More Acclaim for Whos Got Your Back
Whos Got Your Back is more than a self-help book. Its the first let others help book. If youre serious about your success, listen to Ferrazzi and build your support circle today.
DANIEL H. PINK, author of A Whole New Mind
In a bleak time for business, Keiths book is both a wake-up call and a cheerful reminder that you can beat the oddswith the right help.
DR. MEHMET OZ, co-author of the #1 bestseller
YOU: The Owners Manual, and host on the
Oprah & Friends XM Radio Show
I am not a big reader of self-help books, but this is refreshingly simple. Not the simple found in clichs but the elegant simplicity and useful voice of experience.
SETH WAUGH, CEO, Deutsche Bank, Americas
Ferrazzi does it again. Concrete advice with inspiring stories: a business book for everyone that goes far beyond just business.
TERESA M. RESSEL , CEO, UBS Securities
Keiths program isnt about changing who you are. Its about enlisting others to help you become the best you can be.
DENNIS R. GLASS , President and CEO,
Lincoln Financial Group
Keith Ferrazzi has done it again. In Whos Got Your Back, he provides brilliant insights to building your dream team of trusted supporters that will ensure your successthrough intimacy, vulnerability, candor, and accountability. Its a must read!
BILL GEORGE , author of True North
and former CEO of Medtronic
Keith Ferrazzi does for relationships what Tom Peters did for management hes opened our eyes to a new reality that relationships are the key to success in business. Whos Got Your Back will teach anyone, from job seekers to CEOs, how to quickly build the kinds of relationships that really make a difference in business.
JACK CANFIELD , co-author of The Success Principles
and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series
Ferrazzi points out that a seismic shift is underway; we are moving from isolation and corporate silos to community and collaboration. This book is a road map for success in the new world, conveyed with emotion and wit.
DEVIN WENIG , CEO, Thomson Reuters Markets
Keith is at the forefront of understanding relationships as a technology for success. This book will grab you from the first page and shower you with ideas, provocations, and insights that make it worth more than the price of admission.
SETH GODIN , author of Tribes
After reading Keith Ferrazzis Whos Got Your Back, you will not only be inspired to make change happen in your life, but you will be able to make it stick!
BILL NOVELLI , CEO, AARP
If Id had this book at the start of my career, I would have saved myself 30 years of trial and error. If you are serious about your success, I strongly recommend that you read this book and build your support circle today.
MARSHALL GOLDSMITH , author of What Got You Here
Wont Get You There, New York Times bestseller,
Wall Street Journal #1 business book
Get ready to read a book that will strengthen every one of your closest relationships. If you havent read Whos Got Your Back, youre at a competitive disadvantage.
TOM RATH , author of the bestseller Strengths Finder 2.0
To my sister Karen
contents
SECTION ONE: whos got your back
How lifeline relationships can change your lifeas they did mine
SECTION TWO: the four mind-sets
Creating a foundation for lifeline relationships
SECTION THREE: building your dream team
Nine steps to creating the lifeline relationships that will help you get the advice and support you need to achieve your goals
SECTION FOUR: make it your life
The tactics, strategies, and structuresfrom formal organizations to do-it-yourself peer groupsthat help you stay the course
acknowledgments
T he simplest, most complete definition of a lifeline relationship is someone who will never let you fail. So many were lifelines for me during the three-year process of writing of this book, and the results are the best argument for mutual support that I could ever make. Im so proud of what we created together.
First, a deep thanks to the core team who helped me bring this book to life, listed in alphabetical order because each was critical to its completion: Max Alexander, Jim Mourey, Tahl Raz, Sara Grace Rimensnyder, and Peter Smith. Jim Mourey, aka Data, has been with the project since November 2007, when we plastered the walls of my house with giant Post-it sheets. He led the research effort and provided tireless insight and support. Sara Grace helped me bring the manuscript home during the final six months, providing untold hours of writing, editing, and project management. Max Alexander put a great deal of tireless energy and effort into this project, over many months. Peter Smith dived in 24/7, and during the holidays; his combination of talent, good-heartedness, and generosity make him what could only be described as a true mensch. And finally, Tahl Raz deserves my utmost gratitude. He helped get this project started with his insight and butt-kicking criticism, and then helped me bring it home, in a tone and style that I consider poetry.
To my intellectual lifelines, the core of the Greenlight Research GroupMark Goulston, Morrie Shechtman, and of course, Data. Mark was up at the house for many of those initial sessions, and has been available to brainstorm and provide spot-on feedback every step of the way. Morrie brought candor to the forefront of my life at a very crucial moment; his work around Accountability Groups strengthened my belief in the power of workplace peer support and had an important impact on FG.
To Manlio Carrelli and Jeff Kaplan, who made invaluable IP contributions to the Transforming the Workplace and Never Sell Alone chapters, respectively. Finally, to the handful of talented writers who generously contributed their insight and art at several stages of the process: Brett Brune, Peter Carbonara, Lucas Conley, Vince Rause, Heather Schultz, Karen Watts, and Frank Wilkinson.
A deep bow to my tireless editor Roger Scholl at Random House, who did yeomans work on draft after draft, making every chapter sing, and without whom I may not have been a writer at all (it was Roger who called me up and suggested I write the book that would become