never eat alone blog

Feeling Beautifully Connected in My Isolation

Got into Monterey late Monday night and went to the restaurant and read some interesting research while I ate alone! I kinda felt naughty, it was fun, wondering if any of the other diners were going to see me the next day and say, "Hey..."

Then Tuesday a.m., I got a long run in after some calls. What a blessing a long ocean run is. I went downstairs to borrow some music and I only found Barry Manilow, LOL. After 4 miles, I was convinced that the man was a genius relative to human behavior. PLEASE don't tell anyone I said that.

Spoke in front of the Coldwell Banker California regional sales meeting for high performers and I was floating. Tried out some new material on diagnosing what we do that holds us back and how do we break through our own glass ceilings. It went over so well. It’s times like this that I know I'm doing exactly what I was put here for. Big thanks to such a great group.

Then it was onto a redeye and Bank of America in Charlotte and then Albany...  As my friend Marshall Goldsmith says, "Life is good."

K

CNBC Re-Airing Millionaire Inside

In case you missed it the first time, you can see me on CNBC’s The Millionaire Inside on Monday, August 27 at 9 p.m. and midnight EST. Robert Kiyosaki, Larry Winget and Laura Morgan Roberts are also on. You’ll remember that I was not that happy with my performance (scroll down to July 27 post), so I would appreciate your constructive criticism after the show.

Tip of the Week – Pinging that Cuts Through the Clutter

This week, I’m going to share a tip from a friend, a press secretary for one of the presidential campaigns. He said that he is always looking for ways to break through the clutter when it comes to staying in touch/reaching out/pinging...

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Realogy Interns

  A few weeks ago, I had a day of executive meetings scheduled at Realogy in Parsippany, NJ. Ferrazzi Greenlight has a great relationship with Realogy, which is the parent company of Century 21, ERA, Coldwell Banker and Sotheby's International Realty. I was asked if I would be willing to spend 5 minutes with their interns, who had been given autographed copies of Never Eat Alone. "Absolutely not," I said. "I need at least 40 minutes with them." I was able to give a gift to Realogy, a company that has been very good to me, and Realogy was able to offer something to their hard-working interns who do a lot of necessary and valuable grunt work. We kept it a secret, so the interns were pretty surprised when I walked into the room. I advised them to think about the currency they had to offer to potential mentors -- like weekends helping on extra projects, or talking to a CEO's son about the college experience. It was a fun lunch as I always enjoy counseling young people.

Using Your Currency

Hi, Roman posting here today. I do web consulting and developing for Keith, and he asked me to share how I used his principles to make that happen.

After reading Never Eat Alone, I asked myself, “What is my currency? What do I have to offer?” I have been a software developer for about 10 years and I have a strong passion for business ideas. I searched through my notes and found an idea I had awhile ago. It was a perfect fit for Keith's business.

Only minutes after, I was on the phone with him. He invited me to join him (and a ballroom full of incredibly interesting people) during an impressive lunch at the Sheraton Hotel in New York. And there I was, using the same phrase from the book’s introduction: “How on earth did I get in here?”

He was right. Everyone has got some sort of currency.

Tip of the week - Try, try again

People are busy and if you're reaching out to someone who's not a friend - yet - you may not get a response the first time. Or the second or the third. But don't give up!  You know you have something valuable to offer this person. You may have to send several emails and make a few calls. All your messages should be...

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Rooftop Dinner with NYC Friends

You know I love a good party. My friend Matt Adams had me over for dinner on Tuesday night. Now Matt is VP and Managing Director at a hotel, so in terms of venue (Grand Hyatt New York rooftop, next to Chrysler Building) and food (clambake, grilled fruit, endless bottles of champagne), he has a distinct advantage over the rest of us when it comes to hosting.           

There were 30 of us there, including JP Kelly and Peter Winick from Ferrazzi Greenlight. Other guests were from Deutsche Bank, Accenture, Loeb & Loeb, Jewcy Media, Unilever, Merrill Lynch and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

I used a couple of my dinner party tactics to make the night more fun and intimate. I asked people to switch seats – actually, lounge chairs -- so they could meet more people and I encouraged instant intimacy by encouraging guests to get to know each other by asking one another “What are your dreams?” A fun night.

Tip of the week - Great recruiting takes great relationships

When people are considering new job opportunities, I always tell them "Make sure you consider who you'll be working with, who will be mentoring you, and who you can get access to because of this job. Usually that's more important than the money or even the work you'll be doing because it's the PEOPLE that will make the biggest impact in your career and your life."

Apparently today's top young talent is thinking the same way. My former writer/editor Ian Ybarra is a co-author of a new book (his first, by the way, and I'm quite proud!):

RECRUIT OR DIE
How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for Young Talent
By Chris Resto, Ian Ybarra, and Ramit Sethi

They did surveys and interviews with more than 1,000 college students from over 180 schools and found that the number one thing in the minds of top young talent when considering where to start their careers is "Which job can advance my career the most?" And a big part of that is about the people – their potential colleagues, bosses, mentors, even their predecessors who have gone onto other companies.

If your organization is trying to recruit young talent, here are three important relationship lessons from the book that I've expanded upon to help you.

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1 – Get help from people who are influential in your recruits' lives. (Remember: You can’t get there alone!)
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Build relationships (before you need them!) with university staff who interact with lots of students. Educate them about your organization and the opportunities you offer. If they know you and like you, they'll be powerful partners when students go seeking third-party perspectives from people they respect and trust.

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2 – Sell your PEOPLE 
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Introduce your recruits to as many people on your team as possible, and tell them about every one of your people who started where your recruits are and went on to do interesting and amazing things inside your company or even with other companies.

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3 – Deliver on your promises
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Nothing makes recruits think you don't really care about them as much as not calling when you say you will or not returning their emails. From the smallest details to the biggest issues, just doing what you say you will goes a long way in relationships. Your biggest opportunity comes when they are interns or new employees on the job. Even if you think they might leave after a couple years, make sure they have a great experience. You’ll get the most out of them while you can. Plus, they will remember how you treated them and become enthusiastic recruiting partners even after they leave your organization.
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Read the introduction to RECRUIT OR DIE at http://alwaysrecruiting.com/book-excerpts

And for anything else on this topic, you’re welcome to contact Ian at ian[AT]alwaysrecruiting.com.

Look forward to your comments on relationships for recruiting, too.

Building Trust in a Virtual World

I met Sallie Goetsch, co-founder of the Podcast Asylum, at the Fortune iMeme conference last month. She was kind enough to send along the 4-minute interview she did with me on using technology to connect. 

Copy and paste: http://www.podcastasylum.com/audio/Ferrazzi-edited.mp3

Tip of the week - It's never too early to start connecting

In the latest tip of the week, I shared some passages from young entrepreneur and connector (and Never Eat Alone fan) Ben Casnocha's new book

MY START-UP LIFE
What A (Very) Young CEO Learned on his Journey Through Silicon Valley

And I posed a few questions to readers...post a comment with your thoughts.

What are some basic things you wish you had started doing as a teenager to really boost your career and your life?

What advice do you give to young people you know?

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