Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

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Ferrazzi specifically advises that everyone should talk to at least 50 people per day. This ensures that you get enough new social activity to stimulate your networking muscles and you are suitably seen throughout all levels of your organization. The more you focus on your network, the bigger and better it will get. Pinging: "When it comes to relationship maintenance, you have to be in your game 24/7, 365 days a year." p.196 A network functions precisely because there's recognition of mutual need. There's an implicit understanding that investing time and energy in building personal relationships with the right people will pay dividends.”

There's nothing wrong with looking for ways to spend time with people who have accomplished more and have more wisdom than you. Once you put yourself in position to connect with the famous and powerful, the key is not to feel as if you're undeserving or an impostor. You're a star in your own right, with your own accomplishments, and you have a whole lot to give to the world.” Ferrazzi explains that things such as intelligence, talent, education or where you come from are important, but without the support of other people, these things mean nothing. When striving to reach goals, you can’t get there alone. Networking in businessAs someone who feels skeptical about business and networking and most things professional (i.e. elitist), I came into this book with low expectations. Never Eat Alone looks like another career-oriented self-help book aimed at elevating one's wealth and making connections to get ahead. And while it does focus on both of those things - relationships, how to sell yourself and your brand - I appreciated Keith Ferrazzi's emphasis on vulnerability and kindness. He advocates for caring about other people and using that concern for others as a platform for genuine, professional growth. His comments about vulnerability surprised me in a pleasant way, because they shattered the idea of of always maintaining a flawless image to get ahead in the working world. A few of the other highlights in this book include: the idea of finding your blue fame (where your passion and practical abilities intersect), Ferrazzi writing that we should introspect more about our values and that we should seek therapy if we want it, and his note to stay humble, even when you feel like a great success. Write down at least one medium-term goal that will help you to achieve your long-term goal. This should be a goal that you can achieve within one year.

While Ferrazzi places importance on finding a mentor to learn from, his value of generosity and helpfulness drives the point that you should also be a mentor to those who need it. Every connection that you make is important. While your mentee is learning from you, you are just as likely to be learning from them. Networking with as many people as possible, from all levels of success creates a beautiful cycle of learning and support so that the group can be successful as a whole. Top 10 Quotes from Never Eat Alone Wherever you are in life right now, and whatever you know, is a result of the ideas, experiences, and people you have interacted with in your life.”Ferrazzi redefines collaboration with a radical new workplace operating system in which leadership no longer demands an office, an official title, or even a physical workplace. In times of challenge, we have a choice: we can retreat further into our isolated silos, or we can commit to “going higher together.” Through his prescriptive approach, Ferrazzi offers real-world solutions for creating exponential change in the world. Once mastered, the lessons of Leading Without Authority and Co-Elevation go well beyond the scope of business and the workplace. advice about how to text people during toilet / taxi time so that a whole bunch of schmoes think they're your BFFs Your goal as you move through the world should be to create a force field inside of which people feel safe to play by different rules. Model the traits that support serendipity – curiosity, generosity, passion, and humility. Create social opportunities, like the dinners.., and allow others to build trust” p.260

Ferrazzi is clear that accomplishments and abilities such as one’s education, talent, intelligence, life history, etc. are useless without the support of other people. The most successful companies are headed by people who have great relationships with other people around them. The best education cannot help someone who doesn’t have a strong team behind them. If 80 percent of success is, as Woody Allen once said, just show-ing up, then 80 percent of building and maintaining relationships is just staying in touch.This was a great book about what networking really is. It's about sharing information with people, not just about managing transactions with people. Mix it up. Hunt out people who look and act and sound nothing like you do. Seek out ideas from people you don’t ordinarily talk to who inhabit professional worlds you don’t ordinarily travel in… connect with the connectors" p.145 Nonetheless, this book is a great read for 2 specific reasons: (1) making connections should be a lifestyle choice, rather than an opportunistic chore one does occasionally to advance in life; (2) it is possible to cultivate a mindset and a set of skills to establish sincere and worthwhile relationships in today's world.