What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith : Book Review
“What got you here won’t get you
there” by Marshall Goldsmith concentrates on a crucial aspect of career
trajectory. It concentrates on aspects that majority of us or can say as a matter
of fact, 80% of workforce miss out on. These are not aspects that are tied to
any one organization or any specific designation, it is rather tied to human behavior
that we often ignore while concentrating on more technical aspects to work and
life.
The book dwells deep into the
fact and showcases the key characteristics that successful people use to become
more successful. Marshall Goldsmith, the author of this wonderfully written concise
book, has worked with more than eighty CEO’s in the world’s top most
organization and considered global thought leader. The wisdom and clarity
narrated through some crucial corporate examples are insightful and educative.
The book starts at the point
wherein one has achieved a reasonable introductory level success and how this
success delusion leads one to resist change. This chapter brings out the fact
that the ways and methods one had used to achieve success at one level may not
be useful to achieve success in the next level, yet, people often resist
changing while shifting to the next level. The author insightfully brings out
the key beliefs that holds one back and how success makes us superstitious. One
wants to replay everything that had got them success but at the next level that
doesn’t work out.
The next section in the book
states and explains the twenty habits that holds one back from the top or
attaining success at the next level.
The twenty habits explained in
his section are: Winning too much, adding too much value, passing judgements,
making destructive comments, starting with ‘ No’, “but’, ‘However’, telling the
world how smart we are, speaking when angry, negativity or let me explain why
that won’t work attitude, withholding information, failing to give proper
recognition, claiming credit that we don’t; deserve, making excuses, clinging
to the past, playing favourite, refusing to express regret, not
listening, failing to express gratitude,
punishing the messenger, passing the buck, an excessive need to be “me”.
Each of the habits have been
explained in detail with some actual real -life examples showcasing the impact.
Reading through this part would be an eye opener for majority of the workforce
as they would have committed majority of these mistakes while trying to walk
the ladder.
The next section concentrates
and advises the reader about a seven- step method with which they can overcome
the above-mentioned habits. These are: Feedback, apologizing, telling the word
or advertising, listening, thanking, following up, practising feedforward.
Each of the steps have been dealt
in detail in individual chapters and showcases the readers the history, impact,
advantages and disadvantages of practicing these. The examples used are
productive and insightful and instantly connect with the readers.
The next section deals with the
concepts of pulling out the stops in an organization in which the leaders learn
how to apply the rules of change and the actions that needs to be stopped in an
organization.
The author suggests seven rule
model for the process of change; You might not have a disease that behavioral
change can cure, pick the right thing to change, don’t delude yourself about
what you really must change, don’t hide from the truth you need to hear, there
is no ideal behavior, if you can
measure it you can achieve it, monetize the result and create a solution, the
best time to change is now.
These are some really insightful
learnings on working at the next level. The wisdom and learning are equivalent
to any coaching seminar attended over months.
The subsequent section deals
with an interesting aspect to work that is challenges for people in charge – the key
challenges attended to in this section includes- how to handle me, stop letting
your staff overwhelm you, stop acting as if you are managing you, stop checking
the box, stop being prejudiced about your employees, stop trying to coach
people who shouldn’t be coached.
Reading through these
narratives, one would realize that in majority of organizations, people in
charge commit a good quantum of mistakes out of the above mentioned resulting
low productivity results from the team impacting the overall performance of the
company. The wonderful learnings from this section can help one develop
mechanisms to improve on all the above-mentioned points and many more from the
current tech obsessed world.
The last section in this book is
perhaps the most productive portion for anyone trying to analyze how their
leaders are performing or a company that is in process of reviewing the impact
a potential leader can have on the organization. This section showcases a global
leadership inventory checklist to review the effectiveness of one as a leader
or one’s leader in the areas mentioned in the checklist. The leadership
inventory was developed as part of a research project involving 200 selected potential
leaders from 120 companies. The pointers mentioned in the global leadership
inventory can help one to analyze their own impact on the organization.
The key heading pointers for
this inventory checklist includes: Thinking globally, appreciating diversity,
developing technological savvy, building partnerships, sharing leadership,
creating a shared vision, developing people, empowering people, achieving personal
mastery, encouraging constructive dialogue, demonstrates integrity, leading
change, anticipating opportunities, ensuring customer satisfaction, maintaining
a competitive advantage.
The book on an overall basis is
easy to read, filled with examples from corporate organizations, personal commentary
of the author and impact analysis for the each of the section. Reading through
this book can help fresh mangers and middle managers analyze their impact and
also prepare themselves for the next level where in success cannot be achieved following
old principles and methods.
A highly recommended productive
read.
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