Within this case, Heidi Roizen proves the importance and capabilities of creating a large, diverse, and interactive network in the professional world. She was able to achieve a lot through the connections and relationships she was able to build paired with her performance results. She was able to form an extremely large network size with individuals that she enjoyed working with and respected as well. She formed close ties within this network and established open communication paths to stay in touch. Through this network, she was able to establish a positive reputation in the Silicon Valley amongst what seemed to be hundreds of people if not thousands. She was also able to achieve a sense of status in the area as she was basically treated as a celebrity and it was a big deal to be invited to her parties and be a part of her network. One of the most important achievements her network offered was career opportunity. Having built such strong relationships with many people, Heidi had open doors to numerous careers where she could follow her true passions. Her network also achieved things for other individuals. Since she had built such a positive reputation, senior leaders of many companies trusted Heidi and her recommendations. She often times would help link people from her network to jobs that they may not have been able to get on their own but she could orchestrate through her connections. Additionally, her network helped organizations as well. She never would make recommendations that were not a win-win for both the potential employee and organization. This helped companies find the most passionate and best performing individuals to fit their needs. Also, since she had so many organizational commitments, she was able to break down communication barriers that were once in place. This allowed for organizations to collaborate easier and built strong partnerships as well. Heidi’s network clearly helped herself, other individuals, and organizations achieve positive results. Heidi was able to develop and maintain her network in a very friendly and personable manner. She initially stated developing her network by having the willingness to invest time into learning about others and their interests. It was her outgoing and easy to talk to personality that allowed her to interact and relate to so many different people. She always stayed true to who she was and very down to earth and was well respected by her peers for that as well since she stayed consistent with everyone. Also, she developed her relationships through helping others along the way and this helped her gain both respect and trust in the industry. What I thought stood out as an important aspect of developing her network was her openness to new experiences and getting the most out of each opportunity that is presented. An example is when she was in the creative writing role at Tandem, she utilized the chance to really connect with senior leaders and learn as much about the company and lifestyle as she could. She kept building on her interactive skills and this allowed for her to gain such a positive reputation in the industry. From there, she made sure to maintain the relationships that she had made. The first way was through having an open communication process via email with her network to always remain in contact. She made it clear that she was available to reach out to and had a very helpful and caring personality. What really allowed her to maintain these relationships while still building new ones were her house parties. These large parties allowed for her to stay in touch with a large group of people while allowing even more individuals to increase their own networks and strengthen ties between more groups. Additionally, I think a key aspect of maintaining her relationships was the respect and trust she had with others. She never would make unfair recommendations or intentionally hurt anyone and this went a long way within her network. Word of mouth helped as well and since she was so helpful and respected by her network, positive talk would spread throughout. Unfortunately, as the case goes on we find out that there are limitations to Heidi’s network and ultimately some weaknesses associated. I believe that the weakness of Roizen’s network in this case is that it has actually gotten too large that it is no longer as effective as it could be. Managing such an extensive network has become extremely time consuming for her taking hours every day. She has such an outgoing personality that every one she comes in contact with believes that they are great friends. This leads to a lot of favors being asked that Heidi cannot complete because she cannot satisfy everyone’s needs. This can also lead to hurt feelings amongst her network because people may see her as playing favorites for certain individuals. Her network has also gotten so large that she can no longer return messages with thoughtful responses; she must be quick and concise which does not match her original personality. She is overextended and now has to work much more than she was expecting taking away from her family time and the things she is most passionate about. Also, this weakness has forced Heidi to take a break from hosting parties. This is one of her favorite things and a way for her to maintain good relationships with a large group of people. Clearly, Heidi is in just a little over her head but with her new role she can attempt to restructure her network and get her life back in balance. My recommendation for Heidi is to update and change her network within her new role as a venture capitalist. It is clear that her current network is consuming too much of her time and a little too far extended that individuals with weak relationships are still asking her for favors. I do not think that she should change a large portion of her network since it is what has made her so successful in the first place, but something needs to be done. I recommend that she eliminate some of the farthest out relationships that she knows will not be two-way streets, meaning the ones that she cannot gain anything from in the future. This will help her shrink the requests she gets on a daily basis while still maintaining the strongest and most beneficial relationships. This will also allow her to get back to establishing stronger relationships because she will have more time to learn about these individuals and give thoughtful responses and communication. Overall, this case really showed the importance of developing a strong network and the effects it can have on your career both positively and negatively. It has influenced me to keep an open mind toward building a strong, diverse, and trustworthy network for my professional career.