University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Never Eat Alone
Book

Never Eat Alone

And other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz
Currency, 2005
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Author Keith Ferrazzi is a master networker who claims that his Palm Pilot holds the names of 5,000 people who will take his phone calls. That’s a powerful claim. Starting as a self-made man of humble origins, Ferrazzi developed his social network by helping people and by developing and mastering the techniques for networking. Here, he shares his methods. His light, engaging and entertaining story will motivate those who want to enhance their social and business friendships. The author advocates generosity as the key to success. That’s a radical business concept, but he claims it works. It’s certainly worth a try. getAbstract recommends this book to people who want to be more social, make friends and expand their business connections. It should also prove invaluable for those who are sick of sitting at home on Saturday nights.

Summary

Social Connections

Though some business leaders still pride themselves on rugged individualism, most successful executives learn to build wide social networks. In many ways, cultivating and developing relationships transcends individual skills. If you have the ability to connect personally with other people, you can build your career on that asset alone.

Successful networking means both meeting people and, in turn, helping them attain their goals. Networking - a commonly misunderstood term - requires being generous with your time and connections in a process of continuous giving and taking. People who are in the process of developing social networks should assist each other as they continue to include new members in their circle. When you help someone, you benefit from a geometric expansion, producing more opportunities for more people. This creates an ever-expanding association - the more people, the better. The Internet is based on the same principle: being open to all. The more people who contribute, the greater the Web becomes.

Social networking is increasingly important as business organizations become flatter and less hierarchical. In a flat structure, ...

About the Authors

Keith Ferrazzi is founder of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a marketing and sales consulting firm. He has contributed to Inc., The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. Tahl Raz is an editor at Fortune Small Business. He has written for Inc., The Jerusalem Post and The San Francisco Chronicle.

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