S9E7: Recalibrating Relationship Building with Dawn Pinnock

After nearly 30 years in public service, Dawn Pinnock stepped into an entirely new sector as president and CEO of the Center for Urban Community Services, and had to rebuild something she had spent decades earning: her professional relationships. In this episode, she and Laura break down what it takes to recalibrate how you connect when you are deeply established in one world and starting fresh in another. Dawn shares the exact process she used, taking honest stock of her track record, gathering candid feedback from longtime supporters and even former opponents, and turning those themes into a story she could lead with. It is a masterclass for anyone pivoting, by choice or by layoff, who worries the social capital they built no longer counts.

In this episode:

Why being “known but not networked” is a real distinction, and how to translate a strong reputation into new rooms
Dawn’s first-90-days playbook: honest self-assessment, feedback focus groups, and positioning yourself as a learner who still brings value
How the relationships you build internally with your team become the springboard for the ones you build outside

About Dawn

Dawn M. Pinnock has spent nearly 30 years in public service driving change. As President and CEO of the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS), she leads one of the city’s most effective social service organizations, supporting over 50,000 people each year on their path to housing stability and long-term well-being. Before joining CUCS, she served as Commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). In this role, she created the city’s first community-based hiring model, advanced family-forward policies for more than 320,000 employees, managed 22 million square feet of city-owned and leased office space, and made New York greener through fleet electrification and large-scale energy efficiency upgrades. Pinnock serves as a Trustee and adjunct professor at Metropolitan College of New York, and in 2026 was appointed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Commission on Government Efficiency, a newly formed Charter Revision Commission tasked with modernizing city government.

Connect with Dawn

Website: https://www.cucs.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cucs/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cucs_nyc/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CUCSnyc

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