Adam Grant is a New York Times best seller, the youngest tenured Wharton professor, and also my former teacher. He taught my management 610 class. One thing he espoused all the time was giving. But in that same breath, he preached taking as well. Check out his book, Give and Take, if you have a chance. It's a very good book.
I personally used to only be on the give side. I was always trying to connect people with jobs or people. I was always trying to give friends and family advice. I was always giving, giving, giving. Then after some deep thought and reading a couple of interesting books I realized that I also have to take.
Generally, people think of taking as a selfish act where you want to take all of the pie. This is farther from the truth. My mom always said to share with others, which also means they need to share with you. Don't be afraid to ask for an intro or to ask for help with a sale. Mutually beneficial relationships aren't about keeping score. They are about making sure everyone you know is successful. This pie only gets bigger as well collaborate and use our various networks to help each other. Blog XIV.