cover image Build Your Dream Network: Forging Powerful Relationships in a Hyper-Connected World

Build Your Dream Network: Forging Powerful Relationships in a Hyper-Connected World

J. Kelly Hoey. TarcherPerigee, $23 (256p) ISBN 978-0-14-311148-1

Networking specialist Hoey shares her expertise in an easy-to-use guide to the art of networking in the “new economy.” Kelly’s important guidance begins by laying out the steps necessary to forge meaningful relationships and then moves towards encouraging readers to keep this process alive. The heart of Hoey’s methodology consists of a three-step process: determine your goal, determine who can help you, and form a plan for connecting with these people. She attests that continuing to build and expand her network is not something she enjoys doing, but rather something she feels she must do. A smartly structured chapter entitled “A Networked Career” includes a fabulous list of the many ways one can benefit from effective networking, such as securing employment or acquiring investment funding. Most notable are the interesting Q&A sessions interspersed throughout, wherein networking gurus relate inspiring stories, benefits reaped from networking, and their biggest mistakes. Kelly marvelously succeeds in instilling in her readers the attitude that whether one is attempting to secure a job, find a publisher, or finance a new business venture, tapping into the right network is the answer. [em]Agent: Brandi Bowles, Foundry Literary + Media. (Jan.) [/em]