I’m realizing that the secret sauce for a great Internal Audit team is pretty simple. 

They put in the work to build real relationships with more stakeholders across the organization. 

Real relationships allow for real conversations with audit customers and other executives:

• Internal Audit teams get more context on audit customers’ needs and priorities, helping them better understand the actual or potential impacts of key risks and issues. 
• Audit customers get more value from assurance and advisory projects focused on the risk areas, processes, and opportunities they actually care about.
• Both parties benefit from higher levels of rapport, trust, and confidence, reframing Internal Auditors as business advisors and partners who are there to help — not as “corporate police.”

From what I’ve seen, CAEs are often the ones driving these teams’ efforts, formalizing and incentivizing a process that carves out time and opportunities for their team to invest in relationship building.

But here’s the real secret behind the secret sauce: Every auditor has the power to expand their stakeholder relationships and conversations. If you have a LinkedIn profile, it’s even easier. 

My love for LinkedIn is no secret. A place where people connect and help each other? Aside from the Internal Audit Collective, LinkedIn is basically my personal Valhalla.  

That’s why I was thrilled to have the incredible Larry Kaufman — a man so passionate about connecting people that he literally wrote the book on the topic — lead an Internal Audit Collective webinar on how Internal Auditors can build deeper relationships with audit customers. 

His well-earned nickname is LinkedIn Larry, and as his 29,000+ first-degree contacts on LinkedIn prove: He walks the talk daily. 

Below are some of the tips he shared. Use Larry’s simple, four-step gameplan to step up your relationship game in 2026. 

1. Create a Profile That Actually Introduces You

When you’re planning to meet with somebody new, there’s a high probability they’ll look for your LinkedIn profile. (You should definitely look for theirs! More on that in a minute.)

How well does your profile introduce you? What impression does it make?

Will it make them excited to meet you? Or will it leave them hesitant and unsure? 

Having no profile — or only a sparse one — can look like a red flag. 

But even average-quality profiles often miss key opportunities. Here’s what Larry recommends.

Make Your Headline Stand Out 

Your headline is the bit right below your name. Don’t just put your title. Write something that shares your purpose, passion, and personality. 

For example, Larry’s headline quickly establishes his bona fides: ✓ Best-Selling Author of The NCG Factor ✓ Regional MD ✓ Global Keynote Speaker, Live/Virtual on Leadership, Networking, Sales, Legacy & LinkedIn ✓ Indispensable Connector ✓ Career & Life-Transformer ✓ Servant Leader

Help Them Pronounce Your Name

Next to your name, you can add a speaker icon embedding up to 10 seconds of audio. Use it to record your name and a quick intro. (This function is available via your introduction’s edit icon in LinkedIn’s mobile app.)

Consider Keeping Your Connections Visible

This is LinkedIn’s default for first-level connections. But you can make connections private (aka visible only to you) in Settings & Privacy →Visibility. However, as Larry called out, the ability to look through someone’s connections and find common contacts can be a great way to start a conversation. Keeping connections visible makes that possible. 

Use Your “About” Section to Showcase Your Credibility — and Personality

“This is your opportunity to credentialize who you are — that you have expertise in certain areas of Internal Audit, IT Audit, Compliance, whatever it may be. Share that about yourself, but also show another side: that you're human,” said Larry.

Repeating skill/specialty keywords will help you come up in more searches. But sharing your hobbies, philanthropic interests, past achievements, and fun facts gives people another way in. 

For example, Larry’s “About” identifies him as a “Basement Beast” and “Advocate of the ‘PAY IT FORWARD’ principle” while inviting you to “ask me about my brief movie career (Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Backdraft, Gladiator)” AND “let me know how I can help you.” 

2. Share Relevant Thought Leadership 

You have expertise. Are you regularly sharing and showcasing it? 

Sure, your skills and specialties (e.g., ERM, cybersecurity, ITRM, ESG, fraud investigations, supply chain, compliance, SOX) are probably listed on your LinkedIn. 

But showing is always better than telling. And LinkedIn is an open invitation to share your expertise. 

As Larry advised, “Put something relevant and thoughtful out there that will help educate people.”

• Post about a recent work experience or insight. Maybe it’s a lesson from an event or class you just attended. Maybe it’s just an above-average lightbulb moment. 
• Put the spotlight on a great article, benchmarking report, or study. 
• Write an article sharing tips or insights on a subject you know well. 
• Create and share a poll on a topic you care about. Later, share and comment on the results. 

“If you don’t get a thousand likes, it doesn’t matter,” said Larry. The point is that your contributions will appear in your connections’ feeds. And when anyone visits your profile, they’ll see your posts and articles. 

Sharing thought leadership reinforces that you’ve got the expertise you say you do. It also proves you genuinely care about helping other people. 

3. Conduct Pre-Meeting Research

Larry recommends reviewing the LinkedIn profiles of anyone you’re meeting with, looking at: 

• Shared connections. “You may be surprised that they know someone you know really well. Sometimes it’s even a family member,” said Larry. Referencing them can be a great way to kick off a conversation. 
• Current location (or hometown, if listed). Where have your paths crossed?
• Past employers. Can you swap war stories about a shared past employer? Do you know someone they may have worked with/for? 
• Roles. For example, if you’re both Audit Managers, you already have a ton to talk about.
• Education. Doors often open faster for alumni, whether it’s you or someone you know who attended their alma mater.
• Common interests. What outside activities, interests, or hobbies do you share? It could be anything: philanthropic activities, running, investing, gardening, having young kids or grandkids, travel, a conference they raved about, a sports team, a love for spreadsheets… 

Said Larry, “Sometimes I see the most obscure things in someone's profile. Maybe it says ‘university marching band’. Most people would ignore that, but not me. I would say, hey, what instrument did you play in the marching band? And then we start having a conversation. My kids were in band, so we have a nice connection point.”

The gist of it is to set up a conversation that’s about more than just you and the audit project you’re there to discuss. It shows you care about who they are and what they’re about, reducing stress about the audit while opening up a path to an actual relationship.  

4. Keep Expanding Your Network — and Asking How You Can Help

Don’t just limit your efforts to pre-audit meetings. 

While staying mindful of potential independence issues (e.g., don’t connect with someone whose department has an imminent fraud audit), use LinkedIn connections, knowledge sharing, and profile research to start real conversations and proactively build relationships with:

• Executive leaders or board members in your organization
• Peers in your industry or geography
• Consultants whose work intersects with yours
• Key vendors 
• Anyone you meet who inspires you

LinkedIn offers a ready avenue to reach out to any of these people. But take Larry’s advice: Don’t use AI-generated messages, and ALWAYS personalize connection requests. 

You never know who’ll become an audit customer, colleague, future employer, or lifelong friend. 

As Larry called out, many people don’t cultivate their network until they need something — like a new job. Do it now instead, so that when you do need something, your connection request or message isn’t entirely out of the blue (and clearly self-serving). 

Plus, a strong network makes YOU more valuable. You’re seen as a well-connected professional who helps others. You become someone who can help them find a great job applicant, subject matter expert, high-quality vendor, or even their own peers. 

Finally, heed Larry’s central message: “These are five words I don't want you to forget: How can I help you? Ask it every day. Try to ask it in every meeting,” said Larry. 

THE LAST WORD: Relationships Build Success in Work and Life

Still need more reasons to up your game? 

Larry gave our audience a big one, with a slide featuring The Institute of Internal Auditors’ Global Internal Audit Standard 11.1, “Building Relationships and Communicating with Stakeholders.” 

The standard mandates these relationships and conversations, requiring CAEs to “develop an approach for the internal audit function to build relationships and trust with key stakeholders, including the board, senior management, operational management, regulators, and internal and external assurance providers and other consultants” that includes “formal and informal communication between the internal audit function and stakeholders.” 

The standard’s “Considerations for Implementation” lays out all the whys and hows. 

But I’ll keep it simple: Your work will be better for it. Your life will be better for it. YOU will be better for it. 

Larry himself said it perfectly: “If you lead with yourself, you will leave with yourself. Granted, you're doing interviews — you're probably leading a lot. But you’ve got to listen. There should be a little bit of both. This works in dating, too. If you talk all about yourself on a date, you're going home by yourself. That’s your first and last date.”

So, why not make this the year you step up your relationship-building game not only within your own organization, but in your profession? You know where this is headed: Join the Internal Audit Collective. Be part of a dedicated Internal Audit community that’s 100% about making authentic connections and helping each other.  

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