The Leaky Hub

You're generous with introductions. You see potential synergies everywhere. You connect people freely, expecting... what, exactly?

Maybe you expected reciprocity. If you introduce enough people, they'll introduce you to opportunities. The karma will balance.

Maybe you expected recognition. You'll be known as the connector. The person who makes things happen. The reputation will compound.

Maybe you didn't expect anything concrete. You just like connecting people. It feels good. It's what you do.

And now, years into this, you're looking around wondering: where did it all go?

The people you connected are thriving. Partnerships you catalyzed are producing value. Networks you seeded have grown into ecosystems. And you're... still introducing people. Still the catalyst. Still watching the reactions happen somewhere else.

This is the Leaky Hub. You generate network value, but you've built no container to hold any of it.

Why the Hub Leaks

The leak isn't a bug. It's what you built.

Every time you made an introduction with no structure around it, you taught people that your value was free. Every time you connected people and stepped back, you made yourself unnecessary to what came next. Every time you prioritized generosity over sustainability, you depleted the resource that lets you keep being generous.

You optimized for being helpful rather than building something.

This isn't a moral failure. Generosity is good. But generosity without structure is just a slow drain. You can't keep giving what you don't replenish.

The hardest part: stopping the leak feels wrong. It feels transactional. It feels like betraying the ethos that made you a connector in the first place.

But here's the thing—the most valuable connectors aren't the most generous ones. They're the ones who are still connecting people twenty years later. You can't do that if you've emptied yourself out.

What Healthy Looks Like

The Leaky Hub becomes sustainable when you build containers.

A container is any structure that lets some value stay with you when you create connections. It can be:

• A community. Instead of introducing A to B directly, you invite both into a space you host. The connection happens inside something you maintain. The ongoing value of the network accrues partly to the container.
• A role. Instead of disappearing after the introduction, you stay involved as advisor, collaborator, or coordinator. The connection includes you rather than routing around you.
• A reputation that compounds. Instead of anonymous generosity, you connect publicly in ways that build your visible track record. The next person who needs connections comes to you because they saw what you did for the last person.
• Direct exchange. Sometimes the right container is just asking for something in return. Not every connection. Not transactionally. But enough that the flow isn't only outward.

The goal isn't to stop being generous. It's to be generous in ways that let you keep being generous.