Judith Perle, director of training consultancy Management Advantage and a Sloan Fellow, sets out why networks are vital to innovation.

1. Networks are vital to innovation.
Judith Perle, director of training
consultancy Management
Advantage and a Sloan Fellow,
sets out some of the reasons why.
How to network
your way to
innovation

2. 2
networking for innovation
The social origins of good ideas
Good ideas don’t necessarily spring
from individual genius – research
shows that individuals who build
active and diverse networks are
more likely to have good ideas.
So get out from behind your desk
or screen, and broaden your
horizons.

3. 3
networking for innovation
Network strategically
Coming up with – and implementing
– innovative ideas require different
types of networks. The best source
of new ideas is a diverse, open
network, but a denser, more
inter-connected network will help
you to successfully implement them.
So it’s wise to build both sets
of contacts.

4. 4
networking for innovation
Use open innovation
While R&D labs have their place,
many companies are capitalising
on the huge benefits to be reaped
from open innovation, where
members of the network help
to solve problems. Does your
organisation encourage active
professional networking?

5. 5
networking for innovation
Change your attitude
To join the ranks of the very best
networkers (and consequently the
very best innovators), you need to
keep an open mind – about who
you’re talking to, why you’re talking
to them, and what you hope to gain.

6. 6
networking for innovation
Build trust
If you don’t trust your contacts, how
can they trust you? Without trust
you can’t expect a free and friendly
exchange of ideas, and people are
less likely to ask for help, or describe
the problems they face. Thinking
about what you can offer your
contacts, rather than what they can
give you, can help to foster trust.

7. 7
networking for innovation
Make sure you listen
If you’re preoccupied with what you
have to say and the impression you
want to make, how will you recognise
a good idea when it comes along?

8. 8
networking for innovation
Embrace all kinds of people
Finding new solutions to problems
depends on a wide-ranging network,
so it’s important to include people
from different backgrounds – in the
staff canteen, parents at the school
gates, at your local church. You never
know where a good idea might come
from.

9. 9
networking for innovation
In the end, it comes down to people
Networking is about people – talking
to people, helping people, getting
involved in their lives.
Networking alone probably won’t
give rise to a flood of innovation.
But if you’re open enough to
listen, creative enough to envisage
possibilities and perhaps humble
enough to ask, you’re more likely
to be able to adapt ideas from one
context to suit another.

10. networking for innovation
Judith Perle (jperle@manadvan.com) is a Sloan
Fellow of London Business School and founded
management training company Management
Advantage (manadvan.com) together with fellow
Sloan Tony Newton. Their focus is on teaching
people about professional networking – what
it is, why it matters, and how to do it better.
The full article was published in London
Business School Review Volume 26,
Issue 3 2015.
Visit the website: www.london.edu/lbsr