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As a networker, you are the nerve center in the midst of endless connections between diverse groups of people. You have a wide range of passions, sparking deep connections with those who share your interests. You are driven by your deep understanding of how every facet of life is interwoven, seeing the crosspoints naturally and helping others to see them as well in order to help them make helpful connections that may advance their personal life or career.
In a team, you are the glue that holds everyone together. You are very empathetic; highly skilled at fostering mutual understanding even between oppositional parties. You possess the ability to look at everything from countless perspectives, which creates a welcoming atmosphere for everyone to be heard—the perfect setting for meaningful collaboration and brainstorming. As a leader, you inherently see where a team member’s gifts will have the most impact and you weave together groups that work like well-oiled machines with this gift.
You have a wealth of connections that can take the form of a diverse and expansive list of contacts, interests, ideas, or opportunities. A networker does not necessarily have to be the quintessential social butterfly at a gathering; rather, your strength lies in your ability to see where everything fits in the huge web of life, and you help others connect to what they need. You have likely heard people say “I am so glad that I met you!” many times. You have a passion for connecting people and ideas that live beyond your personal goals. You are a collector of contacts and are looking for the opportunity to share
You believe that everything in life is connected in many different ways, and you value helping others connect and discover where they fit in the grand scheme. You feel inclined to help when you see that one of your many connections could benefit someone, and you love helping others find where they are supposed to be. You place great importance on empathy and open-mindedness, as you are keenly aware that everyone has their own unique perspective and that each person is a necessary and valuable part of an interconnected society.
You fear being insignificant, being disliked by others, and unintended negative consequences that may arise from the connections you help others form. Fear is a healthy emotion that alerts us when it is time to get prepared. Fear alerts us to the fact that something needs assessing. When you live in the space of fear it can become paralyzing and confusing. The feelings of anxiety and overwhelm can present themselves as guarded and tense. The opportunity is to embrace the fear as your friend. Shift the shallow breath to a deep breath and ask yourself, “Is this fear justified?” If so, “What do you need to prepare for?” It is also an opportunity to shift your story. Are you telling the story of meaningful connection vs social climbing, genuine vs unintentionally manipulative, or widening your circle vs overextending yourslf?
So, before you read the shadow side, I invite you to see this as an opportunity for growth. Feedback is often not your friend as your inner critic can twist it into the fear that others do not like you or that there is something wrong with you, but this is not true. Your intentions are pure, yet they can create discord in your collaboration.
Your ability to link people to the crossections of where they should be in the world is incredibly valuable, and the people around you are very appreciative of your willingness to share your gifts so selflessly. However, the networker is not in service to you when your actions focus on benefitting yourself, which can leave others feeling manipulated and resentful.
You naturally accumulate connections and hold on to all of them, because you never know when you might come across the perfect person for each connection. While your intent to help others is admirable and often appreciated by those around you, if you drive beyond connecting and move into controling the destiny of the relationship, you are at risk of wanting things for people that is not what they want.
If you cast your net too widely in your admirable quest to find a place for everyone and everything, you can do yourself a disservice. In trying to hold on to too many threads and understand every possibility for how they could weave into the tapestry of life, you can become overwhelmed by too much information—unable to fully process it. When your system is overloaded it can crash, leaving you with the desire to abandon your network and take a breather. Prioritizing quality over quantity will allow you to avoid feeling like you need to hit the eject button.
Life is not always easy for the networker. Your empathy and your intricate connection to the needs, wants, vacancies, and endless possibilities of the world can leave you overwhelmed, exhausted, and restless. You sometimes feel like your value is based solely upon the connections you make for others or that you as a person do not matter to those around you more than what you have to offer. You are the golden thread that links people to life-changing opportunities and prosperous relationships, but when you forget your own value it can leave you feeling empty, and that is not fair to you.
Networkers make good leaders, teammembers, career counselors, human resources administrators, ambassadors, mediators, and spiritual leaders.
The angel Raphael of Judaism
Elle Woods in Legally Blonde
