What got you here won't get you there
I just finished What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshal Goldsmith and loved it.
The book is about the process an executive coach uses to help his clients: he gathers 360 feedback on behavioral problems and then has the client embark on a 12-18 month program of apologizing for the behavior, advertising the desire to change, listening to people, thanking people, and then following up.
I loved that the book was full of practical insights.
Check out my favorites:
Twenty Habits That Hold you Back
I love that Goldsmith emphasized that what hold people back in interpersonal skills is frequently behavioral habits. While it is hard to change a habit, it is at least simple to do so.
Even better, Goldsmith offered up a concrete list of 20 habits – I definitely intend to refer to this when coaching or asking for feedback about myself. It reminded me a lot of Accidental Diminishes from the book Multipliers by Liz Wiseman.
I personally suspect I’m the weakest at #3: “Passing Judgement,” #6. “Telling the world how smart we are , and #16:”Not listening“. I’ve put so much energy in improving how I communicate that I sometimes miss the substance of what someone is telling me if I disagree with their style. I am working to get better at that – the advice from this book is to just say”Thank you" without judgement and I’ll be trying that. I also need to completely kill “I already knew that” from my language.