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 in early 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 personal success—he uses to reach
out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and
associates on his contacts list, people he has helped and who have
helped him. And in the time since Never Eat Alone was
published in 2005, the rise of social media and new, collaborative
management styles have only made Ferrazzi’s advice more essential for
anyone hoping to get ahead in business.
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
Yale, a Harvard M.B.A., 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 real relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handing
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 social event—“invisibility” is a fate worse than
failure.
Become the “King of Content”: How
to use social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to make
meaningful connections, spark engagement, and curate a network of people
who can help you with your interests and goals.
In
the course of this book, Ferrazzi outlines the timeless strategies
shared by the world’s most connected individuals, from Winston Churchill
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, this new edition of Never Eat Alone will remain a classic alongside alongside How to Win Friends and Influence People for years to come.