It’s About Who You Really Really Know

Whoever said, “It’s not about who you know, it’s about who knows you,” didn’t tell the full story. This statement has always been misleading because it implies that simply getting your name out there is the key to building a meaningful network. Trading business cards and making surface-level connections likely won’t get you as far as advertised. Awareness alone won’t move the needle in business. The real goal should be to develop meaningful relationships and play the long game. It’s not just about who knows you or who you know—it’s about who trusts you, who has seen your work, who understands your character, and who will show up when you ask them to. Equally, it’s about who you feel the same way about.

For many, this principle seems obvious. Deep, authentic relationships are undeniably more valuable than shallow ones. However, very few people actually invest the time or energy to develop new relationships or nurture the ones they’ve started. In our digital world, it’s easy to “connect” with people on platforms without establishing a real connection. When I study the people and efforts I admire most, I often find that the relationships involved have been nurtured over a long period. We see the headline success, but the relationships that sparked these achievements often began years ago.

This principle partly explains why this generation struggles to produce superstars. It’s easier to get your music or message out there and gain some visibility, but it’s much harder to make people care. That’s why social media stars can have millions of followers yet struggle to sell tickets for their events. They are “connected,” and people know them, but no real relationships exist.

So, how do you build these meaningful relationships? Often, it requires being in close proximity to people. School is one of the best environments to build lasting relationships. For example, I’ve talked extensively about the benefits of pursuing further education at the MBA Programs at Kennesaw State University. Beyond the cost and curriculum, however, one of the main benefits is the network you build, which is invaluable. In addition to learning from some amazing professors, KSU allows you to connect with classmates and faculty in a way that can lead to deep, meaningful relationships that will “pay” for themselves for decades to come.

I’m biased, but this same principle drives our work at The Gathering Spot. More than anything, I aim to create proximity. My goal is for relationships to be built when members of our community don’t need anything so that when they do, everyone is eager to help.

The key takeaway this week is not to count the number of contacts you have but the number of people with whom you have genuinely fostered meaningful relationships. That is the metric that will matter most in business.

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I’ll be reflecting on these topics over the next few weeks and am excited to be working with the Kennesaw State University MBA Program as a thought partner. You can learn more about their program here and if interested, attend one of their information sessions here.