I was surprised by what I read in this morning’s New York Times Week In Review about how the late Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto built the tremendous support from American governments that was crucial in reaching her dream — to become prime minister of Pakistan — not once, but twice (and almost a third time).

I had assumed that, being born not just into wealth and privilege but also a family central to Pakistani politics, she would not have had to put much time or effort into building that support. In fact, though, the Times reports, she was an ardent practitioner of the art of networking, and that made all the difference.

What struck me in the description of how she mastered networking and how she did it, was that it was a veritable primer of how to do it in business.

• She began networking from the very beginning and continued throughout her life
• She sought expert coaching and direction
• She stayed in touch with her existing networks and created new networking opportunities whenever she could
• She befriended people regardless of their skepticism of her and what they took to be her agenda
• She did this aggressively whether or not she was in a position of power

Bottom line… she knew that to achieve her objectives, she had to pay attention to networking constantly and consistently.

These principles are just as valid for achieving business goals as political ones.

The fact that Benazir Bhutto was born to wealth and privilege and had a politically powerful father did made it easier for her to get started building a network. But it also gave her major hurdles to get over. Just like everyone else, she had to work hard at networking. The important point is, whatever your starting point, you can and must build the right network for yourself and make networking a core competency so your business can reach its full potential.

You can learn more about how networking can help you build a profitable business, check out the work of Liz Lynch at the Center for Networking Excellence.