Power U 49: Networks VS Knowledge in Policy Change

Welcome to #PowerU Episode 49 🔗 We’re continuing our mini-series, drawing lessons from a power simulation that Lyndsay Poaps and I ran with 30 community advocates and changemakers earlier this year. Lesson 3: Networks beat knowledge. Every time. Here’s the trap we fall into: trying to become the expert on everything. Learn all the rules. Master every technical detail. Know the system inside and out. It doesn’t scale. Think about it this way: imagine you could only fix your house using tools you made from scratch. You’d forge nails, build hammers, mill lumber from trees you personally grew and cut. That’s how we approach policy change. And here’s what happens: you get really good at one tool. So everything becomes that tool. Plumbing? Hammer. Electrical? Also hammer. You’re limited by what you personally know. 👉 The real constraint isn’t knowledge—it’s time. Your leverage comes from people. A network with diverse technical skills, varied experiences, different perspectives. That’s what gives you speed and range in any system. But not transactional relationships. Meaningful ones. The kind you’ve actually invested in. In the Power Game, the participants who were able to achieve their goal in the short timelines of the game weren’t the ones who knew the most—they were the ones who mobilized networks effectively. ✨ Your effectiveness in policy scales with your network’s diversity and depth. 💡 What’s one relationship you should strengthen this week?