What soft skills are most important when networking?

"Communication" seemed to generic.  What's generally missing is TRUE active listening, which is the ONLY path to authentic empathy. A side of humor would be my #3. 

Empathy stands out as a pivotal soft skill when networking. It allows us to genuinely connect with others, understand their perspectives, and build meaningful relationships. Alongside empathy, active listening and effective communication are also essential to ensure mutual understanding and trust during interactions.

Effective communication incorporates several of the other traits in this poll, so perhaps this is a bit of a catch-all, but I put my vote on active listening as well. Active listening most effective when you can gently guide the conversation with questions (and thoughtful follow-up questions) that allow you to find shared meaning with someone else and create the human connection.

I think these are people / human skills maybe rather than soft.
soft sort of implies that are not quite as important as hard ?
The skills we have traditionally called soft seem to be key to how we all work with each other , in and outside the workplace
Active listening, communication, empathy, respect others values and so on.
Food for thought.

If you want to build trust with people, active listening is key! When we encourage people to share their thoughts and opinions and we listen, it releases dopamine in their brains- which comes from the part of our brain where we build bonds and relationship attachments. This is the whole point of networking!