I enjoy connecting people. I like finding the person who knows something unexpected, bringing different perspectives into the same room, and noticing a connection that was not obvious at first.
My work in venture development put that instinct into a more demanding context. Sourcing experts is one task. Making their expertise useful to a decision is another.
A spreadsheet of contacts is a map. The territory is what those people know, whether they want to participate, and whether their contribution changes anything. It is easy to make the map look increasingly impressive without improving the decision it is meant to support.
The practical implication is to give a conversation a job. What uncertainty should it reduce? What would count as a useful answer? Who needs the answer afterward?
This does not mean turning every relationship into a transaction. It means being respectful of attention. A specific question is often a better invitation than a vague request to connect.
A useful experiment
Before the next expert call, write three lines: the decision, the uncertainty, and what would change your mind. Afterward, record what changed. If nothing changed, ask whether the question was wrong, the person was wrong for it, or the uncertainty was already resolved.
Question still open
How can a process be structured enough to produce decisions while leaving room for the unexpected connections that make conversations valuable?