Customer Reviews

The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional, and Virtual Networks

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I must say that I found this book very insightful. I thought I had a well-developed network, but now realize that with a little more effort and a better approach I can leverage my network for both professional and personal growth. This book was a great read and it will definitely be a good resource for me going forward.

This book helps to map the territory of how to grow effective and authentic relationships through your networks. It provides an important tool for personal development and the leadership that emerges from this work. As such it's lessons also serve as tools in the effective use of coaching.
Executive Coaching for Results: The Definitive Guide to Developing Organizational Leaders

Timely ideas confirming that none of us make it alone.

Mike Dulworth reiterates what we all seem to know and still forget or neglect so often: Success is closely linked to knowing people and most importantly staying in touch with them as well as being of service to them.
Mike goes beyond describing and recognizing the tremendous effects of a network, he provides simple and effective tools to implement the few key steps to build and maintain my own network. I particularly liked the idea of the Personal Board of Directors, which at its core is nothing more than a formal request for permission to ask for advice. I personally implemented this tool right away and with minimal effort. After a few short weeks I already enjoy positive results.

Humans are social animals. Therefore, in both personal and business life, networking is an important force. For example, knowledge workers often face complex problems whose solutions require gathering information from people with a variety of expertise, whom they may not know personally. Author Michael Dulworth is the first to admit that much of networking is simple common sense, but doing it well, he says, requires planning. In this straightforward book, he provides a quick explanation of how to improve your networking skill, whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, and of how to use networks in your work life. The book includes an especially interesting section about analyzing organizational networks. Even though the book is short, it is somewhat repetitive. Still, getAbstract recommends it to recent graduates, workers and managers who want to improve their performance and get ahead in their chosen fields.

Mike Dulworth surprised me with his refreshing and expanded ideas about networking. This is not a "how-to" book, but rather a book which opens up the possibility of all kinds of networking opportunities. Have you thought lately about peer-to-peer networks, network accelerators, or PBODs? (Personal Boards of Directors.) What I learned in this book will keep me busy for years.

Michael Dulworth has captured the importance of interrelationships, community and building on professional networks. The book is outstanding and a must read.

"You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar." -- Exodus 27:4-5

The Connect Effect is a combination of a networking book and a memoir of a networker. For those who are inexperienced in networking, this book will be helpful and interesting.

The book's key points can be found on page 27 (which I paraphrase for brevity and clarity):

1. Make networking a top daily priority.
2. Seek to help others in your network.
3. Gain and stay in touch with helpful mentors.
4. Follow a process for your networking.
5. Document your network in ways you can analyze.
6. Try to reach everyone on Earth through someone you know.
7. Continually add to your knowledge about everyone in your network.
8. Connect with more influential people than you are.
9. Meet and stay connected with people different from you.
10. Develop a positive reputation with people in the network.

The book's key insight in favor of networking is that it's easier to find out the answers by knowing someone who has the answers than by trying to answer everything for yourself.

I found that Mr. Dulworth was inclined to see everything as a network, even things that were one-time contacts such as global contests to find best practices. In practice, you can do many things better through one-time contacts than you can through networks.

Networks are best for things such as getting a job interview for an unadvertised position, finding someone to help you get a special break when you don't deserve one, and for feeling more confident.

I think that Mr. Dulworth also doesn't realize that in this world of exponential solutions you can often create a solution that will be more valuable than the influence of thousands of large networks.

Don't ignore networking, but realize it's one useful tool among many, one that's of most value for those who aren't very interested in developing their own talents to the utmost.

This book outlines the importance of connections, and introduces a metric to assess your networking skills and the quality/breadth/depth of your network. The Networking Quotient (NQ) is the ideal third dimension, to complement the frequently measured Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Quotient (EQ).

This book provides wonderful suggestions and motivation for each of us to extend our connections a bit further!