Dig Your Well before You’re Thirsty

Harvey Mackay's guide treats networking, the craft of building and keeping contacts, as the most important tool in business. His point is that needs such as capital for an entrepreneur or a career-making deal for a salesperson should be only a few calls away. Drawing on what he learned in years of swimming with sharks, Mackay describes the kinds of networks that exist, how to start one and get the most out of it, and how to trim a contact list by deciding whom to keep and whom to drop. He also covers keeping track of favors done and owed, and what to do for anyone who is not good at small talk.

Radio host Ken Coleman listed it among the books that most shaped his life and work.