My intern, Brittany Brown, a student at Pittsburgh Technical Institute, wrote this review of Keith Ferrazzi best selling book, Who's Got Your Back. She has some very interesting comments
Who’s Got Your Back by Keith Ferrazzi
Who’s Got Your Back is a book about lifeline relationship when “someone will never let you fail.” The book starts out with Ferrazzi’s accomplishments, which has much success, yet had a problem all his life. A man, who could help many people, could not figure out the problems to his life. He focused too much time on everyone else and not himself, perhaps. Even a man, which can help the world spin, needs help sometimes for motivation to keep moving. The adventures of him finding his inner circle were courageous for him to understand. Help was in front of his face the whole time. What was courageous of him was to open his eyes and actually see it. The main lessons I got out of this book is; self awareness, mentors or lifelines, and pride.
“Know who you are and where you belong”. Sometimes to understand yourself, you need feedback from other people. I noticed the more I understand why people say and act the way they do towards me is because my personality. I must have to say, one of my first lessons in life; you have no one but yourself in the end and you will not get anywhere unless you do it yourself. I only have me, so why not know my strengths and weakness to use them to my advantage. Self-awareness will get you to where you belong, as long as you are dedicated, and motivated. I have noticed it is hard to keep yourself motivated. This is one of the reasons why it is good to have a lifeline relationship. You can keep each other be motivated, dedicated and focused on your main goals. I know it always feels comforting to have someone you know you can vent, and get some weight off your chest. Sometimes just, be able to share your life experiences and give knowledge to, makes you feel like you have process in life. Some people may forget the difference between a mentor and lifeline.
A mentor is a teacher, passing their knowledge, and wisdom to a student. I have learned from personal experience not to try to compete, or argue with your mentor. Kind of like, “mother knows best”, you listen to their advice and use the terms in your life to succeeded. They are not giving advice to waste their breath, but want to see you succeed because they believe in you. On other side, the lifeline relationship is someone who is equal and shares their own knowledge with one an other. As Ferrazzi defines it, “who can be intellectual sparring partners and confidants”. They are a huge impression on your soul.
Most people do not ask for help because they have too much pride. Asking for help is a huge issue for many people I know, all ages. I maybe young, but I have observed all my life, and have experienced the worst, I think, that could ever happen in my life.
My mother was a single parent with three children gave me of my wisest experiences I ever been through. . Even working three jobs everyday, she still I had to go to services to get help to take care of my family. She is the strongest woman I know still to this day, and I do not think I will ever meet anyone that could be stronger. However, the point of my story is, even though she didn’t like talking about money issues, she still swallowed her pride, and reached out for a hand to pick her back up on her feet. I give her more respect for getting the help, then to give herself more stress than she already had. People are out there who enjoy helping others. A lifeline relationship is a little different. It is not only someone helping you out, but you helping them out also.
Generosity, vulnerability, candor, and accountability are the four main things you need for your relationship. I do agree they are very important. Yet still I have trouble with some of these keys. How do you know you can trust this person for the rest of your life, to trust of all your information of your professional and personal career? A relationship with all the main keys is cherishing able and a great discovery. Someone at my age still has a while to find such relationships. I think I have been finding mine with more teachers, and more well experienced people. However, I have never had trouble asking for help from someone.
In this book, I have learned you can be any age and learn these lessons, I believe the sooner you learn it, the better off you are in life. Even though Keith Ferrazzi went to Harvard Business, he still had to learn these mental lessons by himself and the hard way. As Keith Ferrazzi is like the “professional super-man”, even super-man needs some help with his identity. Never hurts to ask for help. The world is at your feet, it is your own playground with nothing but opportunities to be successful, which is defined in many different ways. That is the beautiful thing of America. Yet, I wish more people of my generation (Generation Y) could open their eyes and truly smell the roses that are at their feet.
-- Brittany Brown, Pittsburgh Technical Institute, 2010.
