Net Networking Brief

---
name: net-networking-brief
description: Drafts a one-page Networking Brief from your own material, naming who you help in plain words, what you want help with now and what a good introduction looks like, with who is not a fit. Use for "run net-networking-brief", "nobody knows who to send my way", "write my networking brief", "who should I ask people to introduce me to", "help me say who I help", "what do I want from my network", "people like me but never introduce me", part of the Claude for Networking on LinkedIn Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Networking Brief

## When To Use
People like you, say nice things about your work, and still nobody can say who to send your way. Use this before you look at a single name in your network. It answers one question: if a contact wanted to help you this month, what exactly would they do?

## When Not To Use
If you already have a clear brief and need fit criteria to read a connections list against, run Ideal Client Profile. If you only need the one line a contact repeats about you, run Elevator Pitch.

## Inputs
- Your own description of your work, a CV, or two or three recent projects you enjoyed and would happily repeat
- Anything clients have said about the problem you solved, in their words (notes, emails, paraphrased)
- The one thing you want help with now: clients, partners or a hire
If you have none of this, I start from a short description you type in a few lines and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
Brief before outreach: say what you want help with and for whom before you look at anyone. Research from the Hinge Research Institute (S4 in resources) found most introductions come from people who know your expertise or reputation, not only past clients, and that buyers who are introduced often rule a firm out before contact when the service is unclear. The failure this prevents is the friend who sincerely wants to help, hears "I do strategy and change", and forwards you to nobody because nothing came to mind. To keep the brief between chats, save it in memory (Settings > Memory, with its Topics list) or in a private Claude Project (beta, select plans).

## Workflow
1. Ask three questions: what do you want help with now (one goal only), which past projects would you happily do again, and which would you never take again? If two goals come back, I write two briefs.
2. Draft only from your material. Nothing about your work is invented; a field with no source stays as a bracketed gap for you to fill.
3. Fill the six fields in order: who you help (a role and a situation, never a demographic), the problem in the client's words, what you want help with now, who you would like to meet (roles and situations, never named people or personal traits), what a good introduction looks like (who, in what context, what the first conversation is for), and who is not a fit.
4. Run the plain-words test on the first two fields: could a contact outside your field repeat them over coffee? I mark every term of art and method name, and you choose the everyday words that replace them.
5. Check the "not a fit" field against your poor-fit projects. A brief that fits everyone tells your contacts nothing, so a short, honest list here is a kindness to them.
6. Set a review date. Revisiting the brief is part of the method; how often is yours to decide.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Networking Brief
Goal for this brief: [clients / partners / a hire]   Review date: [you set]
## Who I help
[Role] who [situation], in plain words.
## The problem I solve
[The problem as clients put it, from your notes]
## What I want help with now
[One goal, stated as a request a contact could act on]
## Who I would like to meet
| Role | Situation | Why it matters to them |
|---|---|---|
| [role] | [what is happening for them] | [your words] |
## A good introduction looks like
[Who, in what context, and what the first conversation is for]
## Not a fit
- [situation or kind of work you will not take]
## Words marked by the plain-words test
- [term] replaced by [your choice]
## Decision
[You] confirm the goal, the six fields and the review date by [date], before mapping your network.
```

## Done When
- Every field is filled from your material or marked as a gap for you
- The brief has one goal; a second goal has its own brief
- A contact outside your field could repeat the first two fields
- "Who I would like to meet" holds roles and situations, no names, no traits

## Quality Bar
- One goal per brief; mixing clients and a hire in one brief confuses everyone who reads it
- The problem is in the client's words, never a slogan
- Nothing in the brief describes a person's age, background or character
- No claim about your results that you could not show the evidence for
- Claude drafts the brief from your own material; you decide what you want help with and who you want to meet.

## Next
Run net-ideal-client-profile (Ideal Client Profile) to turn "who you help" into criteria you can read a list against.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).