"More business decisions occur over lunch and dinner than at any other time, yet no MBA courses are given on the subject." - Peter Drucker
https://www.businessworldindia.com/sep2004/invogue01.asp
Networking = net worth
It's the invisible lubricant that propels the wheels of career and commerce. Social networking is
one key competitive advantage that management gurus forgot to tell us about. Family and community ties, alumni associations, golfing buddies, former colleagues - they all add up to the pehchaan or jugaad factor that can open new doors. As Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation, once observed: "Inside every working anarchy, there's an Old Boy network."
In 1999, Martin Ruef surveyed 766 Stanford Business School alumni who had started new businesses to find out where they got their Big Ideas from. The study revealed that the most creative entrepreneurs spend less time than average networking with business colleagues who were friends, and more time networking with a diverse group. "Weak ties - of acquaintanceship, of colleagues who are not friends - provide non-redundant information and contribute to innovation because they tend to serve as bridges between disconnected social groups."