Never Eat Alone and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$9.23 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $2.59 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
 
 
Start reading Never Eat Alone on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time [Hardcover]

Keith Ferrazzi (Author), Tahl Raz (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (290 customer reviews)

List Price: $26.00
Price: $14.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $11.02 (42%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Tuesday, May 29? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover $14.98  
Paperback --  
Audio, CD $34.19  
Multimedia CD --  
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $3.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Book Description

February 22, 2005
Do you want to get ahead in life?

Climb the ladder to personal success?

The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered early in life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships—so that everyone wins.

In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps—and inner mindset—he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his Rolodex, people he has helped and who have helped him.

The son of a small-town steelworker and a cleaning lady, Ferrazzi first used his remarkable ability to connect with others to pave the way to a scholarship at Yale, a Harvard MBA, and several top executive posts. Not yet out of his thirties, he developed a network of relationships that stretched from Washington’s corridors of power to Hollywood’s A-list, leading to him being named one of Crain’s 40 Under 40 and selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the Davos World Economic Forum.

Ferrazzi's form of connecting to the world around him is based on generosity, helping friends connect with other friends. Ferrazzi distinguishes genuine relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handling usually associated with “networking.” He then distills his system of reaching out to people into practical, proven principles. Among them:

Don’t keep score: It’s never simply about getting what you want. It’s about getting what you want and making sure that the people who are important to you get what they want, too.

“Ping” constantly: The Ins and Outs of reaching out to those in your circle of contacts all the time—not just when you need something.

Never eat alone: The dynamics of status are the same whether you’re working at a corporation or attending a society event— “invisibility” is a fate worse than failure.

In the course of the book, Ferrazzi outlines the timeless strategies shared by the world’s most connected individuals, from Katherine Graham to Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan to the Dalai Lama.

Chock full of specific advice on handling rejection, getting past gatekeepers, becoming a “conference commando,” and more, Never Eat Alone is destined to take its place alongside How to Win Friends and Influence People as an inspirational classic.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success--and Won't Let You Fail $15.99

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time + Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success--and Won't Let You Fail


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The youngest partner in Deloitte Consulting's history and founder of the consulting company Ferrazzi Greenlight, the author quickly aims in this useful volume to distinguish his networking techniques from generic handshakes and business cards tossed like confetti. At conferences, Ferrazzi practices what he calls the "deep bump" - a "fast and meaningful" slice of intimacy that reveals his uniqueness to interlocutors and quickly forges the kind of emotional connection through which trust, and lots of business, can soon follow. That bump distinguishes this book from so many others that stress networking; writing with Fortune Small Business editor Raz, Ferrazzi creates a real relationship with readers. Ferrazzi may overstate his case somewhat when he says, "People who instinctively establish a strong network of relationships have always created great businesses," but his clear and well-articulated steps for getting access, getting close and staying close make for a substantial leg up. Each of 31 short chapters highlights a specific technique or concept, from "Warming the Cold Call" and "Managing the Gatekeeper" to following up, making small talk, "pinging" (or sending "quick, casual" greetings) and defining oneself to the point where one's missives become "the e-mail you always read because of who it's from." In addition to variations on the theme of hard work, Ferrazzi offers counterintuitive perspectives that ring true: "vulnerability... is one of the most underappreciated assets in business today"; "too many people confuse secrecy with importance." No one will confuse this book with its competitors.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Ferrazzi grew up in rural Pennsylvania, the son of a steelworker and a cleaning lady, yet his ability to connect with others led to a scholarship at Yale, a Harvard MBA, and a prestigious partnership at Deloitte Consulting. His skills at creating and maintaining a network of contacts are nothing short of those of a serious presidential contender. All business hopefuls seek to enter a sphere of players more powerful than themselves, and Ferrazzi says that sometimes all it takes is asking. The book is dense with suggestions. Seek out mentors to guide you and introduce you to the people you need to know and then become a mentor yourself. Use your initial conversation to show the other person what you have to offer them, and never keep score. Make others feel important by remembering their names and birthdays. And don't be afraid to open up and show vulnerability--it's a great icebreaker. Ferrazzi presents a whirlwind of ideas to widen your circle of contacts that goes way beyond the usual stale concepts of "networking." David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 309 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Business; 1 edition (February 22, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385512058
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385512053
  • Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (290 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
669 of 716 people found the following review helpful
Caveat Networker March 12, 2005
Format:Hardcover
It seems like much of the efficacy of Ferrazzi's tactics lies in blurring the distinction between the personal and the professional connections. Not even church-going remains sacred.

At what point does a close-knit network become more invaluable than acquaintanceships struck during in-flight snackbreaks? Are 500 people willing to answer your calls (after the umpteenth time you've attempted to ambush them on the phone during their off hours) really an asset? Readers should keep in mind that one will not be able to fool all of the people all of the time with false pretenses of friendship. Ferrazzi's work would be more effective if he differentiated between intensities of friendship and the tactics most appropriate for each.

Further difficulties include:
-Networking Plan of Action (unfortunately acronymed NAP) includes scarcely a page of information about how to construct one.
-The arguments are often internally inconsistent: receiving an invitation to a 15 min coffee break is an affront, while sending one tops the personal arsenal list. Katharine Graham is eulogized as a champion of both "somebodies" and "nobodies." Yet Ferrazzi's lists of "people he'd like to meet" and his incessant extolling of the virtues of name-dropping seems to indicate "nobodies" are nobodies in his book. Finally, the distinction between a "networking jerk" and commendable behavior is, at best, subtle.
-For an individual so concerned with connectedness, it is curious that a bibliography or appendix of suggested reading is entirely absent.

May I suggest:
*How to Win Friends and Influence People: soft skills development
*Big Fish (a novel of "mythic proportions" by Daniel Wallace): a more sympathetic view on spin, for contemplating your own self-marketing plan or why Ferrazzi really left Deloitte.
*The Tipping Point: Chapter 2 is a more rigorous exploration of the roles the uber-connected play in social networks.
Was this review helpful to you?
186 of 205 people found the following review helpful
Hardly "revolutionary" December 29, 2005
Format:Audio CD
The book isn't that bad, but it isnt worth buying with so many other masters out there writing about how to get it done. Here's what's wrong....

First, it's billed as "revolutionary" concepts which I found to hardly be true. Almost evey idea was something that I've read in a Covey, Mackay, Peters, etc book. Recycled.

Further, he's so proud of his accomplishments it becomes exhausting to keep up with all the great things KF did in his life.

Finally, he writes often about how he was from poor, underprivileged family and he had nothing but his "revolutionary" concepts to break him into The Club. I believe it at first, until he started (and then repeated) to tell the reader about how he went to a private elementary and HS, then to Yale and Harvard BS. He was IN the club from first grade - hardly a life course that demonstrated how unique and terrific his practices were.
Was this review helpful to you?
47 of 51 people found the following review helpful
By R. Bose
Format:Hardcover
While I was reading the book, I actually convinced myself to go the extra mile and keep open lines of communication with random people (albeit, financially/socially powerful) in my naive enjoyment. However, after I finally made it through (its 250+ pgs), I realized that a lot of the content is bogus and not realistic in a "regular" lifestyle (unless your dad fed you into Yale and you cruised your way to a Harvard MBA, and then could afford to finally ask yourself what you actually want to do). I do love how some authors pride themselves on their humble upbringing, but yet somehow acsend to Ivy League undergrad & grad school through a favor. Anyways getting back to my point, do not buy the book - I recommend sitting at Barnes, Borders, etc. and reading the first 60-80 pgs (max). If you're looking for some motivation/tactics of networking, you might find it within that portion. The rest 150+ pgs just beats a dead horse. I'm a slow reader and the small amount of time it takes to hit the first 60 pages isn't worth paying for.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Focused My Natural Skills
I tend to network naturally. I never really thought of how it could benefit me or my career. I never really leveraged my social network and I didn't put enough effort into... Read more
Published 13 hours ago by J. Anderson
Must Read for Graduates
I recommend this book to any recent highschool or college graduates. I'm a big advocate of "your network is worth more than your networth" and this book is a primer for building... Read more
Published 1 day ago by Bruce Jay Wallace
he should kiss the A of Amazon, i can not get my money back
Lucky guy, i can not have a refund on Kindle book, he should kiss the A of Amazon on Daily basis.

Nothing Unique, his life and over various jobs or what he did. Read more
Published 1 month ago by andy
Very influential
This book has been very influential for me and my business. I am NOT a networker. I hate networking but I do like working with talented people and meeting those people can... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Brad Gosse
Apply the 80/20 rule on this book ...
The book followed the 80/20 principle. 80% of the common observations and 20% of valuable nuggets. If you are an alive, breathing and social human being then you should know that... Read more
Published 2 months ago by A. N. Niaz
Too much ego, too little practical information
There is some useful advice in here, but it is buried under a whole lot of self-aggrandizing. Also, Ferrazzi comes off as pushy and overly schmoozy, someone who only collects... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Pstaylor
The Best Networking Book I have ever Read
When a friend suggested I read this book, I mentally rolled my eyes. I borrowed it from the library and read the first chapter. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Carla Fair-Wright
Relationships Are Our Greatest Assets
This book goes into the Top 10 Must Reads that I recommend to everyone in every profession. The principles of "connecting" strike a nerve of truth that gives power to the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jacob Paulsen
Bragging or name dropping?
I had a hard time reading this book with all the "I'm so great and I know everyone, stories". I realize its hard to pen a book but this was kind of a waste of my time. Read more
Published 3 months ago by M. Melvin
Hardly revolutionary
I'll keep this brief. This book is written solely from the personal experience of the author. As such, although the ideas are reasonable, they all seemed somehow shallow. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Luu
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(25)
(14)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject