Networking 101 will help you learn to grow your connections and teach you how to use  them for your success and theirs: Grow your network - Grow your future. The course will cover both in-person interactions and online networking, including common tools such as LinkedIn.

It takes a city to have a successful career; People who share information with you, connect you with others, help you in your job, stand up for your interests, guide you, guide you, and sponsor you. And to build this type of network, your network activity must be strategic. To create the kind of network that supports your ambition, your efforts must be focused and determined.

Most of the managers we work with say that at best they find networking wrong or manipulative, an elegant way of using people. Unsurprisingly, any manager who instinctively builds and maintains a useful network will have many difficulties overcoming this innate resistance. The alternative to networking, however, is failing to achieve or be successful in a leadership position.

As we watched our emerging leaders tackle this daunting task, we found that three different but interconnected forms of networking - operational, personal, and strategic - played a critical role in their transformation. The first helped them manage current internal responsibilities, the second encouraged their personal development, and the third opened their eyes to new business directions and the stakeholders they needed to recruit. While our managers differ in their use of corporate and personal networks, we found that almost all of them were under-using business-critical networks. Based on the experiences of our managers, we explain how a three-pronged network strategy can become an integral part of a new manager's development plan.