Learn the key factors that allow anyone to be a power social networker. 

Work has become a collaborative endeavor accomplished less through standardized processes and formal structures than through informal networks of relationships. But harnessing the power of these seemingly invisible groups to achieve organizational goals isa murky and elusive undertaking.

Rob Cross argues that rather than think about collaboration from a more-is-better perspective, executives need to take a clear-eyed, strategic view. They need to determine exactly what they want to accomplish through informal networks and,concurrently, what pattern and level of connectivity would best help them achieve their goals. It’s crucial for executives to learn how to promote connectivity only where it benefits an organization or individual—as well as learn how to decrease connectivity that isn’t needed.