By Lou Sokolovskiy

A few weeks ago, I had coffee with an old acquaintance that I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade. He used to be a member of Opus Connect. Back then, he was a high-flying senior lender at a major bank — profitable, respected, indispensable. Or so he thought. 

But this summer, at 49, he was shown the door. Not because he failed or his deals went bad, but because his bosses decided he was “too expensive” to keep and found a couple of cheaper hires to do his job.

Sitting across from me, he was at a crossroads. He was not sure whether to go for another “safe” bank job or try out something bolder. He had already been approached by an insurance company about direct lending.

I suggested a different path:  why not launch your own private debt shop? Take that insurer as an anchor client, and then build from there, I said. His eyes lit up. Then he hesitated: I don’t know enough people in that space.

That pause speaks volumes.

The Deal-Only Trap

Here’s the thing: too many professionals spend their careers cultivating a network designed merely to close today’s deal, rather than for building tomorrow’s career. That’s fine, until it isn’t. It’s not a matter of if but when the tectonic plates shift under your industry and you discover your Rolodex is built for a world that no longer exists.

The plates have never been shifting faster. In 2023, nearly half of all layoffs in America were managers and senior leaders. That’s a 57% jump from the average for the past five years. When companies lay off 50% of their managers and leaders, it’s clear that we’ve already entered a whole new era in which performance does not guarantee permanence. In today’s fast-paced economy, stability is a mirage.

Networking as Career Insurance

So let’s flip the script. Networking isn’t just transactional grease for the next deal. It’s career insurance. It’s about optionality, the ability to shape your future rather than be shaped by it.

And optionality doesn’t live in your LinkedIn feed or among the folks who already know your pitch. It lives one standard deviation away. It’s in adjacent ecosystems. If you’re a banker, for example, that means cultivating private equity, corporate development, and alternative lenders. 

If you’re in the media, maybe that’s tech platforms or policy circles. Those weak ties, the loose acquaintances, the neighbor-of-a-friend, may turn out to be the strongest bridges when you need to cross into a new world.

MIT and LinkedIn recently studied 20 million users and confirmed what sociologists have long argued: weak ties, not strong ones, drive mobility. And up to 85% of jobs are filled through networking, many never posted. If your network is too narrow, you’ll never even hear the doorbell ring.

Why We Don’t Do It

If it’s so obvious, why don’t more people network for their next career instead of their next deal? Three reasons:

• Overconfidence. Things feel stable until the pink slip lands. But the average U.S. worker now spends less than four years in a role.
  
• Short-term pressure. Closing this quarter’s numbers feels more urgent than a coffee with someone in an adjacent field.
  
• Lack of clarity. People don’t know where they want to go next, so they don’t build bridges.

The result? When the storm hits, they scramble for years to rebuild what they could have been planting all along.

The Board Seat Example

Take board service. Let’s say I want 20 paid seats by age 60. That means five by 55. Which means starting to lay track today. The average U.S. director is 63. You don’t just parachute onto a board at 54. You need a decade of visibility, relationships, credibility. That’s not a cold start. It’s a long burn.

Even if you never take the seat, wouldn’t you rather have the option than the regret?

A Framework for Career-Ready Networking

So how do you avoid deal-only networking? Four simple moves:

• Allocate time intentionally. Block out hours each month for contacts beyond your core circle.
• Target adjacent circles. Go one step away from your role.
• Maintain touchpoints. A congratulatory note or an annual coffee compounds.
• Keep a horizon. Sketch “future you” and build toward it.

Career-Ready Networking: Four connected steps to move beyond deal-only networking. Diagram by Opus Connect team

The Payoff

The professionals who thrive aren’t the ones frantically working the phones after the layoff. They’re the ones who’ve been planting seeds across industries, roles, geographies. They don’t just survive disruption — they ride it. They hear about hidden jobs first. They enjoy the peace of mind of a wide net. And they bring fresh perspective back to their current work.\

My Challenge

So here’s a small step: this week, scroll through your contact list. Count how many are tied directly to today’s deals. Then reach out to three people in adjacent fields. Not to pitch. To connect.

Because in the age of accelerating churn, the best time to build your parachute isn’t after you’ve been pushed from the plane. It’s now.

Tell us what you think on LinkedIn or Instagram (@opusconnect). Explore our events and join the community.

Sept. 2025