David Nour - Relationship Economics: Transform Your Most Valuable Business Contacts Into Personal and Professional Success

1. Introduction
2. Chapter 1
3. Chapter 2
4. Chapter 3
5. Chapter 4
6. Chapter 5
7. Chapter 6
8. Chapter 7

3rd EDITION

DAVID NOUR

Bestselling Author of Co-Create and Curve Benders

Illustrations by Lin Wilson

Copyright 2023 by David Nour. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Revised and Updated edition published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2011.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Nour, David, 1968- author. | John Wiley & Sons, publisher.

Title: Relationship economics : transform your most valuable business contacts into personal and professional success / David Nour.

Description: Third edition. | Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2023] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022046785 (print) | LCCN 2022046786 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119855897 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119855910 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119855903 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Social networksEconomic aspects. | Social capital (Sociology)Economic aspects. | Business networks.

Classification: LCC HM741 .N68 2023 (print) | LCC HM741 (ebook) | DDC 650.1/3dc23/eng/20220928

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022046785

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022046786

Cover Design and Images: Lin Wilson

To Wendy, Grayson, and Justus. Thank you for your loveand support of my work.

To Mom who sadly passed away in Istanbul, Turkey onThanksgiving morning in 2021 from viral pneumonia due toCovid-19. She was an amazing relationship builder, collector ofgreat stories, and spent her entire life caring for others.

A book is always a journey, one that you seldom take alone.

I'm grateful to long-time friend Shannon Vargo at John Wiley & Sons for her grace and patience as I struggled with Mom's passing, hectic work demands, and some personal time away to get this book written. Huge thanks to Shannon for investing in me and my ideas over the years and, more recently, Sally Baker for marshaling this work through the publishing process.

The incomparable Lin Wilson, who designed both the cover of this third edition and all the illustrations in this book, has been working with me since 2015. In our strategy visualization and agile alignment work, he consistently demonstrates incredible talent, patience, and resolve to help global leaders visually clarify, communicate, and cascade their ideas. I'm proud to call him a colleague, a friend, and a 2 AMer! Elaine Devine, our director of operations, is world-class in her organizational skills and diligent stewardship of every facet of our business. Jenn Cordz, my business partner who runs our RevOps practice and leads our Learning Expeditions, is brilliant in her work and great fun to be around.

This book and all my advisory, speaking, and coaching work wouldn't be possible without an incredible group of global clients. I'm indebted for their trust, vote of confidence in our work together, and friendship. I admire their steadfast leadership in the post-pandemic world and how they build incredible relationships within, and external to, their organizations and model the right brand and cultural norms daily. I'm grateful for their willingness to listen, push back healthily and respectfully, internalize our discussions, and explore ideas to create enterprise value. You are the constant source of my learning, growth, and aspirations. Thank you.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Mom and Dad back in Iran. As you read in the dedication, Mom, unfortunately, passed away on Thanksgiving Day 2021 from complications caused by COVID-19 during our visit to Istanbul, Turkey. She was an amazing source of strength, resolve, and love for God, family, and friends. So much of what I share about relationships, I learned by observing her willingness to help complete strangers, embrace anyone in need, and work relentlessly to ensure our family's safety, security, and happiness. Dad and I miss her every day. I'm grateful to Tug for his tireless help during that tough month abroad.

Let me close with one of my favorite quotes:

Do justice, love kindness, walk humblysometimes they come together in a single encounter.

The late Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice, who was one of the young lawyers and argued the