Keith Ferrazzi, CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, and author of "Never Eat Alone"

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Ferrazzi was the youngest CMO in the Fortune 500. He also served as CEO of YaYa Media before founding Ferrazzi Greenlight. He has been hailed by Inc. as one of the world's most "connected" individuals. Ferrazzi has been named a "Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum in Davos and one of the top "40 Under 40" business leaders by Crain's Business. And he has been a contributor or commentator for Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, Inc., Fast Company, CNN, and CNBC, among others.

1. How To Talk To Customers: Create A Great Impression Every Time Withmagic by Tom Larkin
   
   
   (business books)
   
   "I hope you believe in MAGIC, because this system can really help you build the generous, intimate, personal relationships with customers that will power the growth of your business!"
   
   


2. Brazen Careerist: The New Rules For Success by Penelope Trunk
   
   
   (business books, careers)
   
   "BRAZEN CAREERIST has the street-smarts you need to make your career and life work for you from the start. Read it now, or you'll wish you had when you're 40!"
   
   


3. How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie
   
   
   (careers, business books, communications, health, success, self-help)
   
   "The first time I read it was in college when Ray Gallo (my college roommate) came to me and basically said, "Keith, you're an a--h---. You have to read this book." So I did. It was like a bible to me in college. I'd read a chapter or two every night before going to bed, and I'd read them over and over. That book has done a lot to make me a better person.
   
   The funny thing is that when I read it the first time, I thought, "Hey, this stuff sounds familiar." Turns out so many lessons my dad would teach me, things he'd say to me, coaching me through life, were just him quoting Dale Carnegie. But he never told me they were Carnegie's words. It's funny to me now, but honestly, it's not a big deal that I didn't know it was Dale Carnegie. I'd love it if kids today benefit from their parents quoting Never Eat Alone to them, even if the kids never know my name. It's the message that matters, not me."
   
   


4. Get Out Of Your Own Way At Work... And Help Others Do The Same: Conquering Self-defeating Behavior On The Job by Mark Goulston
   
   
   (business books, health, self-help, success)
   
   "Most success is at all of our fingertips. The people around us in our organization are constantly conspiring to make us successful if we practice the basic relationship principles that I have always practiced and talk about in Never Eat Alone. There are a lot of things that are so obvious to us and the people around us that we do that stop us from being successful. A big example I see in large corporations is conflict avoidance. Also, you see people who have what I call a "struggling mentality": they have struggled all their lives, and they continue to struggle. If you go through that inventory in Never Eat Alone, titled "Get out of your own way," you identify some of the behaviors that you practice. The book then gives you a roadmap for how to begin to enlist a community of people around you to extricate yourself from the unwanted behavior. It is incredibly powerful because we all have to recognize that we have personal behaviors that we need to work on just like we have to work on any other goal."
   
   


5. The Power Of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
   
   
   (careers, business books, happiness, self-help, health, motivational, success, religion and spirituality)
   
   "It is just one of those books like How to Win Friends and Influence People and Never Eat Alone that you should keep at your bedside and the wisdom in the book is one of those things that everyone says, "It's not like I've never heard this before," or "it's not like I don't know this," but I think we as natural human beings need to constantly remind ourselves of the right way to walk through the world; the Power of Positive Thinking does that."
   
   


6. Love Is The Killer App, How To Win Business And Influence Friends by Tim Sanders
   
   
   (business books, motivational, management / leadership)
   
   "A lot of people compare this book with Never Eat Alone in terms of the importance of positive, emotional investment in individuals in order to achieve success."
   
   


7. Way Of The Peaceful Warrior By Dan Millman
   
   
   (health, success, self-help, literature and fiction, classics, girl fiction, religion and spirituality)
   
   "It is a great book that helps people focus on the importance of staying grounded in themselves. I believe very strongly in the interrelationship between spirituality and leadership. I think everybody needs to find a place that they go inside themselves where they identify what is right and what is wrong. In addition, the movie (Peaceful Warrior) is phenomenal. If anybody has not seen it, they should."
   
   


8. Fifth Wave Leadership by Morris R. Shechtman
   
   
   (management, management / leadership, business books)
   
   "It is interesting that this book looks at the very same issue (as the issue addressed in Get Out of Your Own Way) from a different angle. Fifth Wave Leadership actually identifies those old behaviors as "familiars." What Morris calls "familiars" are those behaviors that you have done all your life and you are very familiar with but do not serve you well. The big lesson in Fifth Wave Leadership is that it is transparency that is the first big step that brings about change. I always use the example of the Twelve Step program. The first step is to walk in that room and say, "Hi, I'm Gerald and I'm an alcoholic." And you never go back once you have admitted that. The same thing is true of, "Hi, I'm Keith. I'm a conflict avoider," or "I deliver feedback often in a sheepish manner." When you can say those types of things to yourself and others, then you enlist a community of people to help you."
   
   


9. You: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide To The Body That Will Make You Healthier And Younger by Michael F. Roizen
   
   
   (health)
   
   "I just think it is so important for all good leaders to make sure they are focusing on their own personal wellness as well as their corporate wellness."
   
   


10. Never Eat Alone : And Other Secrets To Success, One Relationship At A Time by Tahl Raz
    
    
    (motivational, business books, careers, management, management / leadership, communications)
    
    


11. On Becoming Fearless.... In Love, Work, And Life by Arianna Huffington
    
    
    (health, motivational, self-help, nonfiction)
    
    


12. Love In The Present Tense: How To Have A High Intimacy, Low Maintenance Marriage by Arleah Shechtman
    
    
    (health, nonfiction, parenting)
    
    


Source:
http://www.amazon.com
http://leadernetwork.org
http://nevereatalone.typepad.com

Why should you listen to him?

Keith Ferrazzi grew up in Pittsburgh, his father a steelworker, his mother a cleaning lady. His father worked double shifts to provide for his family while sending Keith to the very best schools – first, to the elite Kiski Prep school on scholarship, and ultimately to Yale undergrad and Harvard Business School.

Thanks to his remarkable ability to connect with others, by his 30s Keith had 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.

After serving as Chief Marketing Officer for Deloitte and Starwood Hotels, he published his best-selling book Never Eat Alone in 2005, which went on to sell a quarter of a million copies and counting. He founded his own consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight, which leads the industry in strategic relationship management, bringing a fresh, conscious, and holistic perspective to success in the corporate world. He currently has over seventy speaking engagements a year in the U.S. and internationally, and is a frequent contributor to CNBC and CNN.

Both Forbes and Inc. magazines have designated Keith Ferrazzi as one of the world's most "connected" individuals. He distinguishes relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handing usually associated with networking. His outreach and advocacy is firmly grounded in the principles of generosity and accountability, and he encourages people to infuse their professional life with the same passion, personality, and honesty many tend to reserve for their personal lives.

Ferrazzi’s next book, Who's Got Your Back?, will be published in May of 2009. Who’s Got Your Back? guides readers to overcome limiting behaviors, escape mediocrity, and achieve their highest potential by actively cultivating an inner circle of mutual support – people who are given permission and encouragement to kick your butt when you need it. These high-trust, intimate relationships can help both low and high achievers – including Ferrazzi himself – push themselves to incomparable success and personal reward.

Ferrazzi practices Vipassana meditation and is an avid polo player and heavy lifter. Though his travel takes him all over the world, his electricity bills are delivered to a home in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles.

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