40: How to Build a Professional Network for Women Leaders

SisterSmart Leadership · Feb 19, 2026 · 31m · transcript

That promotion you did not get? It was probably not decided in a performance review. It was decided on a golf course, at happy hour, or in a conversation you were never invited to.

Informal networks at work are where the real career decisions get made and most women are not in those rooms. Research shows that 70 to 80 percent of promotions and high-visibility opportunities are driven by professional relationships, not performance alone. Yet women's networks are 30 percent smaller than men's, and the gap widens at every level of leadership.

In this episode, SisterSmart Leadership Coaches Jill…