Reach Out (RO) is anchored on Molly's early career experience when she moved to the Big Apple (New York) for a part-time internship and was struggling to build connections. She shares anecdotes from her life and others on how they were able to reach out to people that they admired which propelled them to securing valuable advice and opportunities.

She differentiates between network and networking which is important in our social media age when it is quite easy to lose friends and alienate people. People tend to focus on numbers and fame when building their networks while neglecting the need to create symbiotic value. 

Opportunities do come attached to people. But we tend to forget they may easier to obtain when we get out of our comfort zone and speak to our neighbours and not your industry celebrity who possibly will not give you the time of day.

I enjoyed the way that she breaks down the use of LinkedIn and less intimidating. Unfortunately, this is one of the most misunderstood social media platforms that bears a  goldmine of opportunities. From my own conversations with some friends and colleagues, it seems that it is perceived as a platform to toot your horn. I concur with Mrs Beck that LinkedIn is imperative for building one's professional brand not only for research people for informational interviews but also for content creation (LinkedIn Publishing), thought leadership and learning (Lynda). In addition, RO was particularly helpful in helping me address the issue of what do when you are not quite sure why complete strangers would like to be connected on LinkedIn and social media generally. So, if you have read  Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha's The Start-up of You you will definitely love this one.

The book does fulfil its promise of helping the reader to learn how to establish and strengthen their digital presence, to apply different reach out strategies and my personal favourite, how to step-by-step instructions on how to craft email and social media messages to those you want to connect with. Reach out made me reexamine my approach to networking especially as an INFJ, less intimidating; 

As she rightly says, this book is about taking building connections to the next level. It is about cementing your relationships especially for introverts like me who want to deepen their ties with interesting people and they are not quite sure how.

This book is a quick read and with all the helpful advice and templates, I wish I had a hard copy that would never leave my handbag.

The More People You Know, The More Stuff You Can Get Done

In REACH OUT, author Molly Beck provides a plan for drastically improving your network. Early in her career, the author realized the important of networking. Since then, she makes it a point to add a new contact every day: “I’ve been Reaching Out daily for years now, and this strategy alone has single-handedly changed my professional career trajectory”

The essence of the Reach-Out plan is to identify your “targets” and launch a plan to winningly connect with each target. Molly calls this the “Reach Out Strategy Plan.” The idea is simple--You schedule a time each day to contact a “target.” Here’s the key: You offer at least two “gifts,” then perhaps ask a favor. The idea is to offer something genuinely helpful, and not just try to freeload off people.

The author lists different possibilities for gifts. A gift can be a lead, some special information, an introduction, or perhaps a free copy of your book. Something simple, but genuinely useful.

The author suggests first doing a simple “Love/Don’t Love Career Test.” On a piece of paper, list “Love” on one side, and “Don’t Love” on the other. Think of your regular activities and sort them to either side. Then, list some ways to do more of the “Love” things and less of the bad stuff. Finally, “brainstorm all the different people who could help you reach your goals.” These folks are your potential Targets.

There is one really important point in this book that would be easy to miss. Here it is: The contacts that are on the edge of your network will likely yield more fruit than your base. What—how can that be? Molly explains this paradox: “Strong ties tend to give us redundant knowledge.” That is, your close friends and colleagues tend to just repeat ideas that you already know about. It’s the many distant contacts that yield new information and ideas.

The author does a few things that make this book a LOT easier to read: First, she has simple bullet points at the end of each chapter, covering the main points. Secondly, she provides, in Appendix B, a summary of each action item, chapter by chapter. She calls this, “Your Reach Out Strategy Plan.”

So all in all, I found REACH OUT to be a useful, practical book, with a few really golden nuggets. I especially liked her explanation of the importance of peripheral contacts. If you get nothing else from this book, don’t miss that point.

Advance Review Copy courtesy of the publisher.

For another good book on the subject, I really like Keith Ferrazzi’s “Never Eat Alone.”

Alot of the stuff seems basic yet I find myself enjoying the author's style of writing. There is some new terminology for old practices which will resonate with millenials.