I finally finished my copy of David Teten & Scott Allen's book
The Virtual Handshake. Simply put, the book is a masterpiece on networking for success in career, personal, spiritual and other realms of life for at least the next decade. As networking moves online (yes, not everyone networks online yet - they will soon though) this will be the guidebook in traversing that world.

While the book struck me as interesting and wonderful, I was pleased to see the topic of altruism brought up thoughout the book. One of the things that I've always felt strongly about is that your efforts in business and in networking must be driven by altruistic motives in order for you to be successful. In simpler terms, the more you give, the more you get. This point is not lost on David and Scott. In fact, they call it out several times throughout the book, but more in the later chapters. In the second to last chapter on Volunteering, I think this quote sums it all up

Well said. In fact, when people ask, "how can I seperate myself from the crowd," in the context of a job hunt or just wanting to differentiate, or even to get skills to swith careers, I have one word. Volunteer. For more on the subject of Altruism, I recommend Matt Ridley's book, The Origins of Virtue

This is a nice segue into another must read, an upcoming book by Tom Rath called Vital Friends. Why? Well, the very premise of the book and the first chapter start out from the volunteer's perspective. Volunteering at homeless shelters in hope of seeing just one person emerge from the homeless cycle and 'make it.' Vital friends talks about the absolute necessity of 8 types of relationships and explores the simple fact that no one person can be all types of people to you. In short, it's your altruistic motives, as well as the motives' of your friends that make a strong network a source of joy, power and life long progress.

[UPDATE] Fast Company has a great exerpt that literally sums up
The Virtual Handshake in one page...