No matter where you want to go in life, you’re going to need people on your side. The ability to make friends, form allies, establish connections, and find supporters will determine how far you can go in any discipline. It’s often said that a lack of financial capital is the main reason new businesses fail. I think it would be more accurate to say that a lack of social capital is the main reason. Even when a company fails to raise or make enough money, that’s due to a lack of social capital.

What is social capital? Social capital is the value of your social network. It’s the amount of help and support you’re capable of obtaining based on the people you know, how much they trust you, and how willing they are to help you. Young entrepreneurs often say things like “I can’t succeed in business because I don’t have enough money.” The point they often miss, however, is that their real problem is a social one. They’re usually so obsessed with getting money that they miss out on the valuable opportunity to genuinely connect with people. More than anything else, people are held back from fulfilling their potential by failing to think critically about building social capital.

Every time you interact with another person, you are either making a deposit into your social bank account or a withdrawal. Social interaction is never meaningless. Whether you’re seeking happiness, inner peace, wealth, or career fulfillment, it’s absolutely vital that you learn how to forge new networks, learn from people who are different, motivate people to cooperate with you, and avoid being dragged down by people who don’t play fair.

Read The Spending Habit That Will Make Or Break Your Career

Read The Conversation You Should Be Having

Read 5 Ways to Make the Most Out of Networking

Watch Improve Your Social Skills in Under 30 Minutes, with Ramit Sethi

Watch Secrets to Winning at Office Politics & Increasing Your Influence

Listen to How to Build a World Class Network in Record Time | The Tim Ferriss Show

• Pick one of the pieces of content from above and publish a blog post telling us what you learned and how you intend to apply that lesson in your life.

1. What is office politics? Is it good or bad?
2. What should you do if you had to work with someone who doesn’t like you?
3. What are people most interested in?
4. What’s one principle of conversation you should always keep in mind when meeting new people?
5. What’s the fastest way to lose social capital? What’s the fastest way to build social capital?
6. What is networking? What’s one common misunderstanding people have about networking?
7. What’s one thing you can do to improve your social skills?