As an introvert, it’s easy for me, when under pressure to prioritize a heads-down, intense work mode, which can be powerful (e.g., Cal Newport’s Deep Work and Pomodoro Technique). 

After enjoying yesterday’s HMG CIO Summit, I was reminded that building professional peer relationships is increasingly powerful as you move up the org chart, because there are so many “things you don’t know you don’t know” that can save you so many hours and so much pain, when you can find out from a peer, mentor, or vendor. 

It’s valuable to continually invest in building new relationships and sharing best practices, as it’s impossible to predict where you’ll find some surprising value for you or that you can offer someone else, such as an innovative idea, cost savings, better mousetrap, etc. If you’re spinning your wheels on a project, invest time in leveraging your network to ask for better approaches, instead of staying in the mud.

As a technology executive, I found enormous value in different communities, such as:

• Gartner Symposium conferences to get exposed to big, new ideas
• IT Professional Communities like one day CIO Summits and the local SIM chapter to connect with other IT executives
• Adjacent communities like angel investing groups like New Dominion Angels, where I met wonderful, fascinating people in different industries and domains
• (I love blogs, podcasts, and email newsletters too, but the in-person connections often lead to the biggest value, because you didn’t even know to be pursuing that line of questioning)