Stop Networking. Start Building.

Last week, our CEO, Angelina Darrisaw, sat down with Courtney Chow, CEO of MONSE, at Zero Bond for an intimate fireside chat hosted by C-Suite Coach. We covered a lot of ground, but one moment in particular has stayed with us.

When the conversation turned to community versus networking, Courtney didn't mince words:

"Networking can be very transactional. Almost extractive, really. You're trying to get something out of someone before you give. Community is different. There's a shared advancement goal."

Most of us have been in both kinds of rooms. The difference is something you feel before anyone even speaks. One has people working the crowd with an agenda, eyes already drifting to the next person. The other has people who are genuinely curious about where you're going and invested in helping you get there. And yet, most of us have been trained to network, not to build.

Many professionals across different industries collect business cards, send LinkedIn requests with no real follow-up, and show up to events with an agenda, only to leave wondering why nothing ever came from them. The events are not the problem, and neither are the people; however, the way we have been taught to approach those rooms is.

And that reframing, shifting from extraction to genuine investment, is exactly what Courtney has built her perspective on. She has seen this play out from multiple vantage points, as an investor, an operator, and a community builder. She shared what she has learned about success across her career, from Battery Ventures to the helm of a luxury fashion house:

"It's not always about individual effort. It's often about someone opening a door for you, giving you access, information, or an opportunity that didn't previously exist."

That is what community actually looks like in practice. Someone thought of you when an opportunity came up, even though they had nothing to gain from it. Someone vouched for you in a room you were not in. Someone shared access, a contact, a conversation, an introduction, that they had no obligation to share. That kind of relationship does not get built through transactional networking. It gets built over time, through consistent presence, genuine investment in other people's success, and a willingness to give without keeping score.

She also named something that feels very true about this moment we are all in right now, professionally and culturally. Courtney described feeling like we have become an algorithmically-driven culture, one where everyone is wearing the same thing, eating at the same places, and taking the same vacations, all converging toward the same mean. That convergence shows up in professional networking too, where everyone follows the same script, attends the same events, and sends the same follow-up email, then wonders why it all feels so hollow. She believes the antidote to this is design, stating, "if you design a system where everybody continues to win repeatedly, that is very powerful versus superficial, transactional relationships."

Real community takes deliberate design. It requires a shared sense of purpose, a structure that keeps people engaged over time, and a genuine commitment to collective advancement rather than individual gain. When those elements are in place, the relationships that form inside that community become some of the most valuable professional assets you will ever have, because they are rooted in trust rather than transaction.

Here are a few questions worth sitting with this week:

Who in your network are you genuinely invested in, not because of what they can do for you, but because you believe in where they're going?

Are the rooms you're walking into designed around shared advancement or contact collection?

What would it look like for you to build something, even something small, where your people keep winning together?

And if you're thinking about how to build community more intentionally within your own team or leadership practice, our executive coaching services are a great place to start.

C-Suite Coach helps organizations develop exceptional leaders through targeted coaching and learning programs. To explore how we can support your team, schedule a consultation today.