Keith Ferrazzi is the CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a sales and marketing consulting firm. At the beginning of his career, he was the chief marketing officer at Deloitte Consulting and the youngest person to be tapped for partner in his firm's history. Then, he joined Starwood Hotels and Resorts, where he was the youngest CMO in the Fortune 500. Ferrazzi has been hailed as one of the world's most "connected" individuals, and has recently published a book entitled, "Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time."
Ferrazzi believes that friendships are the foundation for a truly powerful network...and he relishes the idea of cultivating a lengthy list of "acquaintances", in addition to his circle of friends. In fact, Ferrazzi considers himself one of the "super-connectors"...a person who maintains contact with thousands of people, many of them in different worlds, and all of whom he knows well enough to call on the phone for a casual conversation.
In his book, Ferrazzi identifies seven professions where "super-connectors" commonly congregate. He maintains that his link to this list of connected list of persons with "rolodexes on steroids" has: helped his career along, enabled his businesses to become more successful, and made his life a little more fun.
Ferrazzi's Super-Connector List:
- Restaurateurs
- Headhunters
- Lobbyists
- Fundraisers
- Public Relations Professionals
- Politicians
- Journalists
Ferrazzi's parting advice is to reach out to the super-connectors. Become a part of their network, and have them become part of yours. Cut the umbilical cord to your own comfortable circle of friends and mix it up a bit. Hunt out people who look, act, and sound nothing like you. Connect...Connect with the connectors.
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