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Aspiring leaders and high-potential professionals often prioritise building relationships with senior leaders, assuming visibility at the top drives advancement.
But research on organizational networks suggests that reputation and influence depend more on how individuals are perceived across a broader set of relationships. In interconnected, matrixed organisations, peers, team members, and cross-functional stakeholders shape credibility through everyday interactions and informal conversations.
Overemphasising relationships at the top can create an imbalance: strong advocacy from senior leaders but weakened trust among close collaborators. This can result in visibility without credibility, limiting long-term progress.
A more effective approach is to view networks in three dimensions—vertical, horizontal, and external—and ensure alignment across them.
Career advancement depends not on proximity to power alone, but on a consistent reputation built through trust, collaboration, and credibility across the entire network
Hot off the press – my latest article for Harvard Business Review, Aspiring Leaders, Don’t Just Network Up.
In this article, I share the story of how one of my mentees experienced challenges with colleagues at work and the root of her problems. I also introduce the ‘Network in 3D’ framework that I share in many of my programmes.