I Went Back Through My LinkedIn Messages to 2010. Here's What Happened

You know that moment when you realise you're not following your own advice?

I was telling my clients to activate their networks - old connections, former colleagues, people they'd lost touch with through role changes and pivots. I was telling them opportunities could come from anywhere. Meanwhile, I was only connecting with new people through formal networking events.

I couldn't authentically tell clients to do something I wasn't doing myself. So I decided to find out what it actually felt like.

The reality was, I'd written off my old network. Having moved away from media agency consulting, I assumed former colleagues in publishing and advertising wouldn't have businesses in their networks that needed what I do now. That assumption was costing me.

The Experiment

In 2022, I challenged myself to go back through my LinkedIn connections systematically - starting from 2010 - and reconnect with people I'd genuinely lost touch with. No copy and paste. Each message personalised. I explained what I was doing, admitted I'd been telling clients to do this while not doing it myself, and asked how they were getting on.

What happened next changed my business trajectory.

My former managing director from my media agency days had moved into the non-profit sector. We caught up properly. A few weeks later, he connected me with a marketing director doing consultancy work at Airfield, an urban farm operation in Dublin. That project led to an engagement with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, where I also coached their communications executive. Their campaigns outperformed anything they'd done before - 70% more followers, a 30% uplift in website traffic, a 30% increase in their email list. That success led to a leading restaurant brand engagement.

One reconnection. A cascade that I couldn't have engineered through cold outreach or formal networking.

The Mistake That Kills Opportunities

This pattern shows up constantly with the senior executives I work with.

One client - a non-executive director - was attending formal networking events regularly, presenting his services, getting nowhere. He concluded networking didn't work. It did work. He was just in the wrong rooms, talking to the wrong people, and hadn't thought to go back to the people who already knew him.

When he activated his existing network - reached out, explained what he was focused on now, asked for introductions - the roles and opportunities he'd been chasing materialised.

It's natural to lose touch when you change direction. But the people you were close to professionally are often perfectly positioned to open doors - and you for them. If you don't reconnect and tell them what you're doing now, those opportunities simply never surface.

The Miscalculation Most Executives Make

Most senior executives evaluate their network on direct opportunity potential. "These people aren't my target market." That's the wrong lens entirely.

Your network isn't just a list of potential clients. It's a web of extended professional ecosystems. When you reconnect and communicate what you're focused on now, you create referral pathways you can't manufacture any other way. The next time someone in their network says "we need a trusted NED" or "we're looking for a senior advisor," your name surfaces through a credible, trusted source - not a cold approach.

My former managing director wasn't in my target market. His network was. I couldn't have reached it any other way.

Why Most Executives Never Do This

They know the concept. They agree with the logic. And then they don't act on it - because they're not sure how to approach different segments of their network, what to say after years of silence, or how to do this without it feeling transactional or beneath them.

That's exactly where the work starts when I come in.

Your Network Is Worth More Than You're Getting From It

The executives consistently securing the best board appointments, the most significant partnerships, the highest-value engagements - they're not always the most qualified people in the room. They're the most visible to the decision-makers who matter.

Your existing network is your most valuable asset. But only when it's properly activated.

Everything I've described here - the dormant connections, the missed referral pathways, the network that isn't working as hard as you are - points to the same problem. Your visibility isn't keeping pace with your capability.

I work privately with CEOs, MDs and NEDs as a strategic advisor on positioning, perception and visibility. Not training. Not coaching. Senior-level advisory that ensures your expertise reaches the right people - without adding to your workload.

If this article resonated because you've lived it, the next step is a Strategic Positioning Conversation.

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Or reach out directly to my team at hello@elainewalshmcgrath.com