The Coordination Problem

Here's what makes the Network Game different from the others: the value is inherently relational.

In the Identity Game, the value is in you—who you are, what you represent. In the Idea Game, the value is in the insight—extractable and transmissible. In the Model Game, the value is in the map—useful even without the mapmaker.

In the Network Game, the value exists between nodes. It's not yours. It's not theirs. It's the relationship itself.

This creates a fundamental problem: how do you capture value from something that doesn't belong to you?

Most connectors never solve this. They either give everything away (Leaky Hub), make themselves a permanent toll booth (Indispensable Node), or never build value to connect in the first place (Isolated Connector).

The ones who solve it understand something crucial: you don't capture network value. You create the conditions for network value and position yourself to benefit from the network's health.

This is the difference between:

• "I'll introduce you to someone (and hope good things come back to me)"
• "I maintain a community where valuable connections happen (and the community's success is my success)"

The first is a transaction. The second is infrastructure.

The great connectors are infrastructure builders. They don't make connections—they make connection possible. And they structure things so that the network's growth benefits them, not through extraction, but through alignment.