Fares to Friends

How to Develop Outstanding Business Relationships

Many business people instinctively possess natural people and relationship skills while others are more quantitative and analytical in their approach to the world. While these professionals are highly intelligent and technically skilled, they frequently lack the relational skills that come more easily to others. As a result, they struggle to reach their full business and career potential.

Ed Wallace is that rare business person who while analytically savvy is also blessed with a natural talent for connecting with people to develop outstanding business relationships. In his first book, Ed shares essential relationship qualities and wisdom accumulated during his twenty-five year business career, and serves them up in a metaphorical framework that resonates with both "quant jocks" and "relational-types" alike.

Using stories about the wisdom he learned from Max the Taxi Driver, Ed explains the essential qualities of Relational Capital and how this intangible asset can be created, developed, and used to amplify one’s personal net worth in life and business.

Fares to Friends Press

• Villanova Magazine Summer 2007 Reviewed by Kathleen Scavello

Praise for Fares to Friends

"Technical competence is the ante, but trust is what makes the difference in the world of business Ed Wallace is a proven master of the art of the successful business relationship and he's boiled down wisdom of the ages into this delightful little book. A must read for any aspiring business person" —Jeff Westphal, President and CEO Vertex, Inc.

"Too often the conduct of business is overly complicated to the point of confusion. Ed Wallace has taken the basics of business comportment and reminded us of how simple it can be if we'll just take notice of the little things and re-learn how to apply them." —Richard J. Anthony, Jr., Managing Director Marsh USA, Inc.

"Ed Wallace's concept of relational capital provides an elegantly simple yet very powerful way to think about and build successful business relationships. Even for those less gifted at relating to others, it's a winning approach that delivers confidence and results!" —Chris Malone, Senior Vice President, Marketing ARAMARK Corporation

"Ed Wallace takes us on an important journey in Fares to Friends. By examining the quality of business relationships - our 'relational capital' - Ed helps to reveal a path toward value creation which is as inspired as it is attainable." —David Henkin, author of Conversation Innovation: A Corporate Fable on Leadership, Coaching and the Power of Conversations

About Author Ed Wallace

While growing up in a small town, Ed Wallace did not notice it at the time, but relationships were the most important aspect of his life and times. As his career advanced from sales to mergers and acquisitions and then to executive leadership in the high tech industry, his awareness of the need for developing outstanding business relationships intensified leading to the development of his philosophy on Relational Capital. This philosophy manifests in Fares to Friends: How to Develop Outstanding Business Relationships.

Ed graduated cum laude from Villanova University, was a Teaching Fellow at Drexel University while he earned his MBA, and has a CPA designation in the State of Pennsylvania. He is President of The Relational Capital Group. The firm focuses on helping professionals build outstanding business relationships through Relational Capital development.