I get asked all the time, what are the qualities of the best networkers? Like, tell me what I need to do, tell me who I need to be in order to be a great networker. Inspired by those questions that have been asked for years, I put together this session. It took a lot of time actually to come up to just five qualities, but I feel very strongly that the five qualities we're going to discuss in this lecture are powerful, are meaningful, and on purpose. Just as a reminder, effective networkers are leaders, because we network in order to express our leadership. Leaders influence and inspire others to join them in advancing that shared purpose. Leaders build, nurture, and activate relationships with others to reach that common goal. If we were to substitute definition of networking in that second statement, basically, leaders network, leaders are networkers. I know syntax, there's a little bit of math in that, but it's great when things do connect. The top five qualities of good networkers. Number 1 is that good, effective, strong networkers are on purpose and they're intentional. On purpose is to do something intentionally. Good networkers are intentional. Their purpose and their goals are clear. It's really obvious, and because they are so on purpose and intentional, they exude a lot of energy and they exude a lot of confidence. I'm not going to say the best networkers are confident because if you're on purpose and if you're intentional, you really believe what you're saying, you're going to come off as confident. Confidence is a result of being intentional and being on purpose. Secondly, there's books written on authentic leadership. I believe that all leaders should be authentic. There's not just one style of leadership which is authentic. There's not another style of leadership which is intentional. I believe that the best leaders, the best networkers are intentional and authentic. The best networkers show up as their true selves and express their true intentions. They're very vulnerable, they know exactly who they are, they know the experiences that have shaped them, and they use that power and that strength and those experiences to their advantage. They use it to say, I know this works so well because I have experienced it and I'm here to do something about it. This is what makes me care deeply about this. This is why you can trust me and this is why you can believe me. I can say trustworthy, I can say lots of things, but ultimately, those are a byproduct of leaders being authentic, of being themselves. The third quality is that the best networkers are curious. They have a strong desire to learn. They love making connections between people. They love to make connections between ideas. They love to bring people and ideas together. They are just curious. They love to learn, and they love to apply that, and they love to bring it all together. Curiosity is a beautiful thing and it really aligns with what we've shared so far, being on purpose and being authentic. But having that desire to learn and to grow and to have that growth mindset is so key to showing up as a leader because we don't want to remain stagnant. People don't want to follow a leader that is not keeping up with what's going on in the world, who is not keeping up with new people that are joining a particular, I'll say the word tribe, but people who are interested in similar things, who are interested in coming up with a solution to that same problem. Curiosity and a growth mindset, hugely important to being a good networker. I'll give another example why curiosity matters. Curiosity matters because it can serve as that point of connection to someone. If someone says, oh, I was reading a book on, any topic, name the topic. It could be a book on leadership. Maybe it was on, let's say, authentic leadership. Then somebody could say, oh, tell me more about that because I read books on leadership as well. That could be a point of connection. Connection is everything. Humans seek connection. Finding as many points of connection means that we can connect with more and more people. Another great quality of a leader is that they're generous, they show up to serve. I have shared previously that leadership is about serving others. Sure it's about influencing others, but more than anything is about serving others or serving society, but then again, society is a group of people. Everything that we do is in service to others. When you are generous, you are a great leader because people are inspired by that. They know that you are in it to serve society and you're not in it to serve yourself. When somebody is in it to serve themselves, they eventually get found out and they're not very inspiring so people probably will not follow them for a very long time. Finally, this is probably my favorite, good networkers are grateful. They don't take anything for granted and they celebrate others, they celebrate with others because gratitude is the best way to nurture a relationship and it's the best way to tell people that I see you, I understand you, I feel you, I care about you, and we're in this together. Professor Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan is going to talk about compassion, and it very much relates to this. Like we are in this together and we need to celebrate each other. Leaders, the best networkers, the best leaders are all on purpose, they're authentic, they're curious and have a growth mindset, they are generous, and they're grateful. To summarize it, and one of the speakers, one of our guests that you heard from in Chapter 2 is Subir Chowdhury. He wrote a book called The Difference, where he talks about the caring mindset. I think to summarize many of these things, the best networkers, the best leaders, care. It really comes from within. When you care about something or someone, you're all these things. You can connect to caring because it aligns with your purpose. It's authentic to you. You want to do something about it, you get curious; hey, how do I solve this problem? I want to be a part of the solution. You are generous, you're in it, you're in it to serve, and of course you're grateful because you don't take anything for granted. I hope these five qualities, I hope you connect with them in a powerful way. Once again, go back to Week 3 if you have to, really go and connect with yourself and get to know yourself, because the best leaders know themselves. The best networkers know themselves and why they are doing what they're doing.