“Opportunities do not float like clouds. They are firmly attached to individuals.”

Why it was said

Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha write this in The Start-up of You, in their chapter on breakout opportunities. Their argument is that opportunities rarely appear on job boards first; they travel through people, so looking for an opportunity really means looking for the people who are connected to it.

What it actually means

The sentence corrects a common picture of opportunity as something free-floating that you either spot or miss. In practice, a job opening is known to someone weeks before it is advertised, a client need is mentioned over lunch, and a new direction in an industry is noticed first by the people working in it. If opportunities are attached to people, then the quality and reach of your relationships decide which ones you hear about. That is why the authors treat networking not as self-promotion but as the ordinary work of staying connected, and why helping others first is part of it.

How to use it

1. 1For the next role or project you want, list three people who would hear about it before it became public.
2. 2Reconnect with one of them this week by offering something useful, with no request attached.