The Networking Jerk - Ch 6 of Never Eat Alone

April 4th, 2007 by digerati

This is Chapter 6 of the Never Eat Alone series at Catch a Gideon. Points from Mr. Ferrazzi are in bold. I’m asking that you react to the quotes through comments. Share you reaction to each as well as your experiences in college and the real world.

I made the classic mistakes of youth and insecurity. I was pretty much out for myself. I wore my unquenchable ambition on my sleve, befriending those above me and ignoring my peers. Too often people put on one face with their subordinates, another with their boss, and another one yet with their friends.

Be yourself? It might just work out. At the least it means you don’t have to worry about who you are talking to, or who they will talk to, because you’re always the same person.

But instead of viewing my employees as partners to be wooed in achieving my long term objectives and theirs, I saw them as called upon to carry out my tasks. Don’t treat those under you poorly.

Respect people and they will respect you. When you’re the boss, don’t “lead” by doling out tasks to other people, instead give out problems to people so that they can solve them themselves. This makes people feel needed, takes a load off of you, and allows the organization to grow as a whole. It also means you can keep the organization going when anyone leaves. Often the top people are the organization so when they leave / get fired the organization can’t continue to operate. (See book “Good to Great”).

Understand that it’s your team’s accomplishments and what they do because of you, not for you, that will generate your mark as a leader.

Don’t rely on the currency of gossip.

You can’t make reliable decisions on unreliable information. Find the facts and don’t get caught up in the word of the moment.

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Never Eat Alone is one of the best networking books written, period. Buy it now and follow along as Catch a Gideon goes through each chapter of the book.