When a competitor's business development efforts succeed, they're frequently dismissed with "it's who they knew, not what they knew" while we tend to attribute our own wins to substantive knowledge rather than connections or networks.
So, which is more important: what you know, or who you know, and why ?
Both are important and intertwined in many market segments.
For example, in many commercial matters, expert professional service business involves both substantively knowing, plus knowing who's who. In insurance law, it’s not enough to know the law and to know how - it’s essential to know who the players are and how they want to pursue their objectives.
In rare and esoteric areas, substantive knowledge and skills base is key.
In regular, day-to-day work for many professionals, market connections are necessary since core expertise is plentiful.
It's too easy to underestimate the importance of both and to diminish complex interconnections between what you know and who you know.
What you know creates a base of expertise. From this foundation you apply expertise in commercial and client relevant contexts.
From this you derive a contact base of people and organisations with whom you have repeat professional and business dealings. From that contact base you can derive increased knowledge. And so it continues in an upward spiral.
The answer is that both are important.
By effectively putting "what you know" to work, you will create and expand "who you know" - all in a virtuous cycle.
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