never eat alone blog

Top Talent

Too many managers make the decision to swap out people rather than really investing in them. Bob Moore is dedicated to changing that and in his new book he offers terrific strategies for making the most of your talent. Bob’s running a promotion and offering some great bonus material that you can learn more about at www.toptalentbook.com/specialoffer.

Paging Dr. Goulston

If you or someone you love suffers from the flashbacks and nightmares of post-traumatic stress disorder, please maximize healing and pick up the new PTSD for Dummies by my Ferrazzi Greenlight colleague Dr. Mark Goulston.

http://www.amazon.com/Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder-Dummies-Psychology/dp/0470049227

As a clinically trained psychiatrist, Mark has been able to transfer many of his insights to the business world and I believe anyone can benefit from his usable insights. He generously offered one for me to post below. You can also find at http://www.markgoulston.com/blog/.

Boredom occurs when I am unable to make someone interesting.

-Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the USC Marshall School of Business and co-author of JUDGMENT: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls

Warren Bennis is an antidote to the poisoning of the spirit by a world that daily conspires to make you feel unimportant and uninteresting if not invisible. I am hesitant to call Warren my mentor, because despite being far more interesting and important than me, I never cease to leave a meeting with him feeling far more interesting and important than I am. Warren claims that it comes from a deep curiosity and interest in people; I believe it comes from an even deeper quality of kindness that this man offers freely to all who are fortunate enough to know him and be known by him.

Warren has this effect on many. A small fraction of those he has touched were on hand at USC on October 22, 2007 to honor him as the recipient of the International Leadership Association's Distinguished leadership award that was bestowed upon him by Cynthia Cherrey, President of ILA.

Sibling rivalry may have spoiled the affair were it not for the sibling revelry that all present felt to give Warren a taste of the gratitude and generosity that he shares so freely with others.

Betsy Myers, Chief Operating Officer of the Obama for America campaign delineated what makes Warren so special and offered a five point blueprint for anyone seeking to lead and leave the world much better than they found it. The five keys according to Betsy:

    1. Be curious about others and oneself
    2. Have friends of all ages
    3. Feel and demonstrate gratitude and appreciation
    4. Keep and share a sense of humor
    5. Treat everyone the same so that they get to feel special in your presence

Tip 93 – Connect For the Success of Your Child

You attended Back-To-School Night and you’re on helping-with-homework duty, but that's not all you should be doing this new school year. You should be building a relationship with your child’s teacher, who is an important person in your child's life. Public schoolteachers usually spend their own money on classroom supplies, so she would be grateful if you…

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Tip 92 – Use Examples to Encourage

It's well-established that good leaders praise their employees, but there are different ways to go about it. As a manager, one thing you can do is to point out to the whole team how well an employee does a certain task. Then others can then follow that best practices example.

Mark Hendricks once was in charge of an integrated telemarketing crew and he would only comment on performance when someone was doing an excellent job...

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Go, Steelers!

Since I’m from outside Pittsburgh, I had to take a photo of these Steeler fans when I saw them at the airport! Proud grandpa and Steeler fan Bob Marshall of Pittsburgh gave the outfits to twins Maggie and Sophie.

Tip 91 Use Math to Create Loyalty

This week’s tip comes from my friend Chip Conley, author of the new book Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow and CEO of Joie de Vivre hotels. Many people have told me and Chip that we were separated at birth in terms of our approach to business and life.

On his web site, http://www.chipconley.com/#, Chip offers advice on how to engender loyalty:

“Psychologist John Gottman created a landmark study on marriage and found that successful relationships averaged a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions. Other studies in the business world have put this ratio at 3 to 1 with respect to what drives productivity in employees...

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Italy, Greece, Turkey

I recently got back from a whirlwind trip to Italy, Greece and Turkey. On the plane ride over, I brushed up on my Italian by listening to lessons on my iPod. My cousin lives in a small town outside of Milan – all cobblestones, very Italian countryside. Really enjoyed taking a boat out on the lake with about 10 family members. Then it was on to Greece for a speaking engagement. Went to this great seafood restaurant where you choose your giant fish while it’s still kind of moving. Last stop was Istanbul, Turkey. It is very cosmopolitan yet spiritual. The day I arrived was the first day of Ramadan so there were prayers blasting throughout the city.

Invite to Speech in San Diego

I'll be speaking at The University of San Diego’s business school next week and the event is open to the public. I would be delighted if any of you in the local area could make it!

Here are the details for the event:

USD's School of Business Administration has partnered with the Yale Alumni Club of San Diego to bring in best-selling author, Keith Ferrazzi, for this year’s Connections networking event.  Keith Ferrazzi is the author of the best-selling book, "Never Eat Alone and Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time."

University of San Diego Connections 2007

Sponsored by Yale Alumni Club of San Diego

Monday, October 8, 2007

Keith Ferrazzi speaks from 6:00 - 7:00 PM

Location:

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice

University of San Diego

5998 Alcala Park

San Diego, CA 92110-2492

Exact Room: Main Auditorium

Register at: http://www.sandiego.edu/business/about/Connections.php 

Hope to see you there!

Masters of Sales

If you are looking for advice from the best, check out Masters of Sales by Ivan R. Misner and Don Morgan. They’ve compiled the advice of more than 80 experts and I was honored to be included. My contribution to the book on doing your homework is adapted from NEA. Tony Robbins shares on achieving your goals and Martha Stewart teaches you how to promote yourself as an expert. http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Sales-Ivan-R-Misner/dp/1599181290/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7532052-9342416? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191344837&sr=8-1

AMA Again

In case you missed it live, here is the free hour-long webcast I did for AMA.

http://www.amanet.org/editorial/webcast/2007/business-is-human.htm