June 12, 2025 • 13 mins
Join Astor Chambers and Kenny Mac as they dive deep into the often-misunderstood distinction between community and network, revealing why understanding this difference could transform your career and personal relationships.
In this thought-provoking conversation, discover how community thrives on personal connections and vulnerability, while networks operate in the transactional realm of professional advancement. Through candid discussion, Kenny and the team explore why B2B interactions mirror networking dynamics, while B2C relationships embody true community spirit.
What You'll Learn:
- The fundamental differences between building community versus expanding your
- network
- Why vulnerability creates stronger bonds in community settings than traditional
- networking
- How to navigate job hunts by strategically tapping into both your network and community
- The hidden ways people define themselves through job titles rather than authentic
- identity
- Why trust develops differently across community and network relationships
- How emotional support flows through community during challenging times
Key Insights:
Whether you're someone who says "I don't do that networking stuff" or you're actively building professional connections, this episode reveals how community and network can feed each other in powerful ways. Learn when to lean into personal relationships for support and when to activate your professional network for opportunities. Perfect for professionals, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to build more meaningful connections while advancing their career goals.
Episode Highlights:
- Understanding Community vs. Network (00:00)
- The Personal Connection in Community (02:55)
- Navigating Job Hunts: Network vs. Community (05:57)
- The Importance of Vulnerability and Trust (08:51)
- Reflections on Community and Network Dynamics (12:02)
"One can feed the other" - a powerful reminder that community and network aren't competing forces, but complementary approaches to building the relationships that matter most.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
My guy, Kenny mack h mac is a I call
him a brand builder. He's also the founder of the
startup brand American Football and an overall just just dear friend.
And you know, we've spoken about this topic, you know,
directly and indirectly over the years, and I think it's
a very enlightening topic when you talk about your community
(00:24):
versus your network. So share your personal kind of general
description and the difference between the two, because you know,
we always go back and forth on this one.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's it's it's funny,
it's it's you know, you know the terms B two
C and B to B, right, I feel like the
network is more B to B. Right. The network is
your your people who are you've met. They're your acquaintances,
(00:55):
you work together, they're your colleagues. They know you predominantly
through through work, you know, like they know you through
business and the net the community is more personal, right,
I think that should be the scene that to B
two C.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Right. I love that, right, I love that.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So that's the B two C. But it's it's it's
it's the connectivity to your personal connections. And I do
think people that are in your network can definitely be
in your community, but there's sometimes where uh, somebody specifically
in your network and somebody else's specifically in your community.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yes, with that, I would definitely ask are there certain
kinds of people that typically make up your community versus
your network?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah? I think your community is anyone that makes a
personal connection to you, right. You know it's funny the
heir in LA the anti question. When you meet somebody,
what you do right.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Like, does that still happen? Does that still go down?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Bro? Yeah, that still happens, right. So that's that's because
that's that person's trying to put somebody in their network, right.
They're they're not trying to put them in their community.
They're trying to understand what you do so that it
makes sense for them to network with you or not.
Whereas community is, I don't need to know that question.
You're just a solid good person. I'm building with you.
(02:21):
We are you know, we have like interest and and
yeah that's why I say, like people in your network
can be in your community because there are people that
you meet through work, through business, and then they become
great friends. I mean like me and you. I mean
even though I knew you before, you know, in college
and when you you know, the sneaker king in New York.
(02:43):
You know. But but you know, you know, you think
about those people that both of us met a Vibe
magazine back in the day. For now, our community they
I would not say that they are my network. They're
my community, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Right, you know when you were talking about, you know,
the whole, I don't want to call it the laism
of you know, so what do you do? It's funny
I remember in church years ago in our I think
it was a Bible study group, and our leader of
the group tasked us with something that was really a
game changer for me and I probably need to implement
it more again. But he was like, you know, so
(03:17):
often we go through this thing called life, and when
people ask us what we do, we go straight to
our occupation. Well, I'm a marketer, or I'm a BP
or I'm an owner. And he challenged us to, you know,
instead of responding with the occupation, respond with what in
who you are? I'm a child of God, I'm a father,
(03:42):
I'm a husband. Like, because that's the shift I think
that we can also we need to get to of
we put so much value in our description of who
we are.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
On a job. Yeah, we're an occupation, I should say.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
But you know, so when you said that, it just
took me back to that moment of you know, that
enlightening moment of like, you don't need to answer that
with an occupation.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, although fris who like or people who have known
throughout the years who when they are not employed, they
hide mm see that, Yeah, because they don't. They're like,
what do I tell people when you know? Like? What
do I say? You know?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
And therein lies the major of what I call opportunity
not issue opportunity? Right, who are you outside of this
label of a job or a title? You are way
more than that. We're individuals. We're all here to contribute
to the beauty of this experience called life with the
gifts that we have been given, which are all very
(04:48):
unique to each one of us. But you know, that's
a whole nother conversation. But as I listened to your description,
first of I love the B to B and B
two C because I don't think you've ever shared that
one with that that was an and it gives you
a very clear correlation in comparison. But I also then
look at it to say, all right, does community equal
relational and network equal transactional for you? I think it.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I think in a way it is right. Like so,
for instance, I think when you are on using career again,
when you're on a job hunt, you are you should
be tapping into your network heavily, community a little bit,
(05:35):
but heavily into your network, right because these are people
who know you for your work, and you know, you
should be taking every meeting with all of these people
just so they know that you're outside and you're available,
and that's what that's for, and and and a lot
of time. What will happen is your network will expand
during that time because when you go meet somebody in
your network and you tell them, hey, this is what's
going on, I'm looking for blah blah blah, they're like, oh,
(05:56):
you know you should also talk to it's rights add
somebody else to your network.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
You're expanding your network there and there there, it's helping
you expand it.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yep, exactly. I think with your community, it's more about
I'm going through this right now. There's something that I'm
going through right So it might be like, hey, I'm
on this job hunts and I need to tap into
my network. But it could be, Hey, I'm unemployed and
I'm feeling the pressure of what this is. I need
(06:24):
to community, right, I need to call I need to
call my people to tap in, to just get my
spirit uplifted, to get some fellowship. You know. I think
that's the that's the difference. So it is because I
don't know if I would say yes, transactional, but but no,
I wouldn't even say transactional because you know, it's funny.
(06:49):
I used to do Fridays, like right before the pandemic
and I was in an office or you know, you're
just in the thing, and I used to do go
to a soul house on a Friday. I remember that,
and I remember that I would do what I call
my non transactional conversations. Yeah, but I remember about necessarily, Hey,
I'm only meeting with my community. It's like, no, like
(07:10):
there's a person in my network that we've never just
gotten to know each other.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
MM.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I don't want nothing from you. I just like, let's
connect so that we're on each other's radar. We know
who each other is, and you know, if we ever
need to tap in, then you know, we know when
and who and why and how? Right, So like I
wouldn't say it's transactional, like I would just really say
one is more career building and the other one is
(07:37):
more you know, personal need building.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You know. Yeah, but even listening to your you know
when you talked about the the the space that you
created on Fridays, which I do remember coming through many
a times and seeing you there and doing that, it
sounds like from a network standpoint, there's a deeper connection
from a community standpoint, with the example that you gave, right,
(08:05):
like you you would invite some people within your network
that you felt a little bit of a deeper connection
or desire to learn more or get deeper with to
then shift maybe them into a community space or a
hybrid space one hundred percent. So then can a strong network,
though ever replace a week or missing community or vice versa.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
No, I think they both serve different They both served
different objectives in your life. I think that one can
one can feed the other. But I don't think the
I don't think you say hey I have a strong network.
I I don't need my community. And I don't think
(08:51):
you say, hey I got my community, I don't need
my network. You know, like I have a million people
or not a million people, but of interacted with a
lot of different people who have said I don't do
that networking stuff. You're a great networker, like you don't
like I don't do that thing, and then when they
need something career wise, they call me and I'm like,
(09:13):
this is networking. This is and by the way, because
you don't network, that's why you're always calling me. M right,
Like you need to go out and meet people so
that you have more than just me to call when
you're like, hey, I got an idea for this thing,
and I'm like, I don't even do what you're talking about. Yeah,
but you're the one who networks, so like you know
all the people that.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
We need to talk like no, So you were almost
a liaison to networking.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
And I think it's a lazy habit that people have
to be like, hey, like I don't I don't network.
I think if you have a need for a network,
then you should network. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
It's so, what's what's the one thing you've learned about
the value of community and network that you wish more
people understood.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I think from the perspective of community I think that,
and I've been, you know, guilty of this, Like you
sometimes sit down and you feel alone, and you don't
reach out to that community to just be like, hey,
(10:20):
you know, like this is what's going on with me,
you know what I'm saying so that they know. And
then rather quickly you'll realize if you really are tapping
into your community as a whole, not just like one
or two people. You start to realize, hey, like people
are calling me, they're checking in on me because they're
part of my community. I have a vested interest in
my personal right, like yo, like I want you to
(10:43):
be good, like what's going on? You know? I think
I think people don't use their network. I mean, you know,
if you think about networking back in the day when
business cards were still relevant, you know, people would have
like stacks and stacks and stacks of business cards and
I'd be like, when is the last time you call
any of those people boom? You know. And sometimes and
(11:04):
again I'm guilty of it as well.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I'm not you know, I'm not sitting on a high
horse and and I'm talking to myself when I'm saying it.
You know, it's it's there's times where you know, you
just need to be meeting with everybody, you know, like
reaching out like and and again, my friend we were
talking about it because, you know, giving advice to somebody
who was on a job hunt, and it's like, yo,
(11:28):
like when's the last time you just went for a
meeting with somebody in your network? And well, why would
I do? Like I don't know, like do they have
a job, Like, but you don't know, like just start
meeting with people, letting people know what's going on, and
you know, letting that you have a greater chance of
finding something or something coming your way if more people
are able to connect with you and help and help
(11:49):
you in that in that standpoint. And and I'm using
job hunt, job hunt, job hunt, but it could be, Hey,
I'm at this job right now and I need an
event venue right right in Vegas? Who do I call?
You know what I'm saying, Like, it's like, oh, I
just met this person who does events for this brand
(12:11):
and lives in Vegas. Let me ask them. And you know,
like it's how do you tap into that and kind
of utilize it? You know?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, you know, as I was listening to the thing
that came to my mind, was also this notion of
is there this difference between or a different level of
trust and vulnerability between the two and the type of
conversations that you have within.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Are you asking the question are there?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Well? Yeah, I mean because as I'm listening to yeah,
and when I'm listening to the scenario.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Vulnerable, you're way more vulnerable with your community. You know,
they see you as you are. I think your network,
you present yourself in a way because you want to
be able to position yourself, position yourself yeah, and let
that person know that like your real deal about it?
(13:01):
You know so.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well, I always tell you, you know, it's I've always been
appreciative of you being a member of my community and
vice versa. But also you know, the network we've we've
bounced many ideas and concepts and thoughts and plugged one
another to different individuals and different scenarios, and I look
forward to that continuing to grow. And I'm very grateful
(13:26):
that you shared, you know, your insight on this, because,
like I said, we had this conversation and it was
eye opening to me, even on something as what you
would think is so basic, as you know, community and network,
which are words and phrases and terms that we use
so often and some people interchangeably and in some circumstances interchangeably,
but putting a little bit more context around it was
(13:48):
great and I appreciate this first conversation of many that
we're going to share with the world.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Say, my brother appreciate you, all right, man, cool,
My guy, Kenny mack h mac is a I call
him a brand builder. He's also the founder of the
startup brand American Football and an overall just just dear friend.
And you know, we've spoken about this topic, you know,
directly and indirectly over the years, and I think it's
a very enlightening topic when you talk about your community
(00:24):
versus your network. So share your personal kind of general
description and the difference between the two, because you know,
we always go back and forth on this one.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's it's it's funny,
it's it's you know, you know the terms B two
C and B to B, right, I feel like the
network is more B to B. Right. The network is
your your people who are you've met. They're your acquaintances,
(00:55):
you work together, they're your colleagues. They know you predominantly
through through work, you know, like they know you through
business and the net the community is more personal, right,
I think that should be the scene that to B
two C.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Right. I love that, right, I love that.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So that's the B two C. But it's it's it's
it's the connectivity to your personal connections. And I do
think people that are in your network can definitely be
in your community, but there's sometimes where uh, somebody specifically
in your network and somebody else's specifically in your community.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yes, with that, I would definitely ask are there certain
kinds of people that typically make up your community versus
your network?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah? I think your community is anyone that makes a
personal connection to you, right. You know it's funny the
heir in LA the anti question. When you meet somebody,
what you do right.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Like, does that still happen? Does that still go down?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Bro? Yeah, that still happens, right. So that's that's because
that's that person's trying to put somebody in their network, right.
They're they're not trying to put them in their community.
They're trying to understand what you do so that it
makes sense for them to network with you or not.
Whereas community is, I don't need to know that question.
You're just a solid good person. I'm building with you.
(02:21):
We are you know, we have like interest and and
yeah that's why I say, like people in your network
can be in your community because there are people that
you meet through work, through business, and then they become
great friends. I mean like me and you. I mean
even though I knew you before, you know, in college
and when you you know, the sneaker king in New York.
(02:43):
You know. But but you know, you know, you think
about those people that both of us met a Vibe
magazine back in the day. For now, our community they
I would not say that they are my network. They're
my community, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Right, you know when you were talking about, you know,
the whole, I don't want to call it the laism
of you know, so what do you do? It's funny
I remember in church years ago in our I think
it was a Bible study group, and our leader of
the group tasked us with something that was really a
game changer for me and I probably need to implement
it more again. But he was like, you know, so
(03:17):
often we go through this thing called life, and when
people ask us what we do, we go straight to
our occupation. Well, I'm a marketer, or I'm a BP
or I'm an owner. And he challenged us to, you know,
instead of responding with the occupation, respond with what in
who you are? I'm a child of God, I'm a father,
(03:42):
I'm a husband. Like, because that's the shift I think
that we can also we need to get to of
we put so much value in our description of who
we are.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
On a job. Yeah, we're an occupation, I should say.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
But you know, so when you said that, it just
took me back to that moment of you know, that
enlightening moment of like, you don't need to answer that
with an occupation.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, although fris who like or people who have known
throughout the years who when they are not employed, they
hide mm see that, Yeah, because they don't. They're like,
what do I tell people when you know? Like? What
do I say? You know?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
And therein lies the major of what I call opportunity
not issue opportunity? Right, who are you outside of this
label of a job or a title? You are way
more than that. We're individuals. We're all here to contribute
to the beauty of this experience called life with the
gifts that we have been given, which are all very
(04:48):
unique to each one of us. But you know, that's
a whole nother conversation. But as I listened to your description,
first of I love the B to B and B
two C because I don't think you've ever shared that
one with that that was an and it gives you
a very clear correlation in comparison. But I also then
look at it to say, all right, does community equal
relational and network equal transactional for you? I think it.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I think in a way it is right. Like so,
for instance, I think when you are on using career again,
when you're on a job hunt, you are you should
be tapping into your network heavily, community a little bit,
(05:35):
but heavily into your network, right because these are people
who know you for your work, and you know, you
should be taking every meeting with all of these people
just so they know that you're outside and you're available,
and that's what that's for, and and and a lot
of time. What will happen is your network will expand
during that time because when you go meet somebody in
your network and you tell them, hey, this is what's
going on, I'm looking for blah blah blah, they're like, oh,
(05:56):
you know you should also talk to it's rights add
somebody else to your network.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
You're expanding your network there and there there, it's helping
you expand it.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yep, exactly. I think with your community, it's more about
I'm going through this right now. There's something that I'm
going through right So it might be like, hey, I'm
on this job hunts and I need to tap into
my network. But it could be, Hey, I'm unemployed and
I'm feeling the pressure of what this is. I need
(06:24):
to community, right, I need to call I need to
call my people to tap in, to just get my
spirit uplifted, to get some fellowship. You know. I think
that's the that's the difference. So it is because I
don't know if I would say yes, transactional, but but no,
I wouldn't even say transactional because you know, it's funny.
(06:49):
I used to do Fridays, like right before the pandemic
and I was in an office or you know, you're
just in the thing, and I used to do go
to a soul house on a Friday. I remember that,
and I remember that I would do what I call
my non transactional conversations. Yeah, but I remember about necessarily, Hey,
I'm only meeting with my community. It's like, no, like
(07:10):
there's a person in my network that we've never just
gotten to know each other.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
MM.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I don't want nothing from you. I just like, let's
connect so that we're on each other's radar. We know
who each other is, and you know, if we ever
need to tap in, then you know, we know when
and who and why and how? Right, So like I
wouldn't say it's transactional, like I would just really say
one is more career building and the other one is
(07:37):
more you know, personal need building.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You know. Yeah, but even listening to your you know
when you talked about the the the space that you
created on Fridays, which I do remember coming through many
a times and seeing you there and doing that, it
sounds like from a network standpoint, there's a deeper connection
from a community standpoint, with the example that you gave, right,
(08:05):
like you you would invite some people within your network
that you felt a little bit of a deeper connection
or desire to learn more or get deeper with to
then shift maybe them into a community space or a
hybrid space one hundred percent. So then can a strong network,
though ever replace a week or missing community or vice versa.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
No, I think they both serve different They both served
different objectives in your life. I think that one can
one can feed the other. But I don't think the
I don't think you say hey I have a strong network.
I I don't need my community. And I don't think
(08:51):
you say, hey I got my community, I don't need
my network. You know, like I have a million people
or not a million people, but of interacted with a
lot of different people who have said I don't do
that networking stuff. You're a great networker, like you don't
like I don't do that thing, and then when they
need something career wise, they call me and I'm like,
(09:13):
this is networking. This is and by the way, because
you don't network, that's why you're always calling me. M right,
Like you need to go out and meet people so
that you have more than just me to call when
you're like, hey, I got an idea for this thing,
and I'm like, I don't even do what you're talking about. Yeah,
but you're the one who networks, so like you know
all the people that.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
We need to talk like no, So you were almost
a liaison to networking.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
And I think it's a lazy habit that people have
to be like, hey, like I don't I don't network.
I think if you have a need for a network,
then you should network. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
It's so, what's what's the one thing you've learned about
the value of community and network that you wish more
people understood.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I think from the perspective of community I think that,
and I've been, you know, guilty of this, Like you
sometimes sit down and you feel alone, and you don't
reach out to that community to just be like, hey,
(10:20):
you know, like this is what's going on with me,
you know what I'm saying so that they know. And
then rather quickly you'll realize if you really are tapping
into your community as a whole, not just like one
or two people. You start to realize, hey, like people
are calling me, they're checking in on me because they're
part of my community. I have a vested interest in
my personal right, like yo, like I want you to
(10:43):
be good, like what's going on? You know? I think
I think people don't use their network. I mean, you know,
if you think about networking back in the day when
business cards were still relevant, you know, people would have
like stacks and stacks and stacks of business cards and
I'd be like, when is the last time you call
any of those people boom? You know. And sometimes and
(11:04):
again I'm guilty of it as well.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I'm not you know, I'm not sitting on a high
horse and and I'm talking to myself when I'm saying it.
You know, it's it's there's times where you know, you
just need to be meeting with everybody, you know, like
reaching out like and and again, my friend we were
talking about it because, you know, giving advice to somebody
who was on a job hunt, and it's like, yo,
(11:28):
like when's the last time you just went for a
meeting with somebody in your network? And well, why would
I do? Like I don't know, like do they have
a job, Like, but you don't know, like just start
meeting with people, letting people know what's going on, and
you know, letting that you have a greater chance of
finding something or something coming your way if more people
are able to connect with you and help and help
(11:49):
you in that in that standpoint. And and I'm using
job hunt, job hunt, job hunt, but it could be, Hey,
I'm at this job right now and I need an
event venue right right in Vegas? Who do I call?
You know what I'm saying, Like, it's like, oh, I
just met this person who does events for this brand
(12:11):
and lives in Vegas. Let me ask them. And you know,
like it's how do you tap into that and kind
of utilize it? You know?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, you know, as I was listening to the thing
that came to my mind, was also this notion of
is there this difference between or a different level of
trust and vulnerability between the two and the type of
conversations that you have within.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Are you asking the question are there?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Well? Yeah, I mean because as I'm listening to yeah,
and when I'm listening to the scenario.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Vulnerable, you're way more vulnerable with your community. You know,
they see you as you are. I think your network,
you present yourself in a way because you want to
be able to position yourself, position yourself yeah, and let
that person know that like your real deal about it?
(13:01):
You know so.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well, I always tell you, you know, it's I've always been
appreciative of you being a member of my community and
vice versa. But also you know, the network we've we've
bounced many ideas and concepts and thoughts and plugged one
another to different individuals and different scenarios, and I look
forward to that continuing to grow. And I'm very grateful
(13:26):
that you shared, you know, your insight on this, because,
like I said, we had this conversation and it was
eye opening to me, even on something as what you
would think is so basic, as you know, community and network,
which are words and phrases and terms that we use
so often and some people interchangeably and in some circumstances interchangeably,
but putting a little bit more context around it was
(13:48):
great and I appreciate this first conversation of many that
we're going to share with the world.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Say, my brother appreciate you, all right, man, cool,
Host
Astor Chamber
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