gavinshearer.com

« Globetrottin' | Main | Real Cities Have Trains »

May 23, 2006

"Never Eat Alone"

As usual, I made use of my in-flight time to get caught up on some reading. Today's book was "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi.

Let's get the obvious right out of the way: "Never Eat Alone" is a great frickin' title. It's short, succinct, descriptive, and delivers a tip that you can put to immediate use in your personal life (You: "Hey, maybe I shouldn't eat alone anymore!"). It's the "Snakes On A Plane" of books.

The problem is, the title is almost too descriptive. Since most business books are gimmicks - 1 good idea and 10 pages of original content, blown out to 220 pages of repetitive fluff - I had held off on reading "Never Eat Alone" because I felt, well, that I kind of knew what it was going to say ("I shouldn't eat alone? OK. Where's the new Harry Potter?").

But when you're stuck at 35,000 with a good couple hours of flight time left, well, you reach into the bag and deal with the 220 pages of fluff. (It's that or the SkyMall catalog.)

I'm pleased to report, then, that Ferrazzi's book is actually pretty good.

For the last two years, I've done an hour-long session for incoming UW MBA's called "Informational Interviewing 101" that's all about how to use your new-MBA-ness to get out in the business community and talk to people, make connections, and learn what you need to in order to maximize your special time in school. "Never Eat Alone" makes a lot of the same points that I do in my talk - so much so, in fact, that I think Ferrazzi might be a great primer for anyone going to business school. He blends a strong overall philosophy of the importance of (and required respect for) other people with good, tactical, commonsense recommendations about how to prepare for meetings. An example:

[Before meeting with someone], Be sure to check out the company's Web site. Use search engines, like Google, to check a person's affiliations. Going to a meeting without Googling someone is unacceptable.

Or:

Do you want to stand out from the crowd? Then you'll be miles ahead by following up better and smarter than the hordes scrambling for the person's attention. The fact is, most people don't follow up very well, if at all. Good follow-up alone elevates you above 95 percent of your peers. The follow-up is the hammer and nails of your networking tool kit.

Again, basic advice. And again, totally accurate.

The book does have its weaknesses. First and foremost, Ferrazzi is a horrible name-dropper ("Martha Stewart? A friend, by the way."), and the book often feels like it's "Ferrazzi on Ferrazzi" (subtitled, "The secrets of my success ... revealed!"). Second, a number of his observations about the changing nature of work (corporate loyalty is dead, employees have to be proactive about managing their careers, focus on the "Brand Called You", yadda yadda) have already been covered to death in magazines (this is, for instance, the stock-in-trade of Fast Company).

But these are quibbles. For all his Rolodex worship, Ferrazzi comes across as a pretty genuine, self-deprecating guy. And the book is chock-full of great suggestions and information, and has a positive, optimistic outlook that I found engaging.

If you're in B-school (or thinking about going), read this book. And if you're out in the working world and this sounds like new information, you should read it, too. Otherwise, get that copy of Fast Company.

Recommend.

Posted by Gavin Shearer at May 23, 2006 6:52 PM. Posted to Entertainment.

« Globetrottin' | Main | Real Cities Have Trains »