A few weeks ago, a stat landed in my inbox that I found to be pretty interesting. According to a July 2026 survey by LinkedIn, nearly two-thirds (63%) of professionals say they don’t know how to network because they were never taught.
I personally take a lot of pride in the depth of my network. It’s taken years of hard work to cultivate my connections. But if someone asked me who taught me to network, I’d be at a loss. It’s certainly not something I learned in college or read about in a women’s magazine. (Though there are probably a million listicles out there with advice.)
Ultimately, I think I learned from watching others. I didn’t really get good at it until I was in my 30s, when I was able to let go of some of the anxiety I had felt earlier in my career. I got a little bolder. And it paid off.
Networking sometimes gets a bad rap. People think it’s too transactional. And the LinkedIn survey, which had over 18,000 respondents, found that a lot of professionals worry about coming across as inauthentic when they reach out to potential connections. It definitely can be a fine line. You can’t always be asking others for introductions or advice. You have to do some giving as well.
Of course, as with everything in our post-Covid society, networking feels different these days. We all got a little rusty at attending in-person events. AI makes it really easy to send dozens of emails to potential connections without a lot of thought or personalization. And while remote work provides flexibility, it can also make it harder to form deep bonds with colleagues.
I’m so curious about how Purse readers feel about this topic. Are you a super networker? Or does the thought of cultivating work connections make you cringe?
