By Hilda Basson Namundjebo
I still remember the first public speech I ever delivered. Its title was “It’s not what you know but who you know.”
That phrase has stayed with me, because networking is not simply about accumulation of contacts; it is a skill, one that leaders must practise with intention. It is not broad-based but a niche strategy, requiring discernment, patience, and a focus on the long haul.
Above all, networking demands integrity for people must never be used for temporary gain and then discarded when they no longer serve immediate purposes. True stewardship in networking resists that temptation.
Leadership is often misunderstood as a reward for proximity. Too many assume that belonging to the right circle or clique is the surest path to success.
They wear appointments like trophies, as though permanence were guaranteed. Yet history teaches otherwise: cliques fade, trophies tarnish, and the seasons of power shift.
What endures is stewardship; your reputation, which does not thrive in cliques, but in networks.
Cliques also tend to be self‑serving. They create a false sense of untouchability, as though belonging to a certain group guarantees permanence.
But as we have learnt in Namibia and across the world, connections are not fool proof. They are transactional instead of transformative, offering short‑term advantage rather than long‑term purpose.
Networks, by contrast, are built to endure because they expand influence through reciprocity and service, not possession.
Networks are bridges. They connect ideas, people, and institutions across divides. They allow wisdom to travel, opportunities to multiply, and service to expand beyond the reach of one individual.
A leader who builds networks is a treasure chest of influence, cultivating relationships that nourish purpose. But a leader who clings to cliques is a gatekeeper, guarding access for a select few and mistaking exclusivity for legitimacy.
The danger of cliques is that they breed possession. They whisper ownership into the ears of leaders: you owe us, you belong to us, your soul is ours.
Appointments then become badges of honour, paraded as evidence of belonging rather than entrusted as instruments of service. Institutions weaken when stewardship is replaced by self‑promotion, and when leaders forget that power is borrowed, not owned.
We often hear the phrase “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Later, people added “It’s not who you know, but who knows you.” These sayings reflect a fear of exclusion, a sense that opaque systems deny belonging.
Maslow reminds us that belonging and esteem are core human needs. Yet networking, rightly understood, is not about possession. It is about giving back. Healthy networks are mutual exchanges of value: wisdom shared, opportunities opened, burdens carried together.
They are not chains that bind leaders to factions, but bridges that carry purpose across boundaries. The steward knows how to walk these bridges with freedom, refusing capture by any one group, yet remaining open to collaboration with many.
The balance lies in discernment. Leaders must ask: Am I building bridges, or am I being bound by chains? If a network expands your capacity to serve, it is a bridge. If it demands loyalty at the expense of integrity, it is a chain.
If it shrinks you, it’s definitely a chain because you are not allowed to have your own opinion and group think is the name of the game.
The wise leader knows when to lean in and when to step back, they own their individuality and understand when to nurture connections and how to resist capture.
At the heart of this balance is identity. A leader whose identity is anchored in God cannot be owned for scripture reminds us that promotion does not come from the east or the west, but from the Lord.
Power is not seized by cliques; it is entrusted by divine timing. Leaders who understand this walk into networks with confidence, knowing their soul belongs to God alone.
They can collaborate without compromise, connect without captivity, and serve without possession.
This reframes networking. It is no longer about climbing ladders or peddling for favour. It becomes about stewardship: using connections to advance the collective good, to strengthen institutions, to serve constituencies.
The steward builds networks not to secure personal gain, but to ensure institutional longevity.
Namibia, in this season of transition, needs leaders who embody this balance. Leaders who resist the temptation to wear appointments as trophies, yet who understand the necessity of building networks that sustain purpose. Leaders who are non‑partisan stewards, guardians of institutions rather than captives of cliques.
Such leaders will measure success not by the circles they belong to, but by the bridges they build. They will resist the grip of ownership, knowing that legitimacy is not borrowed from factions but entrusted by God. They will wear humility as their garment, understanding that power is fleeting but stewardship endures.
In the end, the question is not whether leaders will network because they certainly must. The question is whether those networks will be lock you down or enable you to soar. The future of our institutions depends on the answer.
For only then will our boards, our institutions, and our nation endure beyond fleeting cycles of power. Only then will leadership be understood not as possession, but as stewardship. And only then will Namibia thrive in seasons of transition, guided by leaders who are free, faithful, and focused on the greater good.
*Hilda is a business leader, public speaker and a seasoned broadcast journalist. Founder of the national brand and organisation Team Namibia, Hilda believes her purpose is to impact the world with kindness, one engagement at a time.
