you solve challenges,
and ultimately help
you recruit, manage,
and retain amazing
talent at your
company.

Get the book today ▸