ThemePeople & Network
CardCard 44 of 66
Questions5 to explore

Professional Network

Connections, relationships & interactions

Your professional network is less about who you know and more about the quality of the relationships you actually have.

A professional network in the conventional sense, a large number of weak contacts accumulated at events and on LinkedIn, is less useful than it sounds. What actually matters is a smaller group of people who know your work genuinely, who you maintain real contact with, and who you would actually reach out to when something important comes up.

Networks are built slowly and they decay if not tended. The people you worked with closely five years ago may not be people you are still genuinely connected to now. The people who are now most relevant to your next move may be ones you have barely spent time with. Being honest about the current state of your network is more useful than assuming it is intact just because the contacts exist somewhere.

Networks also have texture: some people are connectors who can introduce you to others, some are peers you trust for honest input, some are people whose work you admire and want to stay close to. Knowing who plays which role in your network helps you understand both what you have and what might be missing.

How to work on it

Practical ways to reflect on and develop this dimension of your working life. How it tends to look at different stages of a career, and where to put your attention.

Early career

Start building relationships before you need them. Reaching out to people only when you want something is hard; staying in touch over time is much easier.

Mid career

Audit your network. Who do you have real contact with, and who are you just connected to on paper? Invest in the former and be honest about the latter.

Later career

Think about the value you bring to the people in your network, not just what they might provide for you. Strong networks are built on genuine reciprocity.

Any stage

Identify two or three people who are adjacent to your current work but not directly in it. Some of the most useful relationships come from slightly outside your usual field.

Questions to explore

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

If you needed help with something significant in your professional life right now, who are the five or six people you would actually call?
Who in your network have you drifted from that you would benefit from reconnecting with?
What parts of your network feel thin or missing: certain industries, certain roles, certain perspectives?
How do people in your network experience you as a connection? Are you as useful to them as they are to you?
Is there a type of relationship you have been wanting to build but have not yet found the right way into?

Things to notice

Networking as a discrete activity, collecting contacts at events, updating your profile, attending mixers, is rarely how the most valuable relationships get built. They tend to form through shared work and genuine interest.
A large network can create an illusion of social capital that evaporates when you actually need it. The size of the list matters less than the depth of the real relationships.
Letting your network go dormant between moves is a pattern that catches people off guard. Relationships need some maintenance to stay alive, even if that maintenance is modest.