About the Author Fred Smith--businessman， consultant， lecturer--is president of Fred Smith Associates， a Dallas-based food packaging firm. He was born in Huntington， Tennessee in 1915. At age twenty-six he became head of Industrial Relations for General Shoe Corporation， responsible for twenty-six plants and over one hundred retail stores. Eight years later， he became vice president of Powell Valve Company. Then after five years， he became vice president of operations for the Gruen Watch Company， a position he held until he opened his own firm in 1955.Fred Smith currently writes a column for "Leadership" journal， but "You and Your Network" is his first book. He has served on more than twenty boards and trusteeships， including Cummings Incorporated and The Turner Foundation. He holds an honorary doctor of laws degree and was awarded the Lawrence Appley award of the American Management Association. For many years he was active in the leadership of a laymen's Leadership Institute， chai! rman of the national board of Youth for Christ， and memeber of the executive committee of Christianity Today， Inc. He was chairman for Billy Graham's first Cincinnati crusade. He has been consultant to such corporations as GENESCO， Mobil， and Caterpillar， and has lectured in over twenty universities and forty-six states and foreign countries.He and his wife， Mary Alice， have three grown children--Brenda (Mrs. Richard E. Horch)， Fred， Jr.， and Mary Helen (Mrs. I. S. Noland， Jr.). --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.