The risk of business relationships being personal

Guest post by: Keith Ferrazzi
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What I’ve Learned from Dumpster Kids, a Buddhist Monk, and Other Wise Teachers - By Keith Ferrazzi

A young woman came up to me at a talk I was giving last weekend in LA and asked "What if you try to treat business relationships as personal relationships and people use personal things about you against you in business?"

It really put me back on my heels.

I thought, That's bizarre. Why would you perceive that the relationships in your life are going to be used against you? And more importantly, why would you guide your life as if that were going to happen.

Maybe there's 1 person out of 100 who would use some personal info about you to their advantage and/or to your disadvantage. But think about the other 99 people. If that fear guided your life, there are 99 people you could have developed great relationships with. You'd miss so many opportunities.

Given that so many of us spend so much time in the work environment, if you showed up at work and were surrounded only by individuals who you kept at arms-length, where your relationships were purely transactional in nature, I just can't imagine that you'd have much success in your career or joy in your life.

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What I’ve Learned from Dumpster Kids, a Buddhist Monk, and Other Wise Teachers - By Keith Ferrazzi

About the Author: Keith Ferrazzi

RSS for Keith's articles - Visit Keith's website
Widely hailed as one of the world’s most “connected” people, Keith Ferrazzi is the author of Never Eat Alone, the international bestselling book about building relationships for success. Ferrazzi is also an acclaimed speaker and CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a consulting and professional development firm that helps organizations drive growth through relationships. Earlier in his career, he was chief marketing officer at Deloitte Consulting and the youngest to be tapped for partner in the firm's history. Then, upon joining Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Ferrazzi was the youngest CMO in the Fortune 500. He also served as CEO of YaYa Media before founding Ferrazzi Greenlight.
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