 |
Never Eat Alone : And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
on this page... |
Never Eat Alone is full of great advice about the importance of networking. So many of us see networking as a form of sales and we dread the very idea or we think it is a skill only necessary for marketing professionals. Keith Ferrazzi brings to light the idea that networking is nothing more than building relationships, something humans do instinctively. He also explores the idea that everyone can benefit from learning the fundamentals of making connections.
For years I have worked with my own staff and advised those I have consulted with to use relationships as the core foundation of their business believing that these forged connections will carry a business through good times and bad. It's not about cold calls. As a matter or opinion, I believe cold calls are an ineffective method of marketing. I look to take an opportunity with someone and make it a warm call, make a connection that will last.
"I learned that real networking was about finding ways to make other people more successful. It was about working harder to give more than you get." I love this quote! By looking to the success of other you inevitably increase your own. People that instinctively do this are the most successful people I know, and they are happy!
The philosophy/ideas in this book can easily be summed up into this few principles:
- Building relationship is key to building business
- Do for others as you do for yourself
- Be genuine and sincere
- Plan out your networking strategies, short term and long
- Become a master at follow-up
Never Eat Alone is a recommended read for everyone, whether a business manager, sales person or any type of professional interested in a growing their career and longterm success. I truly believe that nothing can make you as successful (or happy) than growing a career that is based on the principle of building relationships that matter.
Do you want to get ahead in life? Climb the ladder to personal success?
The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered early in life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships-so that everyone wins. In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps-and inner mindset-he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his Rolodex, people he has helped and who have helped him.
The son of a small-town steelworker and a cleaning lady, Ferrazzi first used his remarkable ability to connect with others to pave the way to a scholarship at Yale, a Harvard MBA, and several top executive posts. Not yet out of his thirties, he developed a network of relationships that stretched from Washington's corridors of power to Hollywood's A-list, leading to him being named one of Crain's 40 Under 40 and selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the Davos World Economic Forum.
Ferrazzi's form of connecting to the world around him is based on generosity, helping friends connect with other friends. Ferrazzi distinguishes genuine relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handling usually associated with "networking." He then distills his system of reaching out to people into practical, proven principles. Among them:
Don't keep score: It's never simply about getting what you want. It's about getting what you want and making sure that the people who are important to you get what they want, too.
"Ping" constantly: The Ins and Outs of reaching out to those in your circle of contacts all the time-not just when you need something.
Never eat alone: The dynamics of status are the same whether you're working at a corporation or attending a society event - "invisibility" is a fate worse than failure.
In the course of the book, Ferrazzi outlines the timeless strategies shared by the world's most connected individuals, from Katherine Graham to Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan to the Dalai Lama.
Chock full of specific advice on handling rejection, getting past gatekeepers, becoming a "conference commando," and more, Never Eat Alone is destined to take its place alongside How to Win Friends and Influence People as an inspirational classic.
Keith Ferrazzi is founder and CEO of the training and consulting company Ferrazzi Greenlight and a contributor to Inc., the Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. Earlier in his career, he was CMO of Deloitte Consulting and at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and CEO of YaYa Media. He lives in Los Angeles.
ISBN: 0385512058
Format: Hardcover, 320pp
Pub. Date: February 2005
Publisher: Doubleday & Company, Incorporated
about jeni...
Nationally-recognized author, speaker and corporate trainer, Jeni Herberger leverages 18 years experience within the design industry providing others with practical strategies on doing business better and living life fuller.
"I want to take the opportunity to share with you just a few of the books I believe hold philosophies and practices that enhance our lives. Besides that, you just can't beat a good book!"
Jeni is a featured speaker at the 2007 How Design Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, June 10 – 13 and the In-HOWse Designer Conference in Austin, Texas, September 9 – 11.