So it's time for our mystery question. And what I'd like to get into before we ask that mystery question is, let's take a look at one of my other favorite books, especially my favorite book regarding networking. It's titled never eat alone. You may have heard of it you may not have. It's written by an expert in his field, and definitely an expert in networking. His name is Keith ferrazzi.

He's an American author and entrepreneur and really successful guy in his own right. This book, never eat alone is one of today's leading books on how to successfully network. So I really recommend this book, maybe add it to your list of reads for the future. Something he makes a big point of at the beginning of this book is where things are today with people's careers compared to the past. Now in the past, it was quite common for people to get one job and stay in that job. For the rest of their life, and at the end of that job, I don't know, maybe they'll get a nice gold watch, people would spend 40 years at the same company.

But is that true today? Not at all. He says, In the past, people could trade loyalty for job security. But that's not the case. Not anymore. What does that mean for you?

Instead of being loyal to one company for a person's lifetime, instead, either you will be or you are today a free agent. What does that mean? Well, for Ozzy, the book's author says that lifetime corporate employment is dead. We're all free agents now managing our own careers across multiple jobs and companies. And because today's primary currency is information, a wide reaching network is one of the surest ways to become and remain thought leaders of our respective fields. So let me say Say that one more time so you perfectly understand.

Read along if you don't mind. Lifetime corporate employment is dead. We're all free agents now managing our own careers across multiple jobs in companies. And because today's currency is information, a wide reaching network is one of the surest ways to become and remain thought leaders of our respective fields. Notice the word currency. What is currency?

Well, the definition of currency is money, or some other medium used to buy and sell things. Of course, every nation has their own currency. Here in America, our currency is the dollar in South Korea, currency is the one. In other fields in industries currency might be a little bit different. Not necessarily $1 or one, but some other medium of exchange. Let's look look at some examples.

Earlier we read that today's primary currency is information. Of course, this is the information age, people buy and sell and trade information on a daily basis. Just look at Facebook, for example. What is their business? It's personal information. It's personal data that they use, they take from their own members and use it a variety of ways.

So information is the currency of today. And trust is the currency of leadership. great leaders need trust, the more a leader can be trusted, the stronger that leaders position is. So trust is that medium for leadership. Also, attention is the currency for social networks. Everyone understands SNS right Facebook, Instagram, and so on, on social media, everywhere.

One is vying for attention. Look at me, look at my company, look at my product. The more attention someone has on social media, the more successful they are in whatever realm they're trying to succeed in. So, my mystery question to you is, what is the currency of effective networking? It's just one word. Can you guess?

Now, if you can't think of something now, see what you can come up with as we progress throughout this core lesson on networking. So to recap this section on the mystery question for networking and effective networking. Remember, we talked quickly about the book by Keith ferrazzi. Named never eat alone. Again, I highly suggest it add it to your list, too. We talked about that we're no longer working for companies for an extended amount of time, instead of trading.

Trust and loyalty for job security. We're free agents. And we talked about the definition of currency, information, trust, attention, our currencies in some ways, but the mystery question regarding currency is what is the currency of effective networking. Having said that, let's get ready for the next section. How to build your network.