Hello everyone,

I’ve just read through this:

Which was interesting in places, easy to read, and fun. Unfortunately, I felt there was a lot of things in it that could do with a well placed footnote or two.

I wanted to share some of them with you. All are unhelpful, most are trivial, and I hope they are taken in the spirit intended.

 ’Today, I have over 5,000 people on my Palm who will answer the phone when I call.’

In the 2014 edition this is 10,000 people in his phone. To set out our pedantic stall early - if you want to be sure how 10,000 people will react, you have to check with a 1,000 of them (link) I really want to know if he did. I’m pretty sure that if I called 10 people in my family a big number wouldn’t answer 

Chapter 2

Don't keep score

Unless you are counting contacts in your phone

How was a guy like me from a working-class family, with a liberal arts degree and a couple years at a traditional manufacturing company, going to compete.

_The fact that the undergrad degree was at Yale might be a factor…

On Goals

Your goals must be believable. If you don’t believe you can reach them, you won’t.

Okay, sounds good.

Your goals must be challenging and demanding. Step out of your comfort zone; set goals that require risk and uncertainty.

You want goals that are uncertain, that you definitely believe in then  (On the same page!)

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Dropping Names

 

Be a Name-Dropper Connecting your story with a known entity— be it a politician, celebrity, or famous businessperson—acts as a de facto slant.

A few pages later Keith’s most embarrassing story is because of over relying on name dropping

 

I don’t have a Shakespearean bone in my body, you say. Well, no one has had that bone for 500 years.

 

Apart from Shakespeare, who died 400 years ago

 

Long meaningful conversations

Most people haven’t figured out that it’s better to spend more time with fewer people at a one-hour get-together, and have one or two meaningful dialogues, than engage in the wandering-eye routine and lose the respect of most of the people you meet.

True.  We should have fewer longer meaningful conversations

 

 I probably gave my card and e-mail address out to at least a hundred people that night.

Or very short and fast ones  

THE CARD DISPENSER/ AMASSER: This guy passes his card out like it had the cure for cancer written on its back. Frankly, cards are overrated.

That guy sucks. We know the hard and fast ‘only 100 cards given out at an event’ rule. Otherwise we’d look really stupid.

THE CELEBRITY HOUND: This type of person funnels every bit of their energy into trying to meet the most important person at the event.

That guy sucks to.  By the way, you may like Chapter 28, which is called ‘Getting Close to Power’, which will tell you how to funnel your energy into meeting the most important people at an event - including how to stalk politicians over four events to get a conversation. 

On Politics

As a Yale undergrad, I thought I wanted to become a politician, a future governor of Pennsylvania. (I really was that specific, and that naïve.) But I learned that the more concrete my goal, the more I could accomplish toward it. In my sophomore year, I became chairman of Yale’s political union, where so many alumni had cut their teeth before going on to careers in politics.

Sounds like he really knew he wanted to be in politics as a kid.

Joel was emboldened by his ideas, and his passion galvanized voters. I, on the other hand, just thought it would be cool to run for an elected office. After all, I was recruited. I didn’t seek the office, and I told the party up front that my studies and other leadership responsibilities had to come first.

Whoops! he was practically forced into it, my bad.

 

Although I once ran for office as a Republican, I no longer openly discuss my political affiliation. Why? First, because I now vote the person and the issues, not the party. Also so I have access to those who are making a difference in both parties.

It’s NOT important what people stand for, it’s what they can do for me personally.

CONNECTORS’ HALL OF FAME PROFILE: Bill Clinton

It’s a management book, so it’s legally required to talk about Bill Clinton’s amazing charisma.

I never once heard Clinton ask for a vote or talk about himself when engaged in these quick, casual encounters.

80 pages earlier, there’s a story about a young Clinton doing exactly that

Balance

Sounds hokey, but you have to take care of yourself— your body, mind, and spirit—best. As hectic as my schedule can get, I never miss a workout (five times a week). I try to take a five-day vacation every other month (I do check e-mails and catch up on reading). I go on a spirituality retreat once a month, even if it’s a one-day local meditation retreat. And I do something spiritual each week— usually church. That gives me energy to allow me to keep my otherwise twenty-four-hour schedule.

Balance is important

 

The kind of false idea of balance as some sort of an equation, that you could take this many hours from one side of your life and give it to this other side, flew out the window. And with it went all the stress of trying to achieve that perfect state of equilibrium we read and hear so much about.

This is in the Chapter literally called ‘Balance is bullshit’

 

Press

He was implying I was demoted!

Let’s look at the story

In that climate, it’s hard to tell what’s a demotion any more. A year ago, Keith Ferrazzi was national director of re-engineering and change management for Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. Then, he was asked to take on a study of the company’s marketing and communications processes. He has no title and no one reports to him. No one at the company is obligated to accept his recommendations. He doesn’t even appear in the organizational chart. Moreover, when the project ends, he has no assurances about future employment.

That's all we have time for

The book is full of this sort of thing - these are just the highlights that I pulled off my Kindle. There are good things in the book but there’s a lot of rubbish.