Elizabeth Fried

Are your audience members looking for greater visibility, career advancement, or new business opportunities? Do they want to become the go-to people others seek out for ideas, solutions, expertise, and connections? Are they navigating a career transition or entering the job market for the first time?

Dr. N. Elizabeth Fried shares a practical, proven approach to strategic networking that moves far beyond collecting business cards, delivering elevator pitches, or working a room. Listeners walk away with actionable tools they can use immediately to build meaningful relationships, create opportunities, and increase their professional impact.

An executive coach, author, and leadership advisor with more than four decades of experience, Elizabeth has helped leaders, business owners, and professionals strengthen their influence, expand their networks, and navigate critical career transitions.

Elizabeth believes the most effective networkers are both givers and connectors. By learning about the goals, challenges, communication styles, and expertise of others, professionals become better positioned to make introductions, share resources, solve problems, and create value. Those actions build trust, enhance credibility, and establish a reputation as someone who contributes rather than simply consumes.

She is the author of Strategic Networking: A Practical Playbook and Executive Presence: Earning Your Seat at the Table. In Strategic Networking, Elizabeth presents networking as a reciprocal process built on curiosity, preparation, generosity, and intentional relationship-building.

Her approach emphasizes doing your homework, "playing detective," and learning not only what to connect on, but how to connect in ways that respect another person's style, priorities, and preferences. Whether pursuing career advancement, greater organizational visibility, business development, or a professional transition, the principle remains the same: people are more likely to engage when they feel seen, understood, and valued.

Elizabeth teaches that networking is not an event—it is a long-term investment in relationships. When approached with authenticity and purpose, it becomes a powerful strategy for creating opportunities, referrals, partnerships, mentorships, and lasting professional connections.

Known for her practical, no-nonsense style, Elizabeth equips audiences with tools they can apply immediately to strengthen relationships, increase visibility, and create opportunities for themselves and others.

A recipient of the 2022 Global Award for Best Executive Coaching Firm, Elizabeth has coached senior executives, business owners, and professionals across a wide range of industries. She also volunteers as a coach to military special operators—such as Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and Army Rangers—as they transition to civilian careers..

5 Star Amazon Review — Strategic Networking: A Practical Playbook

This is a quick read, with more substance in these 19 pages than many business books that spend 300 pages circling the runway before making a point. The advice is direct, practical, and immediately usable. What stood out was the emphasis on preparation and intentionality. This isn’t about “working a room” or collecting contacts. It’s about understanding people, building genuine relationships, and showing up prepared enough to have conversations that actually matter. The sections on using AI tools to research organizations and individuals before meetings were especially useful and highly relevant right now.

The tone is clear, focused, no wasted motion, and centered on helping people become more effective in real-world professional situations. You can tell this comes from years of working with senior leaders rather than theory pulled from a marketing seminar somewhere.

I came away with several practical ideas I’ll use going forward, particularly during my transition to a new industry and network. That alone made it worth the read

RPS, Retired Navy SEAL