In Never Eat Alone, author and entrepreneur Keith Ferrazzi discusses how to develop fulfilling and mutually beneficial professional relationships: in other words, how to network. He explores three distinct stages of the networking process: preparing to network, building a network, and maintaining a network.
Before you start reaching out to people, take three steps to maximize the chances of your networking efforts being successful:
You’ll find networking much easier if you internalize these four core beliefs about the process:
Core Belief #1: All networking should be reciprocal. If you take a lot from your connections without giving anything back, you’ll gain a reputation for being selfish and taking advantage of people.
Core Belief #2: Goodwill isn’t finite. Many professionals believe that they can only ask a contact for assistance a limited number of times before the person grows tired of being relied upon for help. However, this isn’t true. In fact, repeatedly asking someone for help strengthens your relationship because it demonstrates how highly you value that person: You believe in their ability to help you.
Core Belief #3: Networks should be created before you need them. Don’t wait to reach out to people in your field until you desperately need their help—for example, if you’ve just lost your job. They’ll be disinclined to help you because you’re a total stranger to them—why should they assist you? Instead, start to build your network long before your time of need. You’ll be able to spend months or years gaining your contacts’ trust and goodwill, making them much more likely to help you in the future.
Core Belief #4: Audacity is key. In a networking context, “audacity” means being bold enough to network with total strangers. If you limit yourself to networking only with people you’re already somewhat familiar with—for example, people who work at your company, or friends of friends—you shut yourself off from the opportunities and insights that strangers can provide.
When deciding who to network with, there are four types of people who you should focus on:
1) People who can help you to meet your goals. For example, if your goal is to work at a particular company, connecting with its hiring managers may help you succeed. Make a comprehensive list of the people who can help you achieve your goals by creating a Relationship Action Plan, or RAP. This involves writing down:
2) Mentors. Mentors are experienced professionals who are willing to support your career development. They can provide many kinds of assistance, including advice on the experience and skills you’ll need to advance your career. You can find a mentor:
3) Super-connectors. Super-connectors are people who have dozens, if not hundreds, of professional contacts—contacts you can ask to be introduced to. They often work in industries that require them to know lots of people. Examples of super-connectors include:
4) Prominent people. These individuals are leaders in their industry—for instance, CEOs of large corporations. Networking with them is useful for two reasons. First, you can probably learn a lot from them—they’re usually highly skilled and intelligent. Second, your connection with this prominent person gives you power by association, making it more likely that people approach you with a request to network.
There are various ways to come into contact with a prominent person:
Try to find out as much about potential new contacts as possible. For instance, what precisely is their job role? What are their hobbies and interests? What are some of their recent career achievements? Researching people before you meet them is beneficial for two reasons:
1. **When you meet the person, you’ll be able to tailor the conversation to...
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In Never Eat Alone, author and entrepreneur Keith Ferrazzi discusses how to develop fulfilling and mutually beneficial professional relationships: in other words, how to network. Ferrazzi believes that networking is crucial to career success for several reasons:
The first element of networking is preparing for the process. Take three steps to maximize the chances of your networking efforts being successful.
The first step is developing the right attitude about networking, which involves internalizing four core beliefs:
The first core belief to adopt is that all networking should be reciprocal. When seeking to connect with someone, don't just think about what they can give you, but also what you can give them. If you take a lot from your connections without giving anything back, you’ll gain a reputation for being selfish and taking advantage of people.
There are various things that you can offer a contact to keep your relationship reciprocal:
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Once you’ve adopted the four core beliefs of networking, the next step in preparing to network is deciding who exactly you’re going to network with.
Connecting with anyone—from your peers, to leaders in your field, to your friends of friends—is arguably beneficial. The larger and more diverse your network is, the more support you can receive, and the more people you can help in return. However, there are four types of people whom you should make an extra effort to network with:
The most important people to network with are people who will help you to achieve your goals. This usually means professionals who have a direct connection to the field you aspire to succeed in. For instance, connecting with education professionals may help you achieve the goal of joining your local school board.
In this section, we’ll cover the three steps you need to take to successfully network with people who can help you achieve your goals:
Making a relationship action plan will help you to identify not only your long-, medium-, and short-term goals, but also the people who you should network with to achieve these goals.
Write down your long-term professional goal: something that you want to achieve within the next three years. (Remember that your goal should be challenging yet achievable, and as specific as possible. Likewise, the best goals take into account both your passions and your skills.)
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In addition to people who can help you achieve your goals, network with mentors, super-connectors, and prominent people. Identify people in each of these groups who you’d like to network with.
List one or two people who you believe could mentor you. Why have you chosen these people? What could you offer them in return for their guidance? (Remember: While it may be helpful to have a mentor who works in your industry, they don’t have to.)
Now that you’ve decided who you’re going to network with, there’s one final step to take before reaching out to these people: trying to find out as much information about them as possible. For instance, what precisely is their job role? What product or service does their employer provide? What are their hobbies and interests? What are their professional and personal goals? What are some of their recent career achievements?
Getting the answers to at least some of these questions will give you an advantage when you come to meet the person, for two reasons. First, you’ll be able to tailor the conversation to suit the person’s interests and experiences. For example, if you discover their career goals, you can ask insightful questions about how they plan to achieve them. Tailoring your conversations in this way has two benefits:
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In the first part of this summary, we discussed the preparatory steps you should take before approaching potential new contacts. Now, it’s time to explore various strategies for building your network.
In this chapter, we’ll explore networking by arranging a meeting with someone. In the context of this strategy, “meeting” doesn’t necessarily mean a traditional business meeting. It simply means any situation in which you invite a person to meet with you face-to-face.
The first step in arranging any meeting is deciding what form you want it to take. For a first meeting, it’s a good idea to keep things fairly casual: You don’t want to intimidate your new contact with strict formality. To that end, here are four informal meeting scenarios you could try:
#1: Go for a coffee. The relaxed atmosphere of most coffee shops makes them the perfect setting for a casual meetup.
#2: Go for a meal. This could be breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner—whatever your schedule allows. Ferrazzi argues that food is an excellent icebreaker: Even if you and your contact can’t find anything else to talk about, you can discuss your meals’ quality....
There are many steps in arranging a networking meeting, including choosing the meeting’s format and actually asking a contact to meet.
Think of a potential new contact you’d like to arrange a meeting with. Why do you want to connect with this person? What would you be able to offer them to keep your relationship reciprocal?
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A second networking strategy is approaching people at conferences. Conferences are great places to network because they’re full of people you already have something in common with: You’re all interested in the conference’s theme. As we discussed in the previous chapter, it’s much easier to connect with someone if you can bond over a shared interest.
Here are eight tips on how to make strong professional connections at conferences:
When you first hear that a conference is going to take place, contact the organizers and offer to help them plan the event. For instance, offer to curate the guest list or find a location for the conference. Conference organizers are usually so busy that they take help from anyone who offers it.
Becoming a conference organizer will help your networking efforts in two ways. First, you’ll gain “insider knowledge” of who’s attending the event, meaning you can plan who you want to connect with and research their interests. Second, you’ll have access to private events for organizers, giving you the opportunity to network with conference leaders.
If you hear about...
The next type of networking we’re going to discuss is networking using social media: in other words, connecting with new people on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These social media platforms have millions of users, at least some of whom would make valuable additions to your professional network.
There are two ways to use social media to network: approaching potential new contacts yourself, and getting new contacts to come to you. Let’s look at each method in detail.
Reach out to potential contacts on social media using these three steps:
Step 1: Decide which social media users you want to connect with. For example, you may decide you’re only going to contact professionals who work in your industry. Alternatively, you may choose to approach any professional you think you’d have a good rapport with, for example, because you have a shared interest.
Ferrazzi advises against approaching users with high follower counts—for instance, in the hundreds of thousands or millions. These users probably receive dozens of requests to connect each day. Your attempt is likely to be either missed or ignored and...
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One way to network using social media is to create compelling social media content that piques people’s interest and inspires them to contact you.
One type of content that social media users enjoy is posts that contain useful information—for instance, tips on how to break into a certain industry. Brainstorm two to three “useful” posts you could create. (Remember: All of the content you create should be authentic to your personality. Likewise, each post idea should be as unique as possible. Social media users love content that’s unlike anyone else’s.)
In Chapter 6, we discussed how you can use social media to get potential connections to come to you. In this chapter, we’re going to explore how you can use traditional media—for instance, newspaper and magazine coverage—to do this, too.
Getting coverage in a media outlet—for example, by publishing an opinion piece in a newspaper or convincing a journalist to interview you—exposes you to an audience of thousands or sometimes millions of people. Some of these readers will be so impressed by your ideas that they want to hear more about them. They’ll reach out to you—and thus, a new connection is born.
So how can you get media coverage? The simplest method is to follow these five steps:
Step 1: Decide what type of content you want to pitch and what topic you want to write about. For instance, do you want to write a prescient opinion piece on a current social issue? Do you want to be interviewed about your career so far? Do you want to write a short column on your area of expertise?
To increase the chances that your idea gets accepted for publication, make it original. For example, approach an old issue from a new angle, or discuss...
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In this final part of the summary, we’ll discuss how to maintain your professional network. Specifically, we’ll discuss two things you need to do to keep your relationships strong: following up with your contacts and looking for ways to help them.
“Following up” with members of your professional network means regularly checking in with them, either by phone, by email, or in person. The conversation or meeting may involve:
Following up with your contacts is crucial to keeping your relationships strong for two reasons. First, frequently reaching out to your existing contacts shows that you care about them: You clearly want to spend time with them and hear all about their recent endeavors. You wouldn’t make such an effort to contact them if you didn’t. People are more likely to continue relationships that make them feel appreciated.
**Second, if you...
Following up with your contacts makes them feel appreciated and reminds them of your existence.
Think of a time when you met a new contact for the first time. What format did the meeting take? Why did you want to connect with this person?
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