The Network Advantage: How Mastering People Skills Can Take You Far

One of the things I always tell younger colleagues anytime I have the opportunity is to never neglect building their network and improving on their people skills. No matter how brilliant you are, your inability to network or build people skills will limit you.

After I finished my National Youth Service in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in early 2000, it was my good friend who brought a newspaper publication (The Guardian on Friday) all the way from Bayelsa State and showed me that a new bank was looking for employees. My friend was speaker of the Students’ Union when I was president on campus. That was how I got my first banking job.

A neighbour referred me to my second banking job about two years later. We were both tenants on the same premises. He told me about a bank opening next door to his own office and the new manager was his friend.  He took me to his friend and I was hired.

Your next opportunity may already be around you. Learn why networking and people skills remain some of the most powerful tools for career growth. Share on X

On a certain Monday morning, I got a call from a lady who requested my CV. I had never met her before then. She interviewed me and sent me to HR for further interviews. I thereafter met the MD and was hired. It turned out that a church member who owned a driving school (he taught my wife how to drive) referred me to the lady who called me. He gave her my number.

During the Soludo banking consolidation programme around 2004/2005, a colleague in the same office (both of us were team leads) gave me a note on his card to the branch manager of his previous bank. I walked down the road to that bank and was interviewed by this manager who said he liked me. He took me to a second interviewer whose first question was the secondary school I attended. Guess what? We attended the same secondary school. When he was in Form Five, I was in Form One. One of his interview questions was our secondary school anthem—I kid you not. Of course, I was hired.

I worked there for many years and on a particular Saturday (we started Saturday banking then), I put a call through to a former boss just to say hello and he casually mentioned that an international bank was opening in Ibadan and they needed a branch manager. He asked if I was interested—what a question! His friend was the project manager and he gave him a call. I met his friend who took my CV, sent me for an aptitude test which I passed, went through a series of interviews and within the same week I was hired. I became the first branch manager of that international bank in Ibadan.

Many successful careers are built on trust, referrals, and friendships. Discover why mastering people skills is a powerful advantage in life and work. Share on X

When we pray, God answers through people. That is why I say men are God’s methods. The answer to your prayer is around you. Abraham was praying for a child but his answer came in the form of some nomads whom he served so hospitably. This is why building bridges is so important. Understanding how to handle people is the greatest skill one can develop. You can’t go farther than the relationships in your life.

There is absolutely no knowledge or technical skills that you have that another person does not have or that cannot be bought. At a certain level in your career, it is no longer about what you know but who you know.

Be intentional about relationships. Value people. Show up for people. Get involved in associations. Participate in alumni meetings. Network. Have friends. Be friendly. Connect. And succeed.