In times of pandemic, the zet gallery regularized the reading habits of the team, and once a month there is a reading club. Sharing the same book or different views on different titles, every month, we bring you what we’ve been reading. Mariana Fortes, communication assistant at zet gallery, presents our first summary.
“Never Eat Alone” – 10 tips for a successful professional career
Today we present 10 reasons why you must read the book “NEVER EAT ALONE”, by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz. The authors present a guide to successful professional relationships, with a series of advice that we must put into practice in our daily lives. This is an almost mandatory book in any professional area, as it teaches you how to create professional relationships and build successful networking.
The main author, Keith Ferrazzi, tells how he managed to have a successful professional career, despite coming from a modest family and without many financial possibilities. The book covers various steps and strategies that we can follow to establish connections with people and how these relationships can help us to be more successful and achieve our goals.
However, the book does not indicate a set of “rules” that we must follow. Instead it shows some examples of events that happened during Keith Ferrazzi’s professional career, which translate some techniques that we can use in our routine to be able to create successful professional relationships. To do this, we just have to change some attitudes and habits that we normally have concerning others.
- The secret to success is generosity.
To be more successful at a professional level, the keyword is generosity. More than seeking our own success, we must help others to achieve theirs. But, we must help others without waiting for a return from that favor. If we have the opportunity to help someone we should take the opportunity to help another person to grow, because nobody can succeed alone.
- Have good networking.
If we have a good network of contacts, we take a big step towards a successful professional career. The authors recommend organizing the contact lists, with the names of all the people we have known throughout our lives. We should try to collect as much data about a person, recording the name, address, mobile phone number, and even some detail that characterizes that person and that reminds us of him. Having a good network also involves meeting as many people as possible, because the more people we know the more opportunities there may be.
- Be genuine.
It is essential to recognize the value of people and make them feel useful and important. We must be genuinely interested in others and their interests. The relationships we build should not be based on an interest in getting results. On the contrary, when we build a relationship with someone we must first think about how we can help the other. Therefore, we should not use our contacts only when we need them, but we must build relationships before we need anything. In addition, we must treat others as potential friends and not as potential customers.
- Do follow-up.
Having a large list of contacts with many names is of no use if we don’t keep in touch with all those people. Therefore, we must follow-up these contacts with some regularity, depending on their degree of importance. The authors give some examples such as: contacting the person we just met by email referring to the conversation we had; make x contacts per week/month by segmenting our contact list; contact people on our list while on business trips; contact the people we know who live in the city we are going to; among others.
- Treat all people equally.
We must not put ourselves in a situation of vassalage before others, as we are all on an equal footing. We must treat people with respect and good manners. Nobody is someone alone, we all need someone’s help to reach a certain goal and we can all play an important role in someone else’s life. We can help and be helped. We are the product of the people with whom we relate and the networks to which we are connected. And who we know determines who we are. Therefore, there is no reason to put ourselves on a lower level than others.
- Have a mentor.
It is essential to be guided by mentors, someone who constantly teaches us not only at a professional level but also at a personal level on how to deal with people. We must have someone who has the experience of life that we do not have yet and who can give us a lot of good advice.
- Organize dinners at home.
One of the themes in the book is related to the organization of successful professional dinners in our own home. If instead of gathering our co-workers in a restaurant, we invite them to dinner at our house, an atmosphere of greater closeness, empathy, and intimacy will be created for all. Our home is our personal space and when we receive someone we are allowing that person to get to know us better and maintain a friendly relationship.
- Live personal and professional life in one.
The authors argue that if we combine personal and professional life, it becomes easier to reconcile the two aspects. We don’t need to live both separately to be successful in both. Especially because we all win if we meet more people, whether they are part of our family or not.
- Be insistent.
If we want to achieve our goals, we can never give up. If we want to contact someone who is not easily accessible, we have to send emails, call the company secretary, follow up the contact after x time. We cannot let them forget about us, because we are waiting for an answer from that person.
- Generate emotional bonds.
According to the authors, there are three things that generate deep and lasting emotional ties: health (helping someone to overcome a health problem), wealth (when we have a positive impact on someone’s life), and children (when sincere interest in someone’s children is manifested). These are topics that we can have in conversation with people that we don’t know so well, but that we hope to get to know better.
