Mastermind Theory: The Importance of Surrounding Yourself with a Strong Network of People
Anyone who has read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich will recognize the idea of the mastermind. As defined by Hill, a mastermind is:
“The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.”
Why Have a Mastermind
The point here is to think about goals you have in life and business, then build a support group of people that will strive with you to make those goals a reality. The reason being is that everyone has their individual strengths and weaknesses. By creating a network of people whose strengths both synergize with and cover weaknesses of one another, a mastermind can be born whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each involved party learns and grows together and reaps the benefits of pooled resources and expertise.
Your own mastermind does not necessarily have to be on a small personal scale. This concept can be expanded to corporate entities as well. A very real application of this can be found in Dr. Alejandro Ruelas-Gossi’s Orchestration strategy theory (see #10 on my life lessons by Gossi article).
Building Your Mastermind
Building a mastermind of high quality people is not an impossible task. In fact, it is incredibly easy to do for students at their universities. Each one of their friends and classmates are unique and study different topics, all in an environment conducive of befriending each other while they go through the all to familiar challenges of school. Building up your network while at school will pay in dividends later in your career when everyone has gone off into their own specialties. Those old friends will prove to be some of the best sources of networking for a mastermind later in life. However, that does not mean finding new people to work with stops upon graduation! There is a wealth of networking opportunities for professionals at conferences, meetups, and their own companies. Always be on the lookout for new people who may be able to help you or you may be able to help. When it comes to the mastermind, nothing is more powerful than good karma.
John Cuneo
John Cuneo joined Cisco Systems through the highly competitive Global CSAP program. He is a masters candidate at the Georgia Institute of Technology specializing in Machine Learning and occasional guest lecturer at the University of Miami Business School. He loves nothing more than lazy Sundays spent on a walk in the woods, whipping something up in the kitchen, catching up on anime, and playing some Super Smash Bros.
