What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Marshall Goldsmith
Summary
From one of the best executive educators and coaches on Wall Street, Marshall walks you through the tactics and techniques he's used to get high achievers to continue to be great employees and leaders at their companies
Rating: 4/5
Notes
People will do something only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their best interests as defined by their own values
The big four reasons successful people are the way they are is money, power, status and popularity
Figure out what matters to you
Sometimes stopping what we’re doing can be as crucial as proceeding
The higher you go, the more your problems are behavioural
Winning too much is the number 1 reason successful people get held back
Swallow your ego
Let people feel empowered by giving them ownership over their ideas
Anytime someone critiques your opinion, say ‘thanks, I appreciate the feedback’
Ask yourself, if you take any morally questionable action, would you want your mother to read it in the paper - Warren Buffet
Never start a sentence with ‘no, but or however’
Being smart turns people on, announcing it turns them off
Start sharing information and don’t withhold it
Give credit where it’s due
Stop blaming others for the choices you make
‘To gain a friend, let him do you a favour’ - Ben Franklin
Apologize for misgivings
If you have nothing to say, say thank you
- No matter what someone suggests to you, you’ll never learn less. You’ll always learn more or nothing
Less me, more others = success
For the goal obsessed, step back, take a breath and look
Information compulsion: the need to tell others something they don’t know, even if it’s not in their best interest
The root of problems in the workplace is information withholding or oversharing or emotion
When sharing, ask yourself: is it appropriate? How much should I convey?
Observational feedback is some of the best feedback you can get
- Make a list of people’s remarks about you
- From the found off: just watch people’s body language
- Complete the sentence
Apologize: say I’m sorry, I’ll do better and nothing else
When listening, engage in active listening and ask is it worth it
The ability to make a personal feel that when you’re with them, he or she is the most important (and only) person in the room is a skill that separates the great from the near-great
‘Listen, don’t interrupt, don’t finish the other person’s sentence, don’t agree with the other person, don’t use words no, but or however, don’t be distracted, ask intelligent questions and don’t prove how smart you are’
People don’t get better without follow-up
Successful people unequivocally always stack the deck in their favour
Monetize the result, create a solution
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Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
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