Good HBR blog from Rob Cross, friend of the Network Singularity and the Future of Networks.

Excerpt:

Too often new collaborative technologies — though intended to connect employees seamlessly and enable work to get done more efficiently — are misused in ways that impede innovation and hurt performance.

Age-old wisdom suggests it is not what but whom you know that matters. Over decades this truism has been supported by a great deal of research on networks. Work since the 1970s shows that people who maintain certain kinds of networks do better: They are promoted more rapidly than their peers, make more money, are more likely to find a job if they lose their own, and are more likely to be considered high performers.

But the secret to these networks has never been their size…

Blog:

The Most Valuable People in Your Network

-- Rob Cross
Associate Professor of Management
The McIntire School of Commerce
University of Virginia