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

Product Review

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 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.

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 a scholarship at Yale, a Harvard MBA, 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 genuine relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handling 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 society event— “invisibility” is a fate worse than failure.

In the course of the book, Ferrazzi outlines the timeless strategies shared by the world’s most connected individuals, from Katherine Graham 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, Never Eat Alone is destined to take its place alongside How to Win Friends and Influence People as an inspirational classic.

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(289 customer reviews)

669 of 716 people found the following review helpful

Caveat Networker, March 12, 2005

Christine Kenney "Chix0r" (MIT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time (Hardcover)

It seems like much of the efficacy of Ferrazzi's tactics lies in blurring the distinction between the personal and the professional connections. Not even church-going remains sacred.

At what point does a close-knit network become more invaluable than acquaintanceships struck during in-flight snackbreaks? Are 500 people willing to answer your calls (after the umpteenth time you've attempted to ambush them on the phone during their off hours) really an asset? Readers should keep in mind that one will not be able to fool all of the people all of the time with false pretenses of friendship. Ferrazzi's work would be more effective if he differentiated between intensities of friendship and the tactics most appropriate for each.

Further difficulties include:
-Networking Plan of Action (unfortunately acronymed NAP) includes scarcely a page of information about how to construct one.
-The arguments are often internally inconsistent: receiving an invitation...Read more

186 of 205 people found the following review helpful

Hardly "revolutionary", December 29, 2005

M. DiVirgilio "integrity_books" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time (Audio CD)

The book isn't that bad, but it isnt worth buying with so many other masters out there writing about how to get it done. Here's what's wrong....

First, it's billed as "revolutionary" concepts which I found to hardly be true. Almost evey idea was something that I've read in a Covey, Mackay, Peters, etc book. Recycled.

Further, he's so proud of his accomplishments it becomes exhausting to keep up with all the great things KF did in his life.

Finally, he writes often about how he was from poor, underprivileged family and he had nothing but his "revolutionary" concepts to break him into The Club. I believe it at first, until he started (and then repeated) to tell the reader about how he went to a private elementary and HS, then to Yale and Harvard BS. He was IN the club from first grade - hardly a life course that demonstrated how unique and terrific his practices were.

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful

Don't let the title and attractive bright orange cover fool you, December 18, 2005

R. Bose "Johnny Hopkins" (FL/NYC/JHU) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time (Hardcover)

While I was reading the book, I actually convinced myself to go the extra mile and keep open lines of communication with random people (albeit, financially/socially powerful) in my naive enjoyment. However, after I finally made it through (its 250+ pgs), I realized that a lot of the content is bogus and not realistic in a "regular" lifestyle (unless your dad fed you into Yale and you cruised your way to a Harvard MBA, and then could afford to finally ask yourself what you actually want to do). I do love how some authors pride themselves on their humble upbringing, but yet somehow acsend to Ivy League undergrad & grad school through a favor. Anyways getting back to my point, do not buy the book - I recommend sitting at Barnes, Borders, etc. and reading the first 60-80 pgs (max). If you're looking for some motivation/tactics of networking, you might find it within that portion. The rest 150+ pgs just beats a dead horse. I'm a slow reader and the small amount of time it takes to hit the...Read more