Thought Leader and Influencer Interview with J. Kelly Hoey, Social Capital Strategist and Author

At a Glance

J. Kelly Hoey, Social Capital Strategist and Author Focus Areas: Careers, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Thinkers360 In-Depth Profile & Portfolio: J. Kelly Hoey Social Media: LinkedIn Books: The Social Billionaire: A Networking Roadmap for Women Seeking to Flourish and Achieve More, Build Your Dream Network: Forging Powerful Relationships In A Hyper-Connected World (Foreword by Tom Peters) Highlighted Content: Why Staying Focused Is Your Networking Superpower, A New Networking Framework for Ambitious Women Thinkers360 Awards & Recognition: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Careers 2026, Top 100 B2B Thought Leaders, Analysts & Influencers You Should Work With In 2026 (North America)

 

Thought Leader and Influencer Interview

Thinkers360 thought leader interviews profile prominent members of the Thinkers360 community who embody the power of ideas in their work. In this edition, we speak with J. Kelly Hoey, networking strategist, speaker, author, and investor.

With a career spanning law, entrepreneurship, investing, leadership, and business networking, Kelly brings a distinctive perspective on how relationships and social capital can shape professional success. In this conversation, she shares insights on building meaningful networks, the role of networking in an AI-driven world, intentional visibility, thought leadership, and what high-achieving women are doing differently to build the relationships and support systems they need to achieve their ambitions.

Brands, Organizations & Startups: Sign up to find and work with advisors, analysts, authors, influencers and speakers in your niche and to amplify your own executives, thought leaders, and content among our opt-in B2B decision maker, analyst and influencer community with 100M+ followers on social media combined! We specialize in B2B thought leadership marketing, B2B influencer marketing, B2B strategic marketing, and B2B analyst and influencer relations putting your brand in front of active B2B buyers, analysts and influencers worldwide. Our enterprise clients average 10X ROI on amplification! – Explore membership today!

Thought Leaders, Analysts & Influencers: To join the world’s largest opt-in B2B thought leader community and influencer marketplace, participate in our thought leadership leaderboards, earn our world-renowned digital award badges and credentials, blog on the #1 thought leadership blog on the Web, and build, amplify and monetize your professional brand – Sign-up today!

Readers & Writers: To contribute your own content and to browse amazing content – including articles/blogs, books, interviews, podcasts and videos, from our opt-in B2B thought leader, analyst and influencer community – Join Thinkers360 today!

 

Thinkers360: Tell us a bit about your background and areas of expertise.

JKH: I’m a networking strategist, speaker and author of two books, Build Your Dream Network and The Social Billionaire. My work focuses on helping ambitious professionals, particularly women, build the relationships and networks they need to achieve their career and business goals.

My career hasn’t followed a conventional path. I started out practicing law, then moved into law firm management before finding my way into the startup and entrepreneurial world. Along the way, I’ve been an early-stage investor, board member, president of a global business network for women, founder, to name a few of my career evolutions!. If there’s one constant throughout all my varied career pivots, it’s that my network has made them possible.

Those experiences fundamentally changed how I think about networking. I don’t view it as a separate activity you squeeze into your already overloaded calendar, or something you do when you need a job, client or introduction. Your network is an essential resource for building the career and more importantly, the life you want.

Today, through my writing, speaking, workshops and coaching, I challenge conventional networking advice and help people take a more intentional approach to building their social capital. I’m particularly interested in understanding what high-achieving women do differently with their networks, and how we can translate those insights into practical strategies that more people can use, as an alternative to the transactional, hustle culture of traditional networking.

Thinkers360: You have published two books on networking. In an AI era, how is networking relevant?

JKH: People are hungry for authenticity and connection, so building relationships is more relevant than ever before.

While AI may be able to write your networking email, research a prospective connection, or  generate a plausible LinkedIn post, what it can’t do is build meaningful connections for you. It can’t manufacture genuine trust, make someone believe in your potential or persuade a person to put their reputation on the line to champion your ambitions.

And those (trust, empathy, understanding) are precisely the things that matter when it comes to networking. I worry that we’re confusing the ability to connect with the ability to build meaningful connections. We’ve got more tools than ever to find people and communicate with them, yet we’re still struggling with the fundamentally human work of cultivating relationships.

AI can certainly help us become more efficient. But efficient at what cost? Sending more emails that alienate more people and diminish our brand? Generating more banal content? Neither  of those activities necessarily translates into a stronger connection or a vibrant, responsive network.

I’d encourage everyone to consider how technology can support the human interactions that matter to them.

In a world increasingly flooded with AI-generated content and automated outreach, the ability to establish trust, demonstrate genuine interest and show up consistently for others becomes an even more important market differentiator.

My bottomline, use AI to support your networking efforts. Don’t outsource your relationships to it.

Thinkers360: What is a belief you hold about networking that is counterintuitive?

JKH: A high-achieving network isn’t necessarily the biggest network. It’s one in which relationships are intentionally cultivated, people actively support each other’s ambitions and opportunities flow in multiple directions.

We’re conditioned to believe that networking success requires expanding our contact lists, attending more events, collecting more LinkedIn connections and constantly meeting new people. When we’re struggling to reach a goal, our instinct is often to look outside our existing network for someone who can help. We have been so convinced that the networking answer is to reach out to a stranger, rather than looking within, to the relationships we already have.

One of the stories I share in The Social Billionaire is about a social entrepreneur who was exhausting herself with cold outreach while overlooking the people who already knew her, believed in her work and wanted to see her succeed. Once she shifted her attention to those existing relationships, she quickly began getting the business support she needed.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expand your network. You absolutely should, particularly when your current network doesn’t provide access to the expertise, information or opportunities your ambitions require. But before you rush out to network, take stock of the social capital you already possess, and choose networking opportunities which will expand your network into new sectors, fields and perspectives.

Thinkers360: Your second book, The Social Billionaire, was published this year. Why did you feel another book on networking was needed?

JKH: My first book, Build Your Dream Network, challenged conventional networking advice and offered a roadmap for approaching networking more intentionally. But after its publication, I kept coming back to a question: Why do equally talented, ambitious and credentialed women experience such dramatically different career outcomes?

Starting in 2019, I immersed myself in research on the networking habits and social capital of high-achieving women. I examined research studies, conducted interviews and surveys, and drew on what I was observing through my workshops and group coaching sessions.

What emerged was a different understanding of networking for success. The women I was studying weren’t simply better at working a room or accumulating connections. They were intentional about their career choices, prioritized relationship building, and as a result, were surrounded by networks that provided the support, information and opportunities they needed to advance their ambitions. That work became the foundation for my The Social Billionaire.

The Social Billionaire isn’t simply a book about networking tactics. It’s a roadmap for women who want to take greater ownership of their ambitions and build the social capital to achieve them. I wanted to move beyond telling women to be more visible, find a mentor, speak up or network more. Those instructions are frustratingly vague. What does being more visible actually mean? Visible to whom? For what purpose? And how do you build relationships with people who aren’t already in your professional orbit? This book – published in workbook format – provides practical exercises and strategies for answering those questions and putting the answers into action.

 

             Editor’s Note: See J. Kelly Hoey’s profile to work with her directly. 

JKH: Thinkers360 is a platform for intentional visibility. It’s an opportunity to share my thinking, discover different perspectives, connect with experts across industries and reach audiences beyond my existing network. And visibility matters. When someone has extraordinary expertise, valuable insights and a powerful message, but that know-how isn’t getting in front of the right people, if they don’t know you exist, you’re limiting your opportunities to make an impact.

My philosophy is that visibility and networking go hand in hand. Being visible creates opportunities for people to discover you. The visibility and discovery on Thinkers360 is a strong step towards meaningful conversations, collaborations and opportunities.

Thinkers360: What is your main advice for upcoming thought leaders?

Thinkers360: What are high achieving women doing differently with their networks that others can learn from?

JKH: One thing I’ve observed is that high-achieving women don’t leave their success entirely to chance, or believe success is a result of individual effort or place heavy reliance on single networks. They’re intentional about surrounding themselves with the personalized support their success needs – and continuously assessing what is needed. And it is not one side. What they are doing for themselves, they do for those around them.

One of the examples I share in The Social Billionaire involves nine women who met at a professional retreat in 2009. They were from competing firms and had gathered at an event intended to generate business. Rather than compete for the limited number of prospective clients in the room, they formed their own business referral network. Over the years, they supported each other in writing books, negotiating lucrative partnership agreements, launching businesses and navigating the inevitable challenges of careers and life. It’s just one example of what I want more professionals – especially women – to recognize. You don’t have to pursue your ambitions alone, you don’t need to network transactionally, you can intentionally build a community of people who are invested in each other’s success