The Power of Who by Bob Beaudine
March 10th, 2009Title: The Power of Who
Author: Bob Beaudine
Publisher: Center Street (2009)
This is a very appropriate book for this time in our nation. Due to the {Caution: political viewpoint stated ahead} overspending of the past 8 years and the apparent overspending of the next (at least) 4 years, the economy isn’t doing very well. I’m sure you have noticed. It is very difficult to find a new job…and I feel really badly for the current crop of college graduates entering the market. Not bad enough to offer any of them my job…but bad nonetheless.
The Power of Who: You Already Know Everyone You Need to Know by Bob Beaudine is an interesting look at networking. Basically, Beaudine says networking…as we generally know it to exist…is a huge waste of time. Generally we talk to someone we know, who puts us in touch with someone they know, who puts us in touch with someone they know, etc… THIS IS WRONG AND STUPID, says Beaudine. He says to stop at step one: talk with someone you know.
The point of book is that people you know, especially those who you are close to, will do whatever they can to help you out. The people you are close to already know enough other people to find you what you are looking for. He includes an awesome Venn diagram (I’m a sucker for Venn diagrams) that includes the people willing to help you: Inner Circle, “Who” Friends, Allies, Advocates, Aquaintances, Fans.
I found the book a little boring and repeititive…and while I don’t neccesarily agree that people you know are the only people who can help you (though it’s probably true that most jobs/careers are found that way), I was interested in reading about his positive thinking process. It’s not all that different than others, but I am always intruigued by those. I’ve never really tried a directed process…but it seems interesting. The most interesting to me is Scott Adams’ (creator of Dilbert and awesome blogger) approach of affirmations. Bascially that you write down a statement of what you want to have happen. I have no idea if it works or not….but I am intrigued by the idea.
I realize I hijacked my own review to talk about affirmations, but that’s OK…it’s my review. I am much more interested in having a discussion about affirmations and the such.
What say ye?!?!?
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March 16th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
The bad economy must have everyone looking for ways to make things better — I just read about affirmations too, in a book called Water the Bamboo.
Maybe the appeal of the affirmations is that you can feel like you are doing something to reach a goal, even if you have no real plan in place. I know the idea appealed to me a lot. I even posted the affirmations I came up with, although they might be a little tongue-in-cheek.
http://rosecityreader.blogspot.com/2009/03/bamboo-and-barcelona.html
As for Beaudine’s theory, my reaction is, NO DUH. The people who know you and like you are more likely to help you then some extenuated, six-degrees-of-separation acquaintance? You don’t say!