Devora Zack - Networking for People Who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected

More Praise for Networking for People Who Hate Networking

Devora Zack knows networking, and her mission to make it easy and fun for you comes through on every page.

David Bach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire

Lets face it, you have to network. Devora Zacks innovative strategy enables the networking-averse to succeed and have a great time doing it.

Joe Thomas, Dean, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University

No, you dont have to run around collecting a business card from every single person at every single meeting. Devora Zack proves you can make lots of new connections that will help you professionally and personally and still be true to who you are.

Jeff Weirens, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP

I highly recommend this lighthearted, eminently practical book by a type-A introvert. (No, thats not a typo!) Its like having a trusted friend there at each step of the way as you become a world-class networker.

Jeff Martin, Vice President, Human Resources, CSC, Inc.

Reading this incredibly enjoyable book is the next best thing to having Devora whispering in your ear, coaching you through events, and then leaving when you need time to yourself! Youll gain perspective, confidence, and the willingness to take risks.

Peter Borden, Vice President, Sapient Corporation

You are going to love reading this book! Devora Zack connects with the reader like no other business author I have ever read.

P. J. Kuyper, President, Motion Picture Licensing Corporation

What fun joining Devora as she explores the battlefield of business networking. If youve got a reception in your future, grab this book in advance!

David Mayhood, President, The Mayhood Company

This brilliantly written, eminently practical guide really works. Read it today!

David Meisegeier, Technical Director, ICF Consulting

Devora shines a refreshing new light on what it means to be a stellar networker. Focusing on quality and sincerity rather than quantity and triviality, she teaches us how to make solid, lasting relationships.

Kye Breisath, former program analyst, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Presidential Management Fellows Program

networking for people who hate networking

Who looks outside, Dreams.
Who looks inside, Awakens.

Carl Jung

DEVORA ZACK

A FIELD GUIDE
FOR INTROVERTS,
THE OVERWHELMED,
AND THE UNDERCONNECTED

Networking for People Who Hate Networking

Copyright 2010 by Devora Zack
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

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First Edition
Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-60509-522-6
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-607-0
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-941-5

2010-1

Designed and produced by Seventeenth Street Studios. Illustrations by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam and Jeremy Sullivan. Copy editing by Kristi Hein. Cover design by Susan Malikowski. Cover photography by Jan Will and Ben Goode, 123RF.

for my guys.*

* You dont expect more personal detail
than that from an introvert, do you?

contents

INTRODUCTION
this book is required reading

Only connect.

E. M. Forster, Howards End

On my first day of grad school at Cornell University, I attended microeconomics. The professor, in an attempt to calm our first-year jitters, explained in soothing tones that he would be showing a lot of graphs, yet there was no need to panic. He said, Just think of graphs as flow-charts, and youll be fine. As an arts professional with no background whatsoever in economics, I suddenly felt dizzy as my vision blurred. I had never heard of a flowchart. I was doomed.

I later described the experience of those first few weeks in business school as like trying to learn Latin in Greek except I didnt know Greek either. No matter how earnestly I took notes, a few hours later I had no idea what they meant.

A comparable pitfall exists when a self-declared non-networker tries very hard to follow networking rules written for a different species altogether. There is no point of reference. No mental bucket exists in which to dump the data. The data is fine. It is just in a foreign language. This networking book, on the other hand, is written in language spoken and understood by introverts, the overwhelmed, and the underconnected. What luck! You finally have a chance at a passing grade.

By the way, I now return to Cornell annuallyteaching MBA students networking skills. I have yet to be asked back to lecture on economics, however.

Why would such a book exist? Isnt it a bit like giving quiche recipes to people allergic to eggs and cheese? Or surrounding oneself with fragrant flowers despite suffering from severe hay fever? If you have an aversion to something that is not absolutely necessary, why not find something else to occupy your life? Why torture yourself?