Network Intel: How to Decide Who Deserves Your Attention This Week

Leaders either under-invest in relationships until a crisis, or they over-invest and never ship. Network Intel exists to break that binary: who to follow up with, and why it matters right now.

The weekly three

Every Monday (or Sunday night), pick three human touches:

1. Maintain: a healthy relationship that goes quiet if you ignore it
2. Repair: friction, missed expectation, or cool distance
3. Advance: a relationship tied to a live goal (hire, deal, alliance, mentor)

If you only do Maintain, you are polite and stagnant. If you only do Advance, people feel used. If you only do Repair, your week becomes emotional debt collection.

What "good signal" looks like

Useful relationship signals are specific:

• You owe a response after a favor
• A key hire's energy dropped after last meeting
• A customer champion changed jobs
• A peer blocked a decision and you never debriefed
• Someone celebrated a win and you stayed silent

Vague anxiety ("I should network more") is not a signal. It is a mood.

A fifteen-minute outreach that does not feel fake

Structure:

1. One true observation ("Saw the launch note / the board update / the talk")
2. One specific value (intro, resource, decision, question only they can answer)
3. One easy close (two time options, or a single clear question)

Avoid: long voice of conscience paragraphs about how busy you have been.

DISC patterns in networking

• D: You will skip Maintain. Put one Maintain on the calendar or your world becomes all transactions.
• I: You will overdo Advance with warmth and under-document next steps. Send the recap.
• S: You will overdo Maintain and avoid Repair. Repair is kindness with a spine.
• C: You will wait for a "perfect reason" to reach out. The reason can be small and still real.

This week, choose your three names before you open the main work queue. Attention is a leadership budget. Spend it on purpose.