How to map your professional network

Ask most people how many professional contacts they have and they'll quote a number from a social network. Ask who could introduce them to a specific person and they'll go quiet. That's the gap a network map closes: not how many people you're connected to, but who you actually know, how well, and who they know.

You don't need special software to start. A spreadsheet and 30 minutes will show you more than you expect.

Where your network actually lives

Your real network is scattered. Each source shows a different slice, and none shows all of it:

• Your inbox. The best record of who you work with. People you've emailed back and forth with many times are real relationships, whether or not you're connected anywhere else.
• Your calendar. Meetings show who you spend time with. A monthly catch-up signals a stronger tie than a hundred emails.
• Your phone contacts and messages. Often your closest ties, including people you'd never think of as "professional" who know exactly the right person.
• Past workplaces and schools. Former colleagues are among the most willing introducers, even years later.
• Professional networks. Useful for current job titles, but connection lists are wide and shallow. Most platforms let you download a data export of your own connections.
• Communities. Slack groups, industry associations, alumni networks, events. These are where you meet people just outside your circle, the ones most likely to know someone new.

The 30-minute exercise

Minutes 0–10: list

Open a spreadsheet with columns for name, organisation, where you know them from, and last contact. Go through your sent mail for the last year and your calendar for the last six months. Add everyone you've had a real conversation with. Then add former colleagues and community members who come to mind. Don't filter yet.

Minutes 10–20: sort by strength

Give each person one of three labels:

• Close: you've spoken in the last three months and would happily call them tomorrow.
• Warm: you've had real contact in the last year or two and they'd recognise your name and reply.
• Dormant: you once knew each other well but haven't spoken in years.

Relationship strength is mostly about recency, frequency and depth: how recently you were in touch, how often, and in how many settings. Someone you've worked with, had dinner with and messaged on your phone is a stronger tie than someone you've emailed ten times about one project.

Minutes 20–30: find the connectors

Now mark the connectors: people who know many others across different groups. Investors, community organisers, long-tenured consultants and people who've worked at several companies in your industry tend to be connectors. They are the people to keep warm, because one conversation with them can open several doors.

What to look for in the map

• Dormant ties with high value. Former colleagues you've lost touch with are often the best route to new opportunities. Reconnecting is easier than you think: see how to reconnect with dormant contacts.
• Clusters. Groups of people who all know each other, such as a past employer or a community. You're probably well known inside each one.
• Bridges. People who sit between clusters. They're how you reach a world you don't know yet.
• Gaps. The industries, cities or roles you need for your goals where you know nobody. That's where a community or a well-chosen introduction helps most.

From map to goal

A map is only useful if it helps you act. Write down one goal for the next quarter, as specifically as you can: "two new advisory clients in healthcare", "an introduction to a seed investor who backs logistics". Then go back to the map and ask, for each close or warm person: could they help directly, or could they introduce me to someone who could?

You'll usually find a handful of strong paths. Start with those, and ask well: here's how to ask for a warm introduction.

Keeping it current

The weakness of a spreadsheet is that it's out of date the day you finish it. Relationships warm and cool every week. Revisit it monthly: update last-contact dates, move people between tiers, and add new people you've met.