How to Create Your Own Luck: The You Never Know Approach to Networking, Taking Chances, and Opening Yourself to Opportunity

How to turn random chance into runaway success In How to Create Your Own Luck, networking guru Susan RoAne shows us eight traits of successful people who make their own luck, rather than wait for it. She shows readers how to exploit chance to create a bigger network of contacts, friends, and acquaintances-which inevitably leads to more opportunities in life and business. Filled with engaging and instructive stories of real people who've turned serendipity into success, this book reveals the eight counter-intuitive traits that they all have in common, including talking to strangers, making small talk, dropping names, and even eavesdropping. These traits keep people open to new experiences and open the door to good fortune. Perhaps we strike up a conversation in an airport bar that turns into a business relationship, or we mention a friend's name to an associate and find new business opportunities. There are an endless number of ways that luck can lead to new opportunities. But it's really not luck; it's the result of being open to possibilities that pave the way for success. This handy, real-world guide shows readers how to apply RoAne's practical, proven advice to every aspects of their lives. Susan RoAne (San Francisco, CA) is the bestselling author of How to Work a Room, The Secrets of Savvy Networking, and What Do I Say Next?, which have sold over a million copies combined. She is also a noted public speaker whose audiences have included Citicorp, Procter & Gamble, Boeing, and the Wharton School. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and has appeared on CNN, NPR, CBS, and the BBC.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments.Introduction.1. The Eight Traits.2. Lemons to Lemonade.3. It's a Small World.4. The Kindness of Strangers.5. Necessity Is the Mother (and Father) of Invention.6. Staying On and Straying Off the Path.7. Get a Job.8. Happy Accidents.9. Who'd'a Thunk It?"You Never Know!".Appendix: The Ten Commandments for Turning Serendipity into Success.Yiddish Glossary.Notes.Resources.Index.For Those Desperately Seeking Susan.

About the Author :
SUSAN ROANE is the bestselling author of How to Work a Room(r), The Secrets of Savvy Networking, and What Do I Say Next?, which have sold more than a million copies combined. She is also an in-demand speaker whose audiences have included Citicorp, Oracle, Procter & Gamble, Intel, and the Wharton School. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and has appeared on CBS, CNN, NPR, and the BBC.

Review :
Networking guru RoAne (How to Work a Room) shares common-sense suggestions about how to network in this run-of-the-mill advice book. Using cute catch phrases (those who are open to opportunity are called "You Never Know It Alls"), she makes the point that folks create their own luck by having eight "unusual suspect" traits. (Of course, they also work hard, are persistent and have a positive attitude--the usual suspects indicating success.) These counterintuitive traits include making small talk; dropping names; eavesdropping and listening; straying from their chosen paths; and saying yes when they want to say no. Each chapter shares numerous stories of people turning serendipity (such as chance encounters) into success by utilizing at least one of these traits. "When we are open and pay attention to signs, signals, situations, and people, we are building our own internal serendipity generators," RoAne writes. However, aside from the inspiring examples, there's not enough specific "how-to" to help readers apply RoAne's advice to their own situations. While she puts a nice spin on basic networking principles, this somewhat repetitive book doesn't add much to the Chinese tenet "luck is when preparation meets opportunity." (For another take on this subject, see Networking Magic by Rick Frishman and Jill Lublin) (Oct.) (Publishers Weekly, August 23, 2004)