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Metcalfe’s Law and How Much of Your Success in Life Depends on It

Osundolire Oladapo Ifelanwa
6 min readJul 14, 2021

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Image Credit: @omarg247 on Unsplash.com

Metcalfe’s law says that the impact of a network can be measured by squaring the number of ….

You know what, let’s keep it simple.

Metcalfe’s law says that the more devices you have that are connected to a network, the more valuable that network is. Case in point: If your phone could only call one or two other phones, what value is there in owning one? However, if your phone can connect with the remaining 3.36 billion phones less 1, it becomes a much more valuable device to you and to every one else.

This law was originally propounded by Metcalfe in relation to the Ethernet, which at the time was central to connecting computers. However, looking at the word ‘network’ from a broader perspective of human relationships, I find the law equally applicable to “human networks.”

How do I mean?

Business, career prospects, opportunities thrive based on the movement of information across human networks. Despite the many apps that offer real time information on job openings, career opportunities and other such opportunities in the job space, word of mouth and recommendations still play a huge role in what we get.

And this is where it gets tricky.

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Osundolire Oladapo Ifelanwa
Osundolire Oladapo Ifelanwa

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