Managing Your Network

It's Guest Blog Time!

Like Robyn, my husband is excellent at maintaining relationships. It is this gift he learned from his Dad and Mom growing up. You always make the time. On R&R, see as many people as you can. There's a reunion, you find a way to be there. You have a chance to spend a holiday with family or friends, make the invitation.

It is because he is so good at reaching out to his network that Robyn and I became friends. Her husband was looking at places on the NOW list and he reached out to my husband. It was a tough post and a tough time to be there but he was able to convince Robyn's husband that it was a good fit for his career.

All of those things were validated, they lived the tough experiences we all had at that post and his career flourished. Meeting Robyn remains to be one of the highlights for me from that assignment. She is an unstoppable force that will be your best cheerleader and deserves all of your kudos.

Sometimes we try to find the best writer for a blog but in this case, the writer guides us to the best blog. We are thrilled to share with our community, Robyn Kriel.

Your Network is your Net Worth: Why I talk to People on Planes

Guest Blog by Robyn Kriel

Career Lessons from a War Correspondent, for Diplomatic Life

I'm writing this from the front end of a PCS. Fear. Panic. Online school assessments. Death by travel orders. A spreadsheet started three years’ ago I swore I'd keep organised and absolutely did not. A very patient husband who happens to be a U.S. Regional Security Officer, and me, a former CNN correspondent who has covered wars, terrorist attacks, and coups, slightly undone by the logistics of moving continents again.

This time, we're heading to the Middle East.

And here's the thing nobody tells you about reinventing your career every two to three years across time zones, embassies, and entirely new countries: your network isn't just nice to have. It's the whole game.

I learned this not in a boardroom, but on an apartment rooftop in Nairobi during the Westgate shopping mall attack. For nearly 80 hours, I reported live as al-Shabaab militants laid siege to the building below me. The story reached the world because of relationships, sources who trusted me, colleagues who had my back, editors who picked up the phone. In conflict journalism, a weak network doesn't just hurt your career. It can get you killed.

Your network isn't just nice to have. It's the whole game.

Survival mode taught me something that boardrooms never could, and so, wherever I am, I network. On planes. On trains. At school pick-up. By commenting on or sharing LinkedIn posts. At the doctor’s office. And I keep up with those people. Perhaps I introduce them to others who have shared interests. Or I share news articles with them. The ways to stay in touch are endless.

Diplomatic and expat life isn't a warzone (most of the time). But the stakes of showing up without a network are higher than most people realize, especially if you're the accompanying spouse trying to carve out a career while your partner's posting drives the bus.

Here's what 16 years of international reporting taught me about building a network that actually works, wherever in the world you land.

Put Into the Favor Bank Before You Need to Take Out

The single biggest mistake I see, in journalism and in the diplomatic community, is people only reaching out when they need something. A job. A favor. An introduction. Real networks are built in the quiet moments between the asks. Author Pablo Coelho coined this as “the favor bank” in his book The Zahir. You need to invest in your professional relationships, and maintain them, before you ask for something back.

When I arrived in a new country for a new posting, I didn't wait until I had a story to call sources. I had coffee. I attended events. I showed curiosity about people's work before I ever needed them to show up for mine.

Before you PCS, reach out to people already at post. Not with a list of requests, just to introduce yourself, ask what they love about the city, what they wish they'd known. You'll be remembered as someone who gives before they take. That reputation travels faster than you do.

Your Most Powerful Network Is Already in the Room

Embassy and diplomatic communities are, frankly, one of the most extraordinary concentrations of talent on the planet, and one of the most underutilized. Ambassadors. Military Attachés. Economic officers. Political folks. Policy wonks. Fellow EFMs running businesses, writing books, raising children, and managing careers in the margins of someone else's posting.

During COVID, I produced an internal Christmas video about Santa coming to Embassy Stockholm for the kids. To make it as realistic as possible, I asked a former CNN colleague who I was still in touch with, Wolf Blitzer, to anchor the intro to it to make it seem more real. I worked with the embassy Public Affairs Section to put it in the public domain. The piece went viral with thousands of people tuning in to watch. This happened not because of my excellent Santa filming skills, because I had kept up with my relationships.

Look around the room at your next embassy function. Someone in that room knows someone who can change your career. Treat every event like it matters, because it does.

Translate Yourself - Loudly and Clearly

Here's the thing about a non-linear, internationally mobile career: nobody hands you a script. You have to write it yourself.

Currently, I work as a Global Employment Advisor for GCLO, helping EFMs stationed at posts or consulates around Africa with employment. When I advise clients about positioning themselves for their next post, or in some cases their FIRST post, I stress the need for reframing, or translating, what they have done in their past for what they will do in the future. If I were applying to work in the political section of U.S. Embassy Nairobi, for example, I don’t lead with 'former TV journalist.' I lead with what I actually do: analytical writing, source development, disinformation research, regional expertise, crisis communication. The same skills, reframed for the room I am walking into.

Whatever your background: educator, lawyer, marketer, researcher, communicator, you have transferable skills. Your job is to translate them into language that resonates with the people in front of you.

Write your own narrative before someone else writes a limited one for you. Keep a shortened version for your “elevator pitch” during networking activities when you arrive at post.

Keep the Thread Alive

The hardest part of a globally mobile career isn't building a network. It's maintaining one across PCS cycles, time zones, and the general chaos of international moves.

My rule: one meaningful touchpoint per month with someone outside my immediate circle. A voice note. A shared article with a personal note. A 'I saw this and thought of you.' A news article shared. It takes ten minutes and it keeps relationships warm across years and continents.

A colleague I worked with in Nairobi 15 years ago is now in a position to open a door for me in my next chapter. That didn't happen by accident. It happened because I stayed in touch when there was nothing immediately in it for either of us.

Your network doesn't pause when you PCS. Neither should you. (Now go get on that plane and say hi to the person next to you! You never know!)

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Robyn's Bio

Robyn Kriel

Robyn Kriel is an award-winning international journalist with 16+ years at CNN, covering conflict, counterterrorism, and politics across East Africa and beyond. She holds an MA in War Studies from King's College London, with a NATO-published dissertation on al-Shabaab disinformation. She currently works as a Global Employment Advisor for the Department of State’s Global Community Liaison Office or GCLO. She lives in Gaborone, Botswana, and will soon be PCS-ing to the Middle East with her Regional Security Officer spouse and two children, boxes, spreadsheets, and all.

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