Book Review: Networking by Devora Zack

Networking for People Who Hate Networking by Devora Zack has been on my reading list for a while but I had no time for it.

I've just finished reading it. To be honest, I hoped for better things from this book. Probably, my expectations were inflated.

Anyways, there are many useful ideas and tips in the book that anyone can use.

I think that the book will be useful to those who, for some reason, need to do networking but do not like it. The main focus is on introverts, however, not all extroverts are thrilled with networking either.

Highlights:

• I appreciated that the author didn't give everyone the same advice. She recommends building upon your own personal traits. For example, if you are an introvert, you do not need to force yourself to turn into an extrovert for one evening and get acquainted with everyone. Most people do far better by honoring who they are and accepting their natural temperament.
• The author shows by her own examples that the quantity method in networking, when you get to know as more people as possible, may not be effective for extroverts either. It is best to do your research in advance and come to an event prepared, identify a few people you’ve already learned about, and focus on them.
• You have to know yourself very well and build upon it your behavior for a networking event. For example, if you don't really like talking about yourself, you can prepare canned questions that you can ask other people.
• When talking to someone, be positive and ask open-ended questions. Many people do not follow these simple rules, so they are mentioned in the book for a reason.
• If introverts like someone, they can stick to the person for the rest of the event. Don't forget that after all the purpose of such events is to meet several people. Both you and your new friend need this. So wrap up the conversation elegantly. For example, "Well, I'm sure you want to meet other people, "here's my card." Actually, it's not that difficult to end a conversation but when you are in the conversation, you should be entirely focused on the other person.
• Arrive to the event early. Usually there's a table with the name tags, and you can see who's coming if there's someone you want to meet or someone you haven't seen in a while that you didn't know was coming.
• Another thing to do if you arrive early is to offer your help to a person who's organizing the event. The author says that people often will give you something to do and it's helping you as much as it's helping them, because suddenly you have a purpose. And you own the place a little bit.
• If you just spoke to someone you really do want to keep in touch with, then get their card if they have one and take a moment to write down a couple of notes to yourself on the front of the card about where you met them, what you talked about, and what you might be able to follow up on. It's important to do because we forget about half of what we hear within two days.
• Another advice on the follow-up. Value connecting over collecting. It's not about how many cards you collect. It's about who you connect with, and how deep those connections are. You can be brilliant networker. You can talk to anyone about anything. But if you're not following-up, you're not networking. You should follow-up afterwards but make it authentic and specific.

Lowlights:

• The book is geared towards a very narrow audience ― introverted beginners in networking. If you are an advanced networker and you are not afraid of communicating with dozens of people in one hour, then the book will seem boring to you and you can get only 1-2 tips.
• It's full of empty words. The book can be cut ten times. Perhaps even an article would be enough.
• It's my understanding that the author has something important to tell but for whatever reason she wasn't ready to share it. Maybe it is saved for another book.

In general, the book contains many useful practical tips that can be immediately applied on your next networking events.