In a recent study that asked more than 2,500 businesspeople what impacted their bottom line the most -- nearly 75% said it was networking. So why has almost nobody been taught to network in school?

Dr. Ivan Misner, CEO of the world's largest networking firm and a business professor at Cal Poly University in Pomona, CA, has recently released data he compiled in a comprehensive study of businesspeople around the world.

Misner's research shows that while a large majority of businesspeople agree that networking is the single biggest contributor to their success, a staggering minority of businesspeople have ever seen or heard of networking ever mentioned in formal college or university curricula.

In a study of 1400 business professionals, Misner reports that 88% of them had never taken a course that even marginally covered the topic of referral networking.

It's makes one incredulous," Misner says, "To think that while most businesspeople agree that networking is such a powerful component in their skill set, so very few institutions deem it important enough to teach."

Misner's company, BNI (Business Network International), is the world's largest referral networking company. In Misner's estimation, BNI may also be the world's largest networking instructor.