Examples of invisible trust networks

𝗔𝗻 𝗢𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗣𝗮𝗸𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗶 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 I’ve been thinking about how much of Pakistan’s economy isn’t visible in reports or policy briefs but plays out every single day in WhatsApp groups, Instagram threads, and Facebook comments. It’s where thousands of women (without offices, websites, or seed funding) are quietly running businesses based on one thing: 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁. No escrow. No CRM. Just a stitched kurti, a voice note, and 50 strangers commenting: “Received mine, perfect fitting.” “2nd time ordering, highly recommended.” “Trusted seller 💯.” And somehow, that’s enough. The more I read about these women and their micro-enterprises, the more I found myself going backwards, not to another market study, but to history. I started revisiting the ideas of 𝗜𝗯𝗻 𝗞𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗱𝘂𝗻, who, 700 years ago, described how civilizations rise and fall not on wealth or force alone, but on 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁, 𝗰𝗼𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. He wouldn’t have been confused by our so-called “informal” economy. He would’ve seen it for what it is: 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 that emerges when institutions are weak but relationships are strong. That’s when this line came to me: “𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗗𝗣, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲.” These women aren’t just selling products. They’re managing reputational capital, emotional labor, logistics, and customer care, all in one thread. And doing it with a level of consistency that most funded startups struggle to match. It made me realize: maybe what we call “informal” isn’t lesser. Maybe it’s just 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆: built on memory, voice, and public witness instead of code. And maybe, it’s time we start treating that trust network not as a gap, but as a model. One worth studying. One worth respecting.

Right now, people are recommending your brand. Closing deals for you. And you have no idea it’s happening. Welcome to Dark Socials 🕶️ The untrackable, behind-the-scenes conversations on WhatsApp, Slack, email, and DMs that drive buying decisions… but never show up in your analytics. Why it matters: In India, where business trust is built in tight-knit networks, a single WhatsApp forward can close more deals than a month of ad spend. Example? A founder shares your case study in an investor group. Someone drops your product link in a private Slack channel. You never see the click, but you feel the revenue. 🎥 In this video, I break down why Dark Socials are the biggest blind spot in 2025 marketing and how to work with them, not against them. 3 ways to tap into the invisible: 1️⃣ Create “forward-friendly” content: mobile visuals, bite-sized PDFs, easy-share links. 2️⃣ Ask every new lead: “Who told you about us?” - it’s the only way to track the untrackable. 3️⃣ Plant content in niche, high-trust groups and measure uplift, not just clicks. What’s the most unexpected way someone found your business without touching your website?

Your VP approved it. Your budget's secured. Your team's ready. Six months later, nothing's moved and you’re answering pointed questions. Here’s why that’s happening. The org chart shows formal authority but hides the informal networks that determine what gets done. Use these three questions to reveal who actually controls your project: (1): 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀? Not who makes the call, but who do they check with first? What you didn't know: Your VP approves your projects, but they always defer to their Director. (2): 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱? Not who signs off, but who decides what actually gets prioritized and resourced? What you didn't know: Leadership green-lights your initiative, but someone three levels down quietly shelves it because "the team doesn't have bandwidth right now." (3): 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀? Not who attends the meetings, but who prepares the briefings and sets the agenda? What you didn't know: Your sponsor's Chief of Staff summarizes all project updates. If they're skeptical about your approach, leadership only hears concerns, never your wins. Formal approval runs through leadership, but actual work flows through invisible networks. Good stakeholder mapping reveals both structures. The gap between formal authority and informal power is where your project lives or dies. Ask these questions before your next project kickoff. The 30 minutes you spend mapping informal power will save you months of unexplained delays.

Your org chart doesn’t show who gets things done. It shows who reports to whom. But not who people go to when they need help. Not who connects the dots across teams. Not who quietly keeps things moving when everything feels stuck. We’ve all seen it. Sometimes, it’s the person without a big title who becomes the go-to for decisions, guidance, or just getting things unstuck. Because they know how to navigate the informal network. Because they’re trusted. Because they care. Reading The Agile Organisation (summary in the comments) reminded me how much power lives outside the formal structures. Not power in the hierarchical sense, but in the human sense. The influence that comes from relationships, credibility, and shared purpose. These invisible networks are often what keep things working in complexity. They’re how agility really happens, not because the boxes say so, but because people find a way together. If we only focus on formal roles and reporting lines, we miss a huge part of the story. The truth is: agility lives in the spaces between the boxes. So the next time you look at an org chart, ask yourself: Who are the connectors here? Who’s moving the needle quietly in the background? And how can we make their work more visible, more supported, and more valued? That’s where the real system change begins.