Peter Hinssen - The Network Always Wins: How to Influence Customers, Stay Relevant, and Transform Your Organization to Move Faster than the Market

Copyright 2015 by Peter Hinssen. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-184870-1
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The most amazing wonder of the network between Valentine and me.

The eyes through which I gaze at the world.

They have taught me more than any book I have ever read.

Aida and Loren, this book is for you.

I would like to thank all the people who were vital in making this book a reality: Ilse De Bondt, Jos Delameilleure, Nadia Del Rio, Mary Glenn, David Hayward, Ciel Jolley, Rick Judge, Marc Lerouge, Jim Lubinskas, Devanand Madhukar, Peter McCurdy, Luc Osselaer, Taunya Renson-Martin, Chantal Van de Ginste, Laurence Van Elegem, and Marianne Vermeulen.

Thanks to all the people who, directly or indirectly, have been an inspiration for me for this book: Jamie Anderson, Rob Goffee, Costas Markides, Michael Nowlis, Steven Van Belleghem, Sean Gourley, Mark Zawacki, Glenn Morgan, Mike McNamara, Bart De Crem, Wim De Waele, Bart Van Hooland, Andr Duval, Alex Brabers, Davy Kestens, Yoeri Roels, Gary Hamel, Thomas Leysen, Whitney Bouck, Walter De Brouwer, Luc Verhelst, Peter Vanderauwera, Tom Standage, Sofie Bruynooghe, Thierry Geerts, Peter Strickx, Steven De Smet, Steve Van Wyck, Kees Smaling, Fons Leroy, Rik Van Bruggen, Rene Steenvoorden, Philippe Gosseye, Philippe Rogge, Kosta Peric, Penni Geller, Paul Daugherty, Michael Kogeler, Vijay Gurbaxani, Luc De Vos, Lieven Haesaert, Johan De Geyter, Inge Geerdens, Jef Staes, Geert Noels, Peter Claes, Chris Van Doorslaer, Abdella Bouharrak, Bill Chang, Amanda Jobbins, Luc Bleyaert, and Adam Pisoni.

Special thanks go to my longtime business partners, Luc Osselaer and Fonny Schenck.

The publisher has, as far as possible, tried to respect all known copyright restrictions on the images. However, copyright owners who find that their rights have been violated may contact the publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from the publisher.

www.peterhinssen.com

Since I was a kid, Ive been obsessed with maps. I adore the layout of old maps depicting mountains and oceans, cities and roads. I find it fascinating how world history can be seen through the shifting borders of maps over time. But nowadays, what amazes me most is how old cartographers got it wrong.

One of my favorite examples is the way California has been depicted, having lived there for part of my childhood. For the longest time, travelers believed that California was an island, separate from the American mainland.

My favorite type of map is the road map, whether it shows layouts of city streets or depicts how railroads and highways, roads and turnpikes, lanes and pathways curve through the landscape of countries and continents. For me, the best part of the Lord of the Rings books is the amazingly intricate maps drawn by J. R. R. Tolkien, which let you follow the trail of the merry fellowship on their journey to Mordor.

But moving on from my hobbit habits, when you look more closely at the topology of maps, its clear that roads form a network. The infrastructure of how cities operate, their capacity and connections, tell the story of the economy and influence of a region. You can see which cities are at the heart of an economy and which are at the edge. You can understand how influential a town is, what its main economic arteries and roads are, and how it influences, stimulates, and feeds neighboring towns and hamlets.

I now spend countless hours poring over Google Maps and Google Earth. I love exploring regions that Ive visited or will visit, ogling the enormous beauty and complexity of the roads and canals, and the intricacy of the routes and freeways. All of this was made by man.

When it comes to the mountains and lakes, the volcanoes and harbors, the plateaus and cliffs, we had nothing to do with those. But all the rest, that was us. We created these networks that carry our cars, wagons, trucks, boats, buses, bicycles, and pedestrians. There was no grand plan, as is made obvious by the myriad twists and turns and the fractallike complexity of the network.

copied the idea. These pathways seem more logical than the rest of the infrastructure, which seems almost organic. But their impact is immense. The U.S. interstate system helped shape the United States into a world economic superpower and a highly industrialized nation.