Mike Steib

If you want to build an effective network, you must focus on what you can do for other people, not what they can offer you. T he way I think about it, everyone has four types of networks: Unfamiliar, Familiar, Intimate, and Meaningful. They’re nested concentric circles: The way many people do it is gross. They get in touch out of nowhere in order to work an angle or ask for something under the guise of friendship.

I started my current career journey when I was 25. I had a prestigious job at a highly regarded company analyzing potential acquisition targets for the executive team, regularly discussing our findings with some of the most important people in a very sexy industry. I worked with smart, cool people, and my parents were proud. But something about the job, deep down, didn’t feel right, and it was making me unhappy, though I could not put my finger on why.