Networking is a powerful tool that can help you accomplish your goals and be more successful. One of the ways that this works is through a concept I call Opportunity Momentum. I define this as a phenomenon where increased participation in an activity leads to building more skills related to that activity and being associated with that activity in the minds of others, consequently resulting in more opportunities to engage in that activity.
Let me illustrate this for you with an example directly from my own career.
As a graduate student, I volunteered to serve as treasurer for my student chapter of SPIE. In this role, I got to know an SPIE staff member, Dirk, who coordinated student activities. One year, I had a paper submitted to an SPIE conference, but my advisor said he didn’t have the funds to send me. I reached out to Dirk to ask if there were any volunteering activities I could do to cover part of the conference costs, like registration fees. This led to me volunteering regularly at SPIE conferences and getting to know more SPIE staff.
One year, when I was volunteering at a conference, I was invited to attend a meeting of SPIE’s IT committee, one of several of SPIE’s governing structures. I attended and was subsequently invited to serve on the committee. As a member of the IT committee, I met more SPIE staff and a growing number of other volunteers, which led to me serving on three different SPIE governance committees.
At that point, I was well-networked within SPIE among both staff and volunteers. I also had a long track record of being a committed and reliable volunteer. People thought of me that way. That’s when the magic happened. A friend and fellow volunteer asked if I would be interested in serving on SPIE’s Board of Directors, which is SPIE’s highest governing body, composed of both elected volunteers and SPIE staff directors. I said yes, and in the subsequent election, I was elected to the Board.
Can you see how one small volunteering opportunity led to another, but with each step, the opportunities gained momentum and became higher impact? Each new opportunity or role refined my abilities and naturally expanded my network, opening the doors to more opportunities and, ultimately, leading to a significant leadership opportunity. This is Opportunity Momentum.
Now, my example is a little unfair, because I didn’t start out aiming at a position on the Board. It happened organically because I was really enthusiastic about the mission of SPIE and enjoyed volunteering. But Opportunity Momentum doesn’t care whether you use it intentionally or not—it still happens. However, now that you are aware of it as a concept, you can harness it to achieve any goal you set your sights on.
Imagine that your goal is to become a professional musician, but you don’t play an instrument yet. A little silly, but bear with me. The first step would be buying an instrument and getting some lessons. But that’s just one side of the coin: you would need to start building your music network and getting associated in the minds of others with music. You could do this by participating in open mic nights and jam sessions; anything that involves other people and playing music.
This could lead to finding people with whom to form a band. Once you’ve got a band, you would then have people to practice with and refine your skills. Your band could find opportunities to play, free or paid, increasing your skills as a group and as an individual. Each opportunity to play would put you in front of more people, further building your network and association with music, leading to bigger and bigger gigs.
Obviously, becoming the kind of professional musician who makes enough money through music to pay all the bills has as much to do with luck as it does skill, but it can’t happen if you aren’t out there playing.
The recipe for Opportunity Momentum has three ingredients:
- skill building, which is accomplished through practice and execution;
- association in the minds of others, which is accomplished through networking; and
- consistency, because the other two ingredients require time and repetition.
With this concept in mind, what small, consistent steps can you take to begin building Opportunity Momentum toward your goals? Whatever your goal, break it down into smaller skills you can practice and networking opportunities you can engage in to support it, and do those things regularly. Consistently sharpening your skills and building your network in your chosen area will create a virtuous cycle that brings incrementally larger and more impactful opportunities your way.
I hope that the concept of Opportunity Momentum helps you achieve the kind of success that you are working towards!
First published in the Virtuous Cycles Newsletter on 7.18.2025
By Christina C. C. Willis
Sustainable Networking 