David Homan
Author of Orchestrating Connection | Founder of SOAR Connect | Community Builder & Superconnector
Most leaders know relationships are important. Fewer treat them as something that must be built with the same discipline as strategy, capital, or product.
A wide network can create the appearance of influence, especially in a world of followers, contacts, and casual digital proximity. David Homan’s work begins with a more demanding idea. Connection only becomes valuable when it is backed by trust, generosity, and action.
In this episode of The Matrix Green Pill Podcast, Hilmarie Hutchison speaks with David Homan, bestselling author, entrepreneur, speaker, composer, and founder of SOAR Connect, about what it takes to build relationships that can carry real weight.
David has built a global community of more than 2,500 superconnectors across business, philanthropy, family offices, entertainment, and social impact. His view of connection was not formed in comfort. It was shaped by illness, anxiety, betrayal, responsibility, and the slow discipline of learning not to measure people by what they promise.
The Green Pill Moment
→ Listen to the full podcast conversation
Asked what advice he would give his younger self, David points to something many leaders learn too late. Most disappointment is not personal.
For much of his life, he took broken promises personally. He expected more from people than they could give, and that expectation created pain. Over time, he came to see that people are often trying to survive their own pressures, limits, and histories.
That shift made him more discerning. He learned to judge people by their actions rather than their words.
The lesson had deep roots. At 12, David became seriously ill, lost the childhood he expected, and later struggled with social anxiety, panic attacks, and a sense of not fitting anywhere. He describes eventually moving away from victimhood and toward responsibility, self-awareness, curiosity, and vulnerability.
That personal work became part of the foundation for the way he now builds communities.
Trust After Betrayal
A second defining experience came while David was running a foundation affected by the Bernie Madoff scandal. The organization lost its assets, and David had to navigate a crisis he had not caused but still had to help repair.
For David, responsibility means taking ownership of the response. The period changed how he approached trust. Many people said they would help. Fewer acted. David began building differently by supporting others without demanding an immediate return. Within two years, much of the foundation’s fundraising was coming through his own network. That experience later helped shape Orchestrating Connection and the community behind his work.
From Networking to Orchestrating
David challenges the usual idea of networking as collecting contacts. For David, a network only proves its value when the need arises. The real test is who will take the call, make the thoughtful introduction, or act when there is no immediate return on the table. That difference is built over time.
His approach starts with asking what someone needs, helping without calculation, and making introductions with care. He also argues that many people struggle to ask well. Instead of asking only for money, jobs, or access, he encourages people to communicate the passion and purpose behind the ask so others can understand where they may genuinely connect.
The relationship introduction, in his view, is sacred because reputation travels with it.
The Technology Question
SOAR Connect extends this thinking into technology. David sees traditional social platforms and CRM systems as too focused on contacts and data collection, with too little understanding of trust.
SOAR stands for Strength of Authentic Relationships. The platform is designed to help people map trusted relationships, share permission-based asks, protect privacy, and use technology to strengthen human connection rather than strip it of context.
For David, the goal is better access, built through intention, consent, and demonstrated generosity.
The Monday Move
David’s Monday Move was not a productivity ritual. It was his son’s birthday, so the morning included French toast and eggs.
Before that, he had already made introductions between friends working across music, service, technology, and community. It was a reminder that connection is not an event in David’s day. It is how he moves through the day.
The Question to Sit With
Who in your network knows what you truly need, and who has earned the right to hear it?
Listen for the Full Context
→ Listen to the full podcast conversation
This executive perspective captures the central thread of the conversation. The episode itself explores David Homan’s childhood illness, the Madoff crisis, Orchestrating Connection, SOAR Connect, trust-based introductions, the difficulty of asking, and the discipline of showing up for others.
For leaders, the takeaway is that trust grows through repeated action, thoughtful introductions, and the kind of generosity that makes people willing to show up when it matters.
