Building Stronger Business Relationships in the Age of AI With Ryan Paugh

Ryan Paugh is the Co-founder and President of Community.co, Co-founder of Forbes Councils, and co-author of Superconnector. Throughout his career, Ryan has focused on helping ambitious professionals connect, collaborate, and grow through meaningful communities. His approach combines genuine human connection with practical systems for nurturing relationships and creating opportunities over time.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• [03:20] Why Ryan believes relationships and community building should be foundational to almost any business.
• [05:20] How to categorize relationships and systematically stay connected with the “weak ties” in your network.
• [09:05] How Forbes Councils grew from the idea of giving entrepreneurs and business leaders a platform to share their expertise.
• [14:15] How Community.co helps organizations create ongoing communities that strengthen relationships beyond annual events.
• [16:40] Why AI should support human connection rather than replace the authentic interactions that make relationships valuable.

In this episode:

The most valuable opportunities often don't come from carefully orchestrated networking. They come from staying connected long enough for the right conversation to happen at the right time.

In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Ryan Paugh about building relationships, nurturing professional networks, and creating communities that generate long-term value. Ryan explains that while there isn't one perfect blueprint for relationship building, there can be systems that help people remain intentional about it. He categorizes relationships, maintains his closest connections, and creates systematic ways to stay in touch with the weaker ties in his network that can otherwise easily disappear.

Ryan also shares the story behind Forbes Councils and how the organization developed from an earlier community for young entrepreneurs. The goal was to give real practitioners, entrepreneurs, executives, consultants, and other professionals opportunities to share their expertise while also connecting with one another. Ryan and Adi discuss how strong communities become especially valuable when members actively contribute, ask questions, exchange ideas, and help each other solve problems.

The conversation then turns to AI and the importance of protecting the human element of connection. Ryan cautions against adding AI simply because it is available, particularly when technology begins making conversations and interactions feel less authentic. The opportunity is to use AI where it genuinely helps people connect while preserving original thought, curiosity, generosity, and real human engagement. Systems can remind us to nurture relationships, but the relationships themselves still require people to show up genuinely.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Adi Klevit on LinkedIn
• Business Success Consulting Group 
• Ryan Paugh on LinkedIn
• Community.Co Website

Quotable Moments:

• “The relationships that we create, and the people that we support along the way... the return just seems to come back to you again and again and again.”
• “Finding systematic ways to stay in touch with those weak ties is actually one of the biggest value adds that has helped me over the years.”
• “A lot of this is just about creating more opportunities for natural collisions to take place and seeing what happens.”
• “Together we're better.”
• “The biggest problem is going to be finding those killer ways to keep people connected and build real relationships when AI is everywhere.”
• “We don't lose a piece of ourselves and lose that value of the relationships that we had.”

Action Steps:

1. Create your own relationship system. Don't copy someone else's networking routine. Build a process that fits naturally with how you communicate and connect.
2. Pay attention to weaker ties. Create simple ways to reconnect periodically with people outside your immediate circle, where unexpected opportunities may exist.
3. Connect without always having an agenda. Check in, comment, share what you're working on, and create opportunities for natural conversations to occur.
4. Build community around contribution. Encourage members to ask questions, share expertise, solve problems, and support each other instead of simply consuming content.
5. Use AI selectively. Apply technology where it improves productivity or connection, but don't automate away the authentic interactions that build trust.
6. Keep giving to your network. Look for opportunities to make introductions, share knowledge, answer questions, and help others without expecting an immediate return.

Sponsor for this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Business Success Consulting Group.

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