Hey you! Yes, I took a month off after wrapping my 10 Trends in the Future of Networking series (thanks to the many readers who expressed their love for it! The feeling is mutual ☺️).

I have to admit: Spotify Wrapped’s year-end review was delightful — not just because it was fun, but because it turned a year of what I thought was random listening, into an analysis of my listening preferences.

It inspired me to do the same analysis for something far more valuable than playlists: your networking.

So, allow me one more end-of-year recap — and one that will actually help you enter the new year ahead of the game: the 7 networking trends we saw in 2025, and what they mean for building professional relationships in 2026.

Keep an eye out for the “✍️,” where you’ll find reflection questions and action items for you to start the new year a step ahead.

1. Events are back — but only the right ones.

2025 proved that events are back — but they’re not what they used to be. “Big corporate-sponsored event” kind of energy is officially out.

The rooms that worked were highly curated, niche, and led by trusted community figures: existing community leaders, emerging conveners, or brands partnering with a Connection Architect / Superconnector.

People are fiercely guarding the time they spend attending events. If they’re going to leave the house, they want:

• A room that feels specifically designed for them

• A clear benefit (relationships, deal flow, or visibility)

• No forced demos or presentations

The win in 2026 isn’t “more events.” It’s scaling back to more strategically curated rooms where the right people can truly move the needle for each other.

What does that look like in practice? Here’s what a $25M CEO does with his events, and here’s what actually goes into hosting these curated executive events.

✍️ Reflection question:

In 2026, which kind of room do you want to be in? Can you get invited in, or should you create it yourself?

2. AI networking tools are improving, but they won’t work if your digital persona isn’t up to par.

AI-powered tools for networking made real progress this year. There are a handful of genuinely useful products, a wave of up-and-comers, and even a cautionary tale.

But here’s the catch: if you aren’t introduce-able, the tools can’t save you.

Before you plug into AI matching and networking tools, your digital persona has to answer three questions instantly:

1. Who are you?

2. What are you focused on?

3. Why would someone like me want to connect with you right now?

Because the moment an AI tool suggests you as a match, the human on the other end is going to check you out — LinkedIn, Google, your content, etc. If the story is blurry or generic, the opportunity quietly dies.

In 2026, your Networking OS starts not with tools, but with clarity of identity and attraction — your positioning, not your plugins.

✍️ What you can do:

• Get very clear on who to prioritize building a relationship with, why, and where. Then, look at your existing network through the lens of your current goals.

• Fill in Stanford Business School’s four-part framework for unforgettable introductions.

• Set up your own CRM. (Don’t know where to start? Try one of these tools.)

3. AI slop is everywhere. Trust and humanness are now your sharpest differentiators.

By the end of 2025, AI-generated content had flooded everything — feeds, inboxes, event pages, even fake communities. We even gave the worst of it a name: AI slop.

That makes trust, discernment, and humanness the real signals.

The people and companies who cut through are:

• Showing up consistently as the same person online and offline

• Sending messages that clearly took more effort than copy and paste from GPT

• Designing experiences that feel impossible to mass-produce

✍️ What you can do:

Posting videos that show your face function like a verification badge. You don’t need to produce a Hollywood film — just create a video offering a quick tip, like this one. If you really want to go digital, create a credible clone of yourself based on your content.

4. Networking flywheels and relationship funnels are the hot thing to aim for.

2025 quietly retired an old idea: that “outbound” means blasting a message out to hundreds of strangers and hoping a tiny percentage respond.

The leaders who saw the biggest gains built Networking Flywheels and Relationship Funnels (we know, because we do this for executives!):

• A flywheel of curated rooms → thoughtful follow-up → warm intros = visible wins

• A funnel that moves people from casual acquaintance to trusted ally, partner or client

In other words: relationships are becoming the new outbound engine.

2026 belongs to leaders who invest in relationship systems that keep spinning — even when they’re not in the room.

✍️ How to do this:

While it takes a Connection Architect to design, build, implement, and manage a complex networking flywheel and relationship funnel for mid to large companies, here are two things anyone can do at any stage of business:

• Starting a community is one way to create a networking flywheel.

• The beautiful cycle of intentional gatherings and reciprocity continually fills your relationship ecosystem.

5. Savvy sales leaders are trading more BDRs for better executive intros.

I’ve had a Chief Revenue Officer and a National Head of Sales say the same thing to me this year:

They want to skip BDRs’ broad pounding the pavement and generic outreach. Instead, sales leaders are willing to dedicate 6-12 months to building a relationship funnel to get to the right people.

What they want are small, intimate executive events and curated intros that lead directly to pipeline.

BDRs won’t disappear in 2026, but the smartest companies will pair them with a custom-designed relationship ecosystem that warms the ground long before any email goes out.

✍️ What you can do:

This is an example of what we do for our clients, but you can take these tactics and use them yourself.

6. Connection Architects are in. Delegating Networking to your Executive Assistant or Chief of Staff is out.

In 2025, a quiet shift started inside growth-minded companies: the recognition that…

1) EAs and Chiefs of Staff, while still essential to networking, are overwhelmed and spread thin.

2) The relationship layer — who we know, how we show up, and which rooms we own — now requires its own operator.

Enter: the Connection Architect. This is not an admin function, it’s a strategic role for late-stage startups, mid-market, and enterprise companies. A Connection Architect:

• Has a true C-suite operator background

• Can move fluently between sales, marketing, partnerships, PR, and operations

• Designs and manages the Networking OS: goals, positioning, CRM, events, and metrics

• Makes sure every executive is spending their relationship energy in the right rooms, with a clear path to ROI

Here are two examples of what a Connection Architect can do:

• Design your high-ROI networking flywheel and relationship funnels

• Navigate C-suite rooms with you / for you in a different way

In 2026, one of the most important hires you can will be the person architecting your relationship ecosystem.

7. Random networking is out. A Networking OS is in.

2025 was the year that many leaders finally admitted:

The answer isn’t “more coffees” or “more conferences.”

The answer is having a system.

A Networking OS takes everything you’re already doing — calls, intros, events, communities — and ties it back to:

• Clear goals (revenue, roles, partners, boards)

• Sharp positioning (who you are and what you’re known for)

• A usable CRM / data layer

• Intentional community & events

• Simple but real metrics (network health, opportunities, and conversion)

In 2026, the leaders who win won’t necessarily have the biggest networks. They’ll have the most coherent systems for turning relationships into compounding assets.

✍️ What You Can Do:

For one, don’t fly blind in your networking. Do this one thing to make sure you have clarity around where you want to go, and who's going to help you get there.

Want to make sure you’re headed in the right direction? Reference these 4 Metrics to track your ROI.

What trends were most impactful to you or your business this year?

Reply back and let me know.

With gratitude,

Nicole

P.S. We help busy executives achieve their business goals by turning their networking into a simple human + AI system, and we host private executive events that attract the right people directly to our clients. If that’s the competitive advantage you want in 2026, let me know.

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