Starry Night of Nurturing Networks

Reid Hoffman invests in networks and companies that, as people get into them, the value is added to their life by the other people in the network. Examples of investments:

• Flickr - photo sharing
• Last.fm - music sharing
• Zynga - game playing

In the Origin of Species, Darwin himself placed equal emphasis on the wonder of complex collaboration between species as on the natural selection that comes from competition for resources.

Similarly open networks of connections among innovations can be just as generative as vigorous compet...

1. Metaphors are workhorses of description that intrigue your audience and help you win new readers. They allow you to paint a picture beyond corresponding adjectives and nouns.

For example, “A freshly paved tar road enveloped the night sky” is far more vivid to read than “the night sky was...