NEW BOOK
“Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time,” by Keith Ferrazzi, with Tahl Raz, Currency Doubleday, $24.95
What you’ll learn: To be successful, you have to build relationships, but not with just anyone. You have to meet the right people–the “keepers” with whom you share common interests and goals. They’re the ones willing to help connect your dots, just as you’re willing to help them.
One of the most important things Ferrazzi teaches is what networking isn’t: Initial meetings are not an opportunity to pick someone else’s brain. Use them to find common ground.
And networking isn’t a day you set aside on the calendar to attend an “I’m going to meet people” event. It’s an everyday opportunity. Meetings at work, the golf league, lunches with co-workers and homeowner’s association meetings are networking opportunities.
–Jim Pawlak, BizBooks
NEW BOOK
“The Four Pillars of High Performance: How Robust Organizations Achieve Extraordinary Results,” by Paul C. Light, McGraw-Hill, $27.95
What you’ll learn: For over 50 years Rand Corp. has been at the forefront of management thinking. “Four Pillars” studies how this think tank thinks and shares the outcome. The underlying theme of this performance-based organization is vulnerability.
When businesses are successful they usually follow two paths–each has its own vulnerability quotient. The first is to continue doing what’s being done; follow that path and you won’t change. The second is to briefly celebrate success and then ask two questions: “What’s new?” and “What’s next?” Both answers left a firm vulnerable to change. But change that forces a firm to think is better than the slow, death-spiral change inherent in maintaining the status quo.
–Jim Pawlak, BizBooks
