"We brought along the people we thought were the best, who we got along with, who would get the job done"

I really appreciate the sentiment. In my experience such networks have been self-serving and mostly exclusionary, rewarding loyalty more than competence.

"You need to make some changes" is not particularly helpful when you're outside the fold. What's typically unstated is something about loyalty, esp. not disclosing the mistakes of others.

The best advice someone could give?

1. Achieve impressive things

2. Never give anyone a reason to dislike you