Product Description

"Think you're already a pretty good networker and there's nothing you can learn from any book?" is the question posed in The Foreword to WORK THE POND! Tom Donohue, CEO of the largest business association in the world, the US Chamber of Commerce, answers it: "You'll be pleasantly surprised starting with the very first chapter" of WORK THE POND!

This is NOT a book about getting leads, referrals and contacts-traditional hard-sales networking. WORK THE POND! is a book about building better, long-lasting relationships by becoming a positive networker. This simple but powerful "what can I do for you" philosophy is in stark contrast to transactional networking. Networking expert Darcy Rezac has helped thousands avoid the "toads" and make the right connections-in business and in life with his trademarked 7-step process. The steps are explained using an easy-to-remember acronym, N.E.T.W.O.R.K, with a chapter devoted to each letter.

N: Never leave home without one's business cards - the real reasons!
E: Establish, exchange, engage - simple techniques, even for the shyest people.
T: Travel in pairs - have more fun networking, but learn 'The Rules.'
W: Work the pond - practical tips to circulate 'in the pond' with ease.
O: Opportunity is everywhere - how to find them, including your weak links.
R: Repeat, repeat, repeat - how to do more networking more effectively.
K: Keep it going - the fine art of follow-up and follow-through.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53282 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
A must for every executive of every level. -- Jack Mayne, Editor, West Seattle Herald

A must for senior military officers. -- JJ Quinn, Rear Admiral Retired, USN (Retired)

I've seen the secrets of this book in action ... it works. -- Steve Leahy, President/CEO, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce

If you want to learn how to network, then you must read this book. -- Peter Legge

Managers all over the world should read it. Heck, they should memorize it. -- Mick Fleming, American Association of Chamber Executives

Rezac's outward, what-can-I-do-for-you attitude is the key to building extensive, long-lasting connections. -- Guy Kawasaki

The book couldn't be more timely -- and timeless. -- Steve Forbes

What a revelation! I am determined to work up the Frog Chain! -- Benjamin Lai, Marketing Manager, Modern Terminals, Hong Kong

About the Author
Darcy Rezac has nearly two decades of experience as managing director of one of the most dynamic networking business organizations in North America, The Vancouver Board of Trade, and has held senior positions in government, the military, and major corporations.

Judy Thomson is a team builder and trainer with over 20 years of experience in North America and Asia.

Gayle Hallgren-Rezac is a writer and entrepreneur.

Customer Reviews

Learn worthwhile habits to improve your networking skills.
Working the Pond was the very practical text chosen by our professor (actually the director of the library and information science program at SJSU) to accompany a unique one-credit graduate level class offered concurrent with the 2008 American Library Association conference. The conference was attended by 22,000 people in professions related to libraries. We brought business cards, critiqued them for each other, and then tried to see how many people we could exchange cards with, during the four or five days we were there. It's still not universal that people have cards or offer to exchange. Nor does it some easily to me. There are many valuable lessons, worth studying over and over again. One is that networking can be made easier by regarding it as something you might be able to do for the other person, not, what can they do for you-- "positive" networking. There are many real life examples, but using the book in this context was extremely valuable. The author does make suggestions for where you can find networking opportunities, if you are not already attending a conference! Another key thing for me was the suggestion that introverted people don't have to "become extroverts;" they just need to practice "extroverted behaviors." Let me know what you think!

A networking guide from three experts
The essayist E. B. White said, "No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky." People succeed when they make their own luck. Many do so through networking. If you are willing to be lucky, new opportunities may unfold before you because of a valuable connection you made yesterday, or one that you will make today or tomorrow. Authors Darcy Rezac, Judy Thomson and Gayle Hallgren-Rezac believe that "positive" networking is the key that opens the door to all of life's possibilities. If you want to learn to build valuable connections to get ahead, getAbstract recommends this easy-to-read and lighthearted, yet sensible and savvy, book.

Very superficial book
I bought this book been seduced by advertising hype and numerous ecstatic reviews and regretted my decision just after I started to read it. The book may be useful for uncommunicative persons born in Siberia or Amazon or for children below 14, but for an average person living in a city this book is complete literary trash. What I really hated in the book is that author's permanent self advertising.