The Power of Networking: Building Your Support System

After an unexpected career shake-up, Matt Brennan opens up about the true power of your network, the people who rally behind you when life changes overnight. In this episode of What the RFI?, Matt shares how a single LinkedIn post reached over 10,000 people and became a lesson in community, mentorship, and resilience. Through stories from architecture conferences, friendships built on job sites, and the meaning of professional integrity, he reminds us that your network isn’t about numbers, it’s about people.

Learn how to build genuine connections, lead with integrity, and leave a legacy that others want to follow.

Takeaways:

• Networking is more than collecting contacts; it’s about building trust.
• Integrity and kindness define your professional legacy.
• Attend events, connect online, and follow up with purpose.
• Genuine relationships open doors when you least expect it.
• Your network is your community and your greatest career asset.

Soundbites:

• “This isn’t about me, it’s about you.”
• “Your network is your army.”
• “Integrity is the foundation of your network.”

Chapters

• 00:00 - Navigating Change: A Personal Journey
• 03:10 - The Power of Networking
• 06:05 - Building Connections: The Importance of Engagement
• 12:10 - Creating Lasting Memories Through Networking
• 16:05 - Integrity and Legacy: The Foundation of Your Network

🎙️Website - WhattheRFI.com

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🎧Spotify - What the RFI?
🎥YouTube - @WhatTheRFI

Transcript

0:01

I don't even know how to start with this one. Let's get into it. uh Welcome to What the RFI. I'm Matt Brennan and this is the podcast all about CA. So just before the Labor Day weekend there, I had my standard one-on-one meeting with my boss manager and that day I received some unfortunate news that it would be my last day. It took me by wind, knocked the wind out of me in that respect and no reason other than it was a business decision. It was not based on performance and you know, but... Mia is a creature of insight, know, the why, unfortunately, I didn't get that total answer, you know, which of course set the confusion. So, but moving on, you know, let's get, you know, we're not going to get into the logistics here. We want to keep, you know, keep going on because this, we've got a lot to impact on this particular episode. And today's episode, it's all about your network. So, let's rewind for a second. Let's kind of go back to when this all kind of happened, being Labor Day weekend, you know, this unfortunate news happened. Immediately, we were actually in the process of packing because we were heading off to the Gorge Amphitheater out there in Washington to see Dave Matthews. The Dave Matthews band performs this everyday Labor Day weekend. They've got multiple bands. Kyle Lalo was there. They were opening it up and along with a bunch of others. And it was just, it's a fantastic weekend. It's something my partner and I have been doing for a few years now. And we just have a blast. And the venue too, like let's just talk about the architecture of that. Incredible. There's a whole documentary about it on Netflix that you can watch. And you basically sit in this kind of, you know, in this amphitheater style, you're up on the hill, the grasses, you know, they're the cheap sheets. cheap seats, but they are incredible. You can be there, you not only see the venue, the band, but you see this whole scenic valley of the river running through. You've got the sunset behind you, it's hot, it's indefinitely in that more uh dry climate zone. Incredible, lots of bands tour there. Take advantage if you can ever get out there, you will not be disappointed. So. Needless to say, the concert went on and this little mini vacation, course, long weekend vacation. I tried to relax, you know, don't get me wrong. But there was a lot on mine, as you can only imagine. We've all been there before. And of course, we all have our story to tell. But in the end, the weekend was incredible. Lots of great music, camping, friends, and of course, memories forever. So what then, though? OK, so I got home. unpacked my stuff, I immediately got into planning stage. uh What am I going to do? I uh got hit, I'm in the ring, I want to get back up and get back into the fight. And that's where I was really kind of, that's me, I can't just sit and relax. And this is where this kind of episode is about talking about your network, about being, I reached out to my core list of 30 incredible people. I went right to them, having conversation. And on that Tuesday night, I planned, actually Monday night, I planned out kind of a massive post that would go out to LinkedIn. And then Tuesday that happened. The plan happened. I posted that saying, just kind of giving you a heads up what was happening and everything. And guys, I need your support in that respect. And it reached over 10,000 people. It was awesome. And what made it really incredible is this is where the story really gets real and becomes really, really cool. And I'm not here to boast about myself and say, look what I have here. I want to provide encouragement to you through this episode. eh And I want to talk to you how my journey has gotten to this point of having such a powerful network. And I want to encourage you with that. And that's what this is all about. This is not about me. It's about you. With that post, you can definitely see the effect of your network. So not only did I receive a ton of amazing comments, but my inbox flooded, along with some very powerful messages. Phone calls came in, which was fantastic from these individuals. And then out of the blue, this is where the post really became really cool, is that people reposted that post, but they also started new fresh posts. And I haven't seen that. happened before in my life, right? My colleagues, my networks were starting to do their own little side posts saying, hey, you know, if you're looking for someone, here's Matt, here's his qualifications, reach out, here's his full contact info. And it was really heartfelt. it, it, yeah, it pulled a lot of heartstrings seeing that, you know, these individuals coming together. And, you know, it kind of got me to think and reflect and go, you know, what did I do? I must have left some kind of mark on these individuals. something for them to be inspired to go out of their way. And that speaks volume on its own. And what was really cool is that it was kind of like we're running this race together as a team. And like that's the part that really kind of hit me because, you know, we were doing it together and just the impact. So this point, I think is the perfect opportunity to just do a big massive shout out, massive thank you. to everyone, you mean the world to me, you helped me through it and I'm gonna definitely do the personal shout outs to Nathan Taylor, Doria Azar, Quentin Vendike, Sharice Lakeside and Brian Miller and especially for Brian for that heartwarming post, thank you so much. You guys are amazing, you're my rock stars and keep me going, so. But let's back up here, okay? This episode is not about me, like I said, it's about you and it's about your network, all right? And my question, my challenge, my spur on moment to you is where are you with your network? Right? You know, and really let's take this one step further. Let's talk about what is your network? What is actually a network? To me, it's a group that you can call on any moment. Right? This is your army. Any given moment you can give them a shout and say, hey, I need help. What do I do? And we're to bring it back to how do you network? Seems like a really dumb question. And why are we even talking about this on a podcast? But let's really stop and think about it. Okay. Let's really think about this one. ah Let's go back to the days when we're kids, right? I love camping. My parents were awesome. They took me camping and all these adventures. And what did you do at the campsite? You got out. First thing that you do is you look around. Where some friends? Where are some people of my age doing stuff? Kids riding bikes, you know, maybe fishing, heading off to lake, whatever. You immediately looked at that. And maybe the site next to you or two sites down, there was a kid. What did you do? You walked over and he said, hi, introduce yourself. You were fearless, right? You were brave. You just did that kind of stuff. You connected, you networked in that moment. And I think, you know, and then these leave stories for a lifetime. We'll get into that a little bit later. But the thing is, you know, you were brave. You just went up and you started talking, right? We love interaction in that sense. So fast forward today, when was the last time that you went to a user group, right? An AIA meeting, CSI, or just a general conference? Ask yourself, when was it? You've never been? Well, right now we're in the middle of conference seasons. We've got CSI happening next month, A4LE events happening, A4LE Nationals is happening in Phoenix later, know, Fast Track, again, start looking already. uh events are happening for being planned in 26, know, AIE Nationals will be in June 15 to 17, right? So many different events. Start looking up, they're all out there, okay? But let alone there's a lot of individual chapters that meet monthly in your own, you know, state, your region, your province, you name it. There's lots of opportunities to get out there, okay? And if you're a student, this is the perfect time, right? You know, it's something coming late to the party, but you're at the prime time. Get in there, get involved with these groups, volunteer for these groups, right? There's a lot of opportunities with that. And my over my span of my career there, you know, I joined a local AutoCAD user group, met at one of the local campuses, happened once a month. Yeah, it was a little bit of drive for me, but you know what, it was worth it. That one at our hour and half was fantastic. It was great for my career growth. Some of those individuals that I met, you know, 23 years ago, we're still in communication today and they're still helping me get jobs, right? They actually landed me some jobs before and just fantastic. you know, and vice versa, we help each other out and that kind of stuff. I'm gonna call them at any given moment. And I think that's, you you never know. can never predict what, you don't have that crystal ball. You don't know what's gonna happen, but. by having these individuals, you'd be surprised where this life path goes. And everyone's got their own story, which is really cool. So again, get involved with these, especially if you're a student. So two years ago, I thought I had a great network. I had a really strong network in Vancouver, BC. You know, I knew a lot of architects out there, you know, you know, but with kind of getting into sales, I knew no one in the, in the U S not a soul. And I remember going to my first CSI event, know, two plus years ago, and it was an eye-opener. It really was. And at that point, you know, through conference and conference and starting to work with a lot of clients in the US, that network grew. And I just wanted to get to know people, right? And, you know, the neat thing too with some of these conferences, you're connected with people on LinkedIn, which is a good thing. And we'll get into, you know, get into that. but you start seeing these people face to face. And I think that's really, really powerful. And if you're not getting out to the conferences, no worries, jump on to LinkedIn like we talked about. That is a core group that I find that our professions in the architecture community really gravitate towards. Reddit's a great one as well, especially if you're a young student, but if you really want to get into the real thick of the weeds of it, get in LinkedIn, lots of conversations, really good conversations, start commenting. Not necessarily post, just comment to other people, get to know people, build up some credentials, show that you're eager to be coached, that you're eager to learn new things, right? Get in there. And like I said, over time, you're gonna build up that LinkedIn network. You're gonna go to these events, start posting about it because you're going to meet some of these individuals face to face. And it's so cool. I've held up the LinkedIn profile side by side and said, Okay, I see it now, I see it now. Because even myself, I think the photo I've got there is, it's like a year and a half old and well, kind of shaved off some of this here. it's just funny how things change and yes, I am due for a new profile photo, but let's keep moving here. So at these events, and this is what I wanna talk about. So not only have discovered some of these events and you're going to it, when you're at these events, invest the time. and getting to know individuals. And what do I mean by that? Well, yes, you're going to the conference. Yes, you're sitting through the lessons. That's fantastic. Lunch. Go sit with someone you don't know. Grab a new table, right? There will be typically kind of evening reception events. Great. Again, go walk up to someone you haven't met. Start saying hi. And everyone's got name tags typically, right? So again, it's very easy just to grab a name and just start talking. Where are from? Done. You know, there's so many things with that, okay? I think where the real difference comes is when you kind of go outside and you put that extra investment. And again, this is a moment where you've got to look at yourself. I know there's extroverts, introverts, you know, of course I'm an extrovert here, but again, know, individuals, uh you know, my partner, she's an introvert, you know, even like, you know, big key speakers like Simon Sinek, he's an introvert, right? But they still get out. It's just there when they get out, it's just their way of doing it's a little different. They're not going to go to the busy. places or anything like that, but they'll grab one or two one-on-one and that's a different thing. So again, there's no reason why you can't network regardless of where you sit on the spectrum here. And by going out and investing in these times, that's where things really, you know, really spark indifferent. And for example, one friend, guess a friend Dylan, we met at Aspire 2024, right? The next day I was running with his colleague Andrew, we went for a 10k run, right? It was so cool. And when you're out with these individuals, have fun, take photos, everyone loves to get taken a photo, right? Capture that moment because it's nice to look back, goes for life in general, just capture photos, it's so fantastic. Because these become milestones at the end of the day. So bringing back to the Dylan story, okay? So we met um at Aspire, we kind of met at the opening keynote. And then we met the next day at kind of one of the little events that was happening in that. And afterwards it's like, let's go out and grab a drink. Let's go out and just have a chat. So myself, um Dylan and Andrew, we went out and it was a really cool night. We just sat back. We just kind of shot it. um Just shoot the breeze, whatever you want to call it. We had fun. We talked about things. We talked about life. We talked about work. Cause you know, again, that's where we are. Our hearts are on the business side of things. And it was good. It was just a really cool experience to be part of. And, you know, we even said like, Dylan actually said, this is gonna, this moment is gonna last forever, right? These are the moments that make things happen. And it is so true. And what's really cool is this year, we did it again at AIA Aspire 2025. I shot him a note, sent him a text. Are you going? Yes, he is. rate, we'll have to make it count. And sure enough, we did. Again, we bumped into each other one of the, in the first nights, kind of between events, we needed to go get some food and we went to a rooftop patio. We had some fun drinks and you know, he brought his business partner Jarvis. It was incredible. It was so much fun. Great catching up. And like I said, this isn't just about business. This is network. This is your friends. This is the lifetime memories that really come from it. So there was a lot of advantages to this. And in these moments as you're taking photos, you're having a good time, be social with it, right? You don't have to, but there is some value about it. Share it on LinkedIn, tag, post these things, uh tag that new friend, continue to build up those memories, right? Comment and that kind of stuff. It's simply human. Celebrate it, know, genuinely celebrate it. It's a lot of fun to do that. We love interactions with others. We really do. And it's not about what... you're doing necessarily, but the joy and the laughter, it's contagious. And again, I can get that word again, it looks very boastful in today's social networks and stuff like that. Look what I did, haha, no, it's not about that. It's about sharing those moments, reflecting on those moments. And maybe I'll inspire someone else to do the same, right? Maybe it might lift up saying, hey, that was really cool. I was there at that event. I remember I saw you doing that. Or I don't know what the case is, but the thing is, Make it count, right? Make it count with that. And it's very contagious. I love hearing other stories and I know others do too, right? You guys listen to this. I appreciate the support of this on that. And again, the stories that come from these events. There's so many, right? And again, I love going through the photos and having to look at that, okay? And these memories, these individual times, um that are happening with these individuals, they're lifetime memories. The hands are, hands down. I'm off to CSI next week and already we're talking about what we're going to be doing in the evenings of where we should go and joking around. Should we let the bar know they won't let us in? All these great amazing comments. And it's because of a building of those friendships. It's much more than the network. eh And that kind of leads into the next point, this is, like I said, it's much more than a social network, it's about surrounding yourself with your army, and you can call on them anyway. Kind of the final area that I want to touch on is your integrity, integrity and legacy matter. They really do. And wherever you are, I you to be that example. Delta Air did a really powerful leadership video commercial, you know, number of years back. I'll put it in the description below. And again, you can check it out. I'll put links to the YouTube video as well. When I was into my last firm, we did a lot of restructuring and we kind of did these team building meetings and looking at it and kick it off. I brought some cool videos about leadership and everything. And this was one of them I actually brought. it was, it's one of those ones, again, I've probably watched tons and tons of leadership videos. This is one that has sat with me for quite some time and it still sits with me. I had to rewatch it before that. I just wanted to refresh it. I knew, I knew the story well, but I'm like, I want to watch it again. And And the story goes, and again, I really encourage you to watch, but the way the story goes is this man picks up this teenager, right? They will call him the mentor in this case. And he picks up the kid because he's gonna take him to work for the day. He's hired him for the day by the looks of it. And right off the get-go, the man's, with the teenager in his truck, stops and brings a cup of coffee to a homeless man. And he just has a quick chat with them and they make their way. And this is all before sunrise. The next thing is they stop at a pier where they're helping out individuals where they're fishing and that kind of stuff. And again, you see little signs, the storyteller kind of points it to the camera to the teenager and he's on his phone, right? And what the heck? just the mentors, just the leaders just kind of looking and wondering what's going on, but it doesn't matter. He keeps focused on the task and getting it. um you know, the kid, you know, starting to help out. He's frustrating other individuals at the dock, you know, later comes over the mentorship comes over, he picks up, he helps out, know, puts out, you know, kind of cools things down or whatever that case to help things keep going. And, you know, they kind of wrap up the day at the dock and everything. And again, he sees the teenager, you know, taking some rope and throwing it in his bag and looks like he's stealing and what's going on and that kind of stuff. And basically, you know, The day has come to an end. The mentorship mentor drops off the kid back at his house where he picked him off that morning, pulls out his wallet and pays him for his due. He worked the whole day. That's it. And as the story is going on, it's being narrated with a of kind of positive points of just questioning everything you're putting into this. When are you going to receive the return on investment? What are you doing? But the scene fades out. and this is where it becomes really cool, is the mentor's on a plane. He sits down and he's looking out the window and he sees one of the luggage carriers, you know, kind of loading onto the plane and a piece of luggage starts to fall out and another individual rushes to the thing, grabs it, helps him out. They exchange a handshake and good faith and just says, thank you. And that individual turns, you know, that young man turns and of course it was the one. mentorship was teaching. And the smile is going, okay, I did something right. And now we flash back to everything that we didn't see where the story, the different perspective, that kid from seeing the mentor drop off a cup of coffee, he was doing the next thing the next day, talking to the individual, getting their story on it. He wasn't playing on his phone. He was actually taking a photo, sending it to his mom saying, this is going to be a great summer working for this individual. This is going to be a great summer job. The rope wasn't being stolen. He, at that point, he was taking over, know, taking something that was going to be thrown out so he could learn the ropes at home so he could do the job better, right? And we do see the mentor trying to battle off the frustrations of one individual. But again, the teenager was in the background just listening and watching. The thing is... These individuals are watching every moment, right? They're striving to be us as mentors. eh And again, if you're just starting your career, regardless of where you are, whether you are forward in your career or at the beginning, it doesn't matter. Be the legacy. Pretend everyone's watching. Pretend everyone's watching you dance. Be the best. Keep the bitterness out wherever you go. Go that extra 110 % no matter what to help the other individual in need. As I kind of noted, for us older generation, this younger generation is starving. They want to see this. They really do want to learn from us. So feed, right? Show that. Be that example where you are. So many are watching and I've seen this. When you send an email out, be kind. You don't know where it's going to land. Right? Be forwarded 10 times, you know? So think about it before you send that email. Sleep on it if you have to, right? Whether you're on a site meeting, everyone's watching, right? Maybe the GC is going on a tangent, everyone's watching, right? Think about it. Be kind. How do you want to be treated in that respect? When you're walking the site, again, don't start going on a tangent there about how that meeting was. Regardless if it was a crap meeting, it's about integrity. It is, right? Be that individual, show it through. Be that example. Being reliable carries more weight than position or power. Be that example wherever you are. And your network will follow that. They will see that. They'll understand who you are as an individual, how you go outside of your lengths. And like I said, you'll meet some really cool friends along the way, no matter what, be yourself, be full of integrity. This is your legacy at the end of the day. And at the of day, as a common theme here, your network is not based on the numbers. Numbers are relevant. Who cares if you got a million followers or 10 followers, it doesn't matter. It's based on the friends that come with that, the individuals that support you every day. along this path. eh The ones that you can count on in a given moment to pick up that phone and say, hey, I got to run by something or man, I need help or something. know, part and I, do a thing, help or hug during the end of the day. If it's a pretty crappy day, is it a hug or is it something I need to help with? And there's two different defining things. It's the same thing with your network. Maybe not quite so personable, but again, You'd be surprised how far that would go. So wrapping it up here. Make the impact here. They're gonna make the impact on your life. And you've got it. Get involved with your local groups, lead a life of integrity, build connections along the way and possibly some friends that join you with your lifelong journey. eh Again, from the bottom of my heart, I wanna thank everyone that's been with me over this last two months. You are amazing. You're not forgotten. And I can't wait to see you again. Roll in this together and I'm going to wrap this up with this quote here and we'll kind of end this episode with this. Your integrity is the foundation of your network. People may forget your words, but they will never forget the example you said. Architects keep designing Contractors keep making those blueprints a reality. We'll see on the next one