Use your Network like you actually mean it
In 2026 career market, everyone is talking about networking, hardly ever explaining why we need to network, who we need to network with, and what roles these people need to play in our careers.
So you ask one person everything.
Or you ask ten people the same thing and drown in contradiction.
You go to a peer for career strategy. You go to a senior for emotional support. You ask a mentor to make an introduction they're not positioned to make.
It's not that you're bad at networking. You're networking blind.
In this session, Alla Minkina and I are going to take you from zero to one — a working, structured network you can actually use:
→ Identify your gaps — both in your skills and in your network. Most people only see one.
→ Map the seats on your board — not everyone plays the same role. Sponsor, truth-teller, craft mentor, navigator, bridge person — each one does a different job.
→ Find the right people for each seat — who's missing, who's miscast, and who's quietly doing too much.
→ Learn how to actually ask — the right question to the right person, in the right format, without feeling like you're begging.
This is the session for you if:
You're starting from scratch and don't know where to begin
You're well-connected on paper and nothing is moving
You keep asking the same person the same question and getting the same answer
You feel guilty "bothering people" — so you default to thinking alone
You're in the middle of a pivot (IC → Lead, in-house → fractional, pivot industries) and need external signal, not internal spiralling
What you'll leave with
A clear map of the seats on your board — which roles you have, which you're missing, which one person is doing too many of
Alla's Advisory Board Starter Pack — a worksheet that walks you through every role, the value it brings, and the sharp question to ask that seat
A repeatable asking framework — how to frame a request so the right person can say yes fast (or no without awkwardness)
The one boundary rule that separates people who actually grow from people who keep asking for advice instead of deciding
Who's speaking
Alla Minkina — Head of L&D Tech @ Adyen (ex Miro) · Leadership Coach
Alla has built her career around helping people think clearly under pressure. She brings the system — the framework behind why some people build networks that compound and others never feel the returns.
Lena Kul — Founder @ kuːl
After 8+ years of hiring designers / uxr and leaders at Miro and 10+ companies, and years of teaching designers how to move through their careers, Lena brings the street-level proof — how this actually shows up in hiring, portfolios, and real career moves in 2026.
Why now
This is the first of a new season of bi-weekly live sessions, each built around one of three pillars that decide whether your career moves:
Craft · Network · Positioning.
This one is your on-ramp to Network — the pillar most people neglect and the one that unlocks every other door.
Save your seat.
See you May 7.
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