Perhaps no skill set is more critical to managing your career and your personal brand than networking. It is indeed your passport to success! Yet, in my experience, I’ve noticed that networking is something too many people get wrong: whether it’s by being fearful and getting tripped up when they venture out, or by taking an aggressive approach to promoting themselves and whatever else they’re selling.

Clearly there is a need to develop the kind of confident diplomatic skills that can help you navigate successfully in business and life. In fact, in a flatter world where coopetition is becoming more of a norm, networking is not just about getting a job. It’s a critical competency that's needed to gain access to people and ideas, and especially to building productive relationships in your company and industry – and beyond.

Certainly networking, like other human relations skills, needs to be practiced and polished in your daily interactions. While there are books that can help you develop skills, I think inspiration and motivation are key – and I’ve recently discovered a terrific source of both: Liz Lynch, Executive Director of the Center for Networking Excellence, and owner of The Stealth Networker Blog. As someone who admits she’s “not a born networker,” she nonetheless grew her consulting firm exclusively through networking, and has gone on to create products aimed at helping people become better networkers.

Still, I think Liz truly sets herself apart as a networking expert with her Passport to Networking video series. Liz has combined her love of travel with her passion for building mutually beneficial relationships to create and deliver short videotaped networking tips from her travel destinations – starting with her series launch at Park City, Utah to her most recent episodes in China. What makes her videos powerful is her ability to tell a compelling story that weaves information relevant to the location with an insightful and useful networking tip. For example, at the Great Wall of China, she advises that we avoid building our own walls that keep people out of our networks.

You can find Liz’s videos on YouTube. Let her be your travel guide on the road to success!