[Excerpt from: Blinkist’s summaries: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi]
We are all dependent on other people to achieve our goals and realize our dreams.
Nobody can hope to be successful in the long term without thinking connectedly and gaining the support of others. Sooner or later, every lone wolf will reach his limits and his career will come to a standstill.
Trying to build a successful career without a strong network is like building a house on the sand. Your foundations will weaken over time, and in the end you may find yourself sinking.
But what is it exactly that makes a network so important?
It might sound like a truism, but personal contacts open doors. One classic study, outlined in the book Getting a Job, showed that among the 282 men surveyed, 56 percent had found their jobs through personal contacts, whereas only 19 percent had found theirs through job advertisements and 10 percent through applications of their own initiative.
It is precisely in times of economic downturn, with their high employee turnover and high job insecurity, that having a personal network is more important than ever. People who are good networkers rarely have any problems finding a job.
We are working in an ever-changing world. A person who is an assistant today might be the CEO tomorrow. If you are known by many people and are, importantly, liked by those people – for example, if you have shown yourself to be generous, friendly and helpful – then this will eventually pay off.