Video Tutorial on Networking from a World-Class Networker

Important: If you are serious about long-term career success in any field, the video above should be considered mandatory viewing.

The video above is hands down the best tutorial I’ve ever seen on networking. I wish I saw it years ago as I would have managed my career quite differently (less as a lone wolf, more as collaborative “team” sport). If you are serious about your career, consider the video mandatory viewing. I you don’t really like networking (like me), the philosophy shared in the video shows how to do the complete opposite of what most people do in networking.

To get the most out of the video, let me set the proper context.

The person in the video is Michael Ellsberg. He is a former client of mine, a huge fan of my work (as I am of his), and author of the book, The Education of Millionaires (affiliate link). He is one of the best networkers I know and in researching his book, got meetings with something like 25 millionaires and 4 billionaires. Needless to say, he knows how to open doors.

To give you some context for the video, the book is a lightning rod of controversy as it argues that most people over-value the role of academic education and massively undervalue the role of self-education. You might not agree with the premise of the book, but what he shares in terms of the supplemental career skills (not taught in schools) is spot on.

In the video, he is speaking to a group of college and high school drop outs called Thiel Fellows-named after Billionaire Peter Thiels.

Thiels is the founder of PayPal and a lightning rod of controversy in his own right. He has argued that formal education is useless and to put his money where his mouth is. He gave away 24 grants of $100,000 each to anyone who would be willing to drop out of school to start a business instead. Thiel is hated by Moms, Dads, and professional educators everywhere.

The event you’ll see in the recording is the first of Peter Thiel’s mentorship of these 24 aspiring entrepreneurs. The topic is on how to use become a master networker to advance your career. If you’ve read a lot about networking and think you know it, you might want to study this video very carefully. 95% of people do networking completely wrong. The 5% who do it right, progress in their careers often by leaps and bounds.

Needless to say, it’s far more useful to be in that 5% than in the other 95%.