Book Review: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

Another networking book that I recently read is Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi.

Book Description (excerpt from inside book cover)

The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people.  As Ferrazzi discovered early in 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 inner mindset-he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his Rolodex, people he has helped and who have helped him.

REVIEW

Format and Style

The book is well organized and easy to read.  One of the great aspects of this book is that Keith shares with his readers the techniques that he uses so you can walk away with ideas that you can implement immediately.  Because of this format, the book is very conversational in tone.  Overall, an enjoyable and fairly quick read.

Content

Keith organizes the book by the following sections:

Section 1: The Mind-Set
Section 2: The Skill Set
Section 3: Turning Connections into Compatriots
Section 4: Trading Up and Giving Back

Keith does a good job of covering the basics of networking.  In the book, he focuses on how you need to build one relationship at a time.  I agree with this strategy because you need to nurture each relationship to build sustainable long term contacts.  As mentioned above, Keith shares with his readers his personal strategies such as “don’t keep score”, “managing the gatekeeper”, “pinging – all the time”, and “build your brand”.  It is great to read a book in which the author is a case study to what does and doesn’t work.

Throughout the book, Keith also highlights well-known people such as Bill Clinton, Dale Carnegie, and Benjamin Franklin to demonstrate their networking abilities.  The interesting aspect about all of these people is that they know (or knew) how to build relationships.  Whether they knew it or not, they were demonstrating excellent relationship techniques. 

Recommendation

Much like any book on networking, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time discusses some basic elements of networking that are nothing new for me or probably you.  However, what Keith does is reinforce what we may know and put it in context from his personal experience.

At the same time, Keith shares with his readers some more advanced techniques that take a lot of time, patience, and discipline.  Most people would never go to the great lengths that Keith does to build relationships.  Keith gets it and built his own brand over time from learning what to do by experimenting with various techniques.  For example, Keith regularly holds dinner parties for people who are in town.  He uses this technique for post conference gatherings so he can bring some of the conference goers into his home.   

I admire Keith for his understanding of how valuable relationships are for business and life.  In fact, Keith has made a living out of helping people build better relationships with his firm Ferrazzi Greenlight.  To learn more from Keith, check out his Never Eat Alone blog.

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn from a master networker.  Even though some of what this book covers is basic, it reinforces what you need to do in order to build great relationships.  At the same time, you will come away with some new techniques.  As I have stated before, I am a big believer in learning from other people.

If you liked this review, then go get yourself a copy of Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time.

Comments

[Rob Rousseau]

Jason, I really enjoyed never eat alone as well. i liked the way keith writes about his early tenure at deloitte and how he sought out "higher ups" to mentor him. i loved his condition on taking the job about having a few dinners a year with the ceo. thanks for reminding me how much i liked this book

[Jason Jacobsohn]

Thanks Rob for sharing some additional information about the book. Keith's story is one that can be emulated if you put in enough hard work and dedication.