How “never eating alone” has changed my life in the last year
A couple weeks ago I posted about hanging out briefly with Keith Ferrazzi. Afterwards I wrote a thank you note to Keith expressing how the philosophy espoused in Never Eat Alone has helped changed my life. Keith asked that I share the note through my blog. Here it is
Keith,
Great seeing you last night. Here’s a quick write-up(for your blog) of how my attitude and life has changed since we first met last year at the Yale Business and Leadership conference. I can’t say thank you enough…
Miles Lasater, Mark Volchek, and I founded Higher One when I was a sophomore at Yale. With the help of many others we were able to survive the dot - com bust, raise money, and today have a profitable business that is growing quickly. Most people who I talk to about what we’ve been able to accomplish will make a comment such as “wow - you’re so lucky, when you graduated you didn’t even have to interview for a job…” The truth is although I’ve always been excited about having an entrepreneurial career, it was also very scary. My friends who were going on to law school and law careers, or going to McKinsey, or heading into the investment banking world all seemed to have a clear career path, while I always had this nagging fear about what I would do after Higher One. For an entrepreneur, there’s no clear career path. At the Yale event, you had us do an exercise where we shared something that we were concerned about with the person sitting next to us. I shared this fear and we talked about it briefly. As you presented, one part of your presentation made a huge impression on me, and has very much helped me become comfortable with myself and my future. You talked about how today, one could have a “relationship driven career.” As an entrepreneur all of one’s success is built off of relationships. Since last summer, I have felt refreshed and comfortable in my path in life — confident that the relationships I am building will enable me to accomplish any goal that I set. After finishing Never Eat Alone (I read it cover to cover the week after the YBL event) I have tried to apply as many of the principles you outlined as possible. I have become a constant connector of people, host a monthly luncheon for innovative people (called the New Haven Innovation Cell), and do not let anything get in the way in my interest to meet and truly get to know and help other people. Understanding that a relationship driven career is not just possible, but a way to thrive has made a huge difference in my life. You and your career are a living example and having you as a role model is invaluable. Thank you.
Best,
Sean
Keith recently posted some other thoughts I sent to him. Read it here - http://nevereatalone.typepad.com/blog/2006/03/gratitudes.html - or read the Never Eat Alone blog at http://nevereatalone.typepad.com.
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