The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies

The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies

By Ivan Misner, Michelle R. Donovan

In many ways, success at networking is the uncommon application of common knowledge. Most people understand that networking is important to their success–they just lack a step-by-step process to get the results they want. Almost no one really implements a comprehensive methodology that will build a business through networking. Thus, the need to network is ‘common knowledge,’ and the development of the methodology required to be successful at it is the ‘uncommon application.’

Starred Review. This guide to networking by Misner, the founder and chairman of BNI (Business Network International), is an invaluable roadmap for businesspeople seeking to develop or fine-tune a necessary and often overlooked skill. Misner and Donovan’s title stems from a study that spawned the six degrees of separation theory, which actually revealed that only 29% of the population is connected to this extent. The authors say that despite its proven necessity, networking is scarcely taught in business schools, and their self-study course aims to fill the void with a self-assessment test and 52 weeks of assignments to beef up networking skills. Accessible and smartly structured chapters include action items and helpful tidbits like worksheets, assessments and questions to help readers schedule their networking from day to day and over the course of a career, from setting preliminary goals to becoming a Networking Mentor. While readers might not be able to make it into the exclusive ranks of the highly connected 29%, they will assuredly derive new tactics, tools and motivation. (Sept.)
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