Never Eat Alone By Keith Ferrazzi & Tahl Raz

In Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time, Keith Ferrazzi teaches people how to build lifelong relationships that will bring them success and get them ahead in the world of business. This book is aimed toward college students and graduates who are looking to further, or maybe even start, a career in business. Besides writing this book, Ferrazzi gets his point across to people through lectures at colleges and grad schools. It is a valuable book because there are methods to learn in it that are not taught in a standard classroom. His book is divided into four main sections each aimed toward teaching the reader different skill sets: The Mind-Set, The Skill Set, Turning Connections into Compatriots, and Trading Up and Giving Back. Ferrazzi supports all of his arguments very well by using real life examples from his own experience and by adding stories about famous people at the end of some of the chapters to further confirm his advice. In the Mind-Set portion of his book he teaches readers how to become a member of the “club” and then he discusses his “Networking Action Plan”: a way to write down and accomplish specific goals. Ferrazzi did a good job of relating to the average person by telling his back story. He grew up in a working class family and first observed the higher classes while he was a caddy at a country club. He connected with the common people reading his book. Ironically enough, this is a book about connecting with people which he is so clearly good at. Ferrazzi’s explanation of his observations during this time is very descriptive, showing the readers what they should be doing. His discussion of his “Networking Action Plan” was also very helpful as well. He outlines a specific way to write your plan in order to make it simple to connect and succeed. Ferrazzi is clear and concise and does not leave the reader with any questions about what to do. The Skill-Set section mainly discusses how to connect with people, what to do when connected, and how to follow-up. According to Ferrazzi, the key to success in anything is to follow-up, an action that many people may overlook without Ferrazzi’s information. Ferrazzi has tons of contacts in his network that he would not have known without following up. They range from John Pepper, a CEO that Ferrazzi had researched and found out he had also gone to Yale and had known a mutual friend, to Arnold Palmer, the well known golfer. Ferrazzi doesn’t just say to make connections with people; he is incredibly helpful and specifically lists people that can be connectors: relatives, current colleagues, neighbors, people in your religious congregation, and many more. Turning Connections into Compatriots is about what to do when following-up with people results in them being in your network. Ferrazzi talks a great deal about dinner parties and their importance to him. He lists number of guests to invite, where they should be seated, and how to have a beautiful setting. Ferrazzi gives tips on how to host the best dinner party and to gain the friendship, and hopefully business, of everyone invited. In the final section, Trading Up and Giving Back, Ferrazzi explains the importance of being interesting and memorable. He teaches readers to build their brand by one of his sayings: “be distinct or extinct” (226). Basically, Ferrazzi says there are tons of people in the world who want to become CEO’s and in order to succeed, you need to be different. As the title of his book says, never eat alone. Be out of the ordinary and persistent in connecting to the people you need to, and want to, connect to. Ferrazzi is a credible and resourceful source for any person looking to expand their network. He provides insight into how to get this done and his life is proof that it is possible. He is very successful with these methods. Ferrazzi was CMO at Deloitte Consulting and CEO at YaYa Media and he is now founder and CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight. The network of people that he has connected to, span across the country and they are the reason for his success. Without other peoples help, we are nothing. This book is very engaging and enjoyable, I personally found myself losing track of time reading it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to expand their network or even anyone remotely interested in the unknown aspects of the business world.

Vor dem Kauf von "Never eat alone" war ich ein wenig skeptisch, ob es sich hierbei um eines dieser oberflächlichen Büchern mit ein paar einfachen Patentrezepten handeln würde, nach deren Anwendung man, Simsalabim, zum Meister-Netzwerker würde. Ich wurde, was das angeht, angenehm überrascht. Zunächst gefällt mir an Keith Ferrazzis Buch dessen angenehme Einstellung, beim Networken zunächst mal nicht daran zu denken, was das Gegenüber für einen selbst tun kann, sondern damit zu beginnen, womit man selbst dem Gegenüber helfen kann. Darüber hinaus sind seine mit Beispielen belegten Anregungen leicht nachvollziehbar und im Grunde für jedermann anwendbar. Was bei der Lektüre jedoch auch unmißverständlich klar wird, ist dass Networking richtig harte Arbeit ist. Dies verleiht dem Buch aus meiner Sicht einen deutlichen Mehrwert im Vergleich zu vielen Büchern, die nur allgemeines Blabla verbreiten. Ebenso wie die Tatsache, dass Ferrazzi deutlich darauf hinweist, dass alle Networking Werkzeuge ohne ein gewisses Mindestmaß an Substanz dahinter letztendlich nicht viel wert sind. Insgesamt also ein gutes Buch, welches zum Nachdenken anregt. Das einzige, was mich persönlich ein wenig gestört hat, waren die recht häufigen Verweise auf die "New Economy". Aber das ist bei Ferrazzis Branchenhintergrund vermutlich nicht zu vermeiden.

Tratto dalle esperienze personali dell'autore. Semplice ed utilissimo...un manuale ricco di consigli su come intrattenere le relazioni.. Ne ho comprati due per regalarne uno ed è stato molto apprezzato! I highly recommend this book!

Excelente

Great read especially in the society we are currently living in. I feel some people will read this and immediately think these principals wont work, to them I say stop being so pessimistic! Not every book is for everyone but I loved it!