Book Review: Never Eat Alone By Keith Ferrazzi
Networking is a nightmare for most of us. At least for me anyway. Connecting with complete strangers in order to leverage their influence is not the introvert's idea of fun.
But what if all we have known about networking is misconstrued?
In his book, Never Eat Alone, Keith teaches simple truth about connecting with people. His book is written from years of experience. Never Eat Alone escapes the trap of offering untested advice. He gives authentic lessons learned over the years of his life.
Keith wants us all to realize that networking is about truly caring about and connecting with other people. When we see networking like this, we share value and offer help and in return we receive help.
He also teaches against ignoring the little people. Family, friends, journalists and the gatekeepers. In a bid to get to the influential people far above. Everyone is valuable and deserves to be treated well.
Here are some of the most important lessons I learned. I say some because this book has a lot more.
Lessons from Never Eat Alone
•When you help others, they often help you.
•Real networking was about finding ways to make other people more successful.
• Make sure you have something to offer when you speak and offer it with sincerity.
• Shared interests are the basic building blocks of any relation-
ship.
•You should be governed by the idea that one should seek first to understand, then to be understood.
•The only way to get people to do anything is to recognize their importance and thereby make them feel important.
•The strength of your network derives as much from the diversity of your relationships as it does from their quality or quantity.
•Seeking the influence of powerful people in our lives is not crass or misguided; it can be enormously helpful.
•Don't let a little vanity seep into your actions or excite more expectations or create a deeper sense of entitlement.
•As much as you stretch yourself by reaching up, be sure you are stretching just as far as to reach back and help others.
•Whether those people were family people, work people, or friend people, real connecting insists that you bring the same values to every relationship.
Never Eat Alone is pretty straightforward. As the title connotes, share what you have with others and they will share with you too.
P.S make sure you read Never Eat Alone more than once. It is one of those books you read and learn from for a lifetime.
Have you read the review on Taraji P. Henson’s autobiography?
