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April 17, 2005
Never Eat Alone
I recently finished Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi. I had read an interesting article about Ferrazzi years ago and so when I saw the book on the shelf at the local Barnes & Noble I bought it on impulse.
Ferrazzi is a master networker; the kind of guy who has 10,000 people in his contacts list and has “touched” every one of them in the past year or so. I’m the kind of guy who…well, let’s just say I re-order business cards more often for address changes than because I ran out.
I love the title, Never Eat Alone, but I was expecting it to be one of those business books where the title is the whole message, and the other 300 pages are only there to justify the price tag. That’s why I was surprised by how much I got out of it.
Yes, the book is puffy, but I found it readable and thought-provoking. The message is simple: meet lots of people, be a giver, not a taker, in relationships, and stay in touch. I’d heard it all before from Mom. But Ferrazzi presents it well with lots of interesting anecdotes and practical tips. And it’s a message worth repeating.
Most importantly (for me) Ferrazzi grants permission to get out there and start building your network. He persuasively makes the case that networking is a positive way to help others, rather than a sleazy way to use people, and gets very specific about the things you can do to build your network. It is these specifics – like permission to host a dinner party on paper plates or to leave a quick greeting by midnight voicemail – that answer the objections and fears of the socially cautious. The stories of hubris and “network-abuse” are similarly helpful in illustrating the difference between good and bad networking.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at April 17, 2005 4:21 PM
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