According to the book The 29% Solution, written by Dr. Ivan Misner and Michelle R Donovan,

“Networking is the process of developing contacts and relationships to increase your business, enhance your knowledge, expand your sphere of influence, or serve the community.”

Which means, the things we do that we would normally call networking, such as attending networking events, helping other people, giving referrals are actually the tools and systems we use in networking. What most of us lack, me included for the first 40 years of my life, was the process, system or strategy for networking to get those benefits.