Keith Ferrazzi Quotes

At every stage of my career, I sought out the most influential people around me and asked for their help and guidance.

We let what we know limit what we can imagine; the result, a failure of imagination.

I remind myself how people with a low propensity for success whose behavior is guided by fear, have a low propensity for success.

just want to reiterate my excitement regarding our meeting. I’ve never heard John talk so flatteringly of a business associate. I understand how busy you must be. I haven’t heard from your administrative assistant, but I’m sure I will. See you soon.

Charm is simply a matter of being yourself. Your uniqueness is your power.

Clay Shirky summed it up in 2008, and he’s still right: “The problem isn’t information overload, it’s filter failure.” Our

already laid out to get responses from “warm” e-mails. • Live and die by your Subject line. If you don’t, your e-mail may never get read. Focus on your strongest hook, either the contact you have in common or the specific value you have to offer. Make them curious. • Game the timing. There’s a lot of debate about the best time to e-mail, but I personally like to fire away when I think the person is apt to be spending time on e-mailing. Their morning, lunchtime, and the last hours of the workday are typical. • Be brief. Once you’ve written a draft, the “best” version of it is usually 50 percent shorter. Yes, we’re half as interesting as we think! Your e-mail should fit into a single screen. If I have to scroll to get to the point, I’ve already lost interest. • Have a clear call to action. What do you want them to do? Make your first request clear and easy. Request fifteen minutes on the phone, not just a vague phone call. Offer suggested dates and times, not just “a meeting sometime.” Short-circuit the process as much as you can, and don’t make them guess what you’re looking for. • Read it out loud. I had an assistant who would do this with every e-mail she wrote, and it always made me laugh when I caught her in the act. But she was smart. Listening to herself, she ensured that the language was clear and conversational, and she timed it, too, with a forty-five-second limit. • Spell-check. There’s no excuse for poor spelling and grammar in an e-mail. I’ve written two books and have a URL with my name in it, and I still get people e-mailing “Keith Ferazzi” with one “r.” I know you’ll do better.

time for the new CEO to feel that he or she knows what the issues and problems are, but not enough time to have gotten his or her arms around the solutions.

En la vida, para conseguir tus metas no bastan tu inteligencia o tu talento innato, ni siquiera tus orígenes y con cuánto empezaste. Por supuesto que todo eso es importante, pero de poco te sirve si no comprendes que no puedes triunfar solo.

Oh, I’m really sorry, I’m a personal friend of a friend of his. I just moved into the city, and Jane suggested that I should meet Michael, and honestly, I don’t even know why besides the fact that Jane is a good friend of Michael’s. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s all wrong. Maybe Michael doesn’t know Jane well and he wouldn’t want to meet me. I apologize if this is the case.

Who are the stars of today's digital world? Those writers, bloggers and gurus who do the best job of providing information, creative content, links or even just empathy to a community of like-minded individuals

Business is a human enterprise, driven and determined by people.

[Connecting is] a constant process of giving and receiving -- of asking for and receiving help.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to be the best in the world, as long as you know that doing so also means wanting to be the best for the world.

wise words of Mark McCormack in his book What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School: “Creativity in business is often nothing more than making connections that everyone else has almost thought of. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just attach it to a new wagon.