This Sh!t Works Recap: How Intentional Connection Drives Career Growth
Posted by [email protected] on Mar. 31, 2026 / Event Recap / Subscribe 0
SMPS San Diego partnered with CREW San Diego and BOMA San Diego for an energizing joint program, This Sh!t Works, featuring keynote speaker Julie Brown. Julie opened by highlighting how a lack of a strong network remains one of the biggest limiting factors for women in business. Throughout the session, she shared practical ways to overcome this, reinforcing a clear message: confidence, visibility, and opportunity grow through intentional connection and consistent practice.
Five takeaways we can put to work right now
1. Stop treating networking as “industry only.” Build clusters instead.
Julie reframed networking as a whole-life activity rather than an industry echo chamber. When your network includes colleagues alongside community connections, alumni groups, hobbies, and everyday relationships, you become a connector between different circles. That role expands influence, insight, and opportunity far beyond any single room or organization.
2. Introvert or extrovert, confidence grows through repetition.
Julie challenged the idea that only extroverts are good networkers, describing most people as ambiverts who shift depending on the situation. Introverts often excel because they prepare, ask thoughtful questions, and listen to understand. Confidence does not come first. It is built by showing up consistently and becomes easier and more enjoyable with practice. To make approaching people less intimidating, Julie shared the “croissant vs bagel” rule: closed circles are bagels, open groups are croissants, and open groups are an invitation to join.
3. Build connection through shared experiences, not job titles.
Instead of defaulting to “What do you do?”, Julie encouraged creating more authentic connections by opening the conversation to shared experiences instead. Whether it be pets, hobbies, or travel, shared experiences create rapport faster and make interactions more memorable than transactional introductions.
4. Your existing network is bigger than you think. Reconnect with purpose.
Julie emphasized the untapped power of existing relationships. She encouraged reconnecting intentionally with people you already know using a simple, low-pressure opener like “I’ve been thinking about you.” She cited research that reaching out after a long gap often creates “unanticipated joy” for the other person, so it is rarely as awkward as we fear.
5. Don't quit too early. Most relationships take time.
Julie highlighted how long it takes for people to decide they know, like, and trust you. Only a small percentage lock in after one to four interactions, while roughly 82% need about five meaningful touches with you, your content, or your message. Many professionals stop trying right before that fifth interaction, quitting just before relationships begin to pay off.
Thank you to CREW San Diego and BOMA San Diego for collaborating with SMPS San Diego, and to Julie Brown for sharing how intentional connection can turn networking into one of the most rewarding parts of our careers.
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