Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Get out of your own way at work

I just finished reading one of the best “coach in a book” type of books I’ve read in a very long time.  The book is Mark Goulston’s, “Get Out of Your Own Way at Work...And Help Others Do the Same: Conquer Self-Defeating Behavior on the Job.”

This book provides very clear guidance on 40 different problem areas that can limit your success at work, each covered in a separate chapter.  index_goyowaw The topics covered include

  • Being Competent but Out of Touch
  • Procrastinating
  • Being Afraid to Fire People
  • Quitting Too Soon
  • Not Forgiving
  • Expecting Your Boss To Appreciate You

and many more (you can see the entire table of contents which includes all the topics in Amazon’s preview of the book).

Chock full of goodness

Each section provides a clear description of how each of the self-defeating behaviors might manifest itself, some specifics about the “damage” the behavior can cause, great quotes, and many of the sections include stories from Goulston’s research to further illustrate the point.

The things I liked best were:

  • “Usable Insight” observations sprinkled into the text (example: “You have more control over trying or quitting than you do over succeeding or failing”).
  • The specific, usable “Action Steps” at the end of each of the 40 chapters that provide real (not idealistic or unrealistic) steps you can take to try to improve.

It’s like self-service coaching

I think anyone can benefit from this book.  When I read through all of the sections, I definitely recognized quite a few areas where I could improve and the advice in the book felt just like it was coming from a wise business coach.  Not bad for a book that costs around 10 bucks.

Go check out the topics in the table of contents.  If any of them sound familiar (and you want to improve in any of those areas), then pick up a copy of this book.

You can also find some good information and inspiration at Dr. Mark Goulston’s excellent blog.

Read More

Work the System

I’ve been reading “Work the System – The Simple Mechanics of Working Less and Making More," by Sam Carpenter.  Sam is now a successful entrepreneur, but was once a struggling entrepreneur.  WorkTheSystem In this book, he shares some of the war stories, revelations, and techniques he’s used to go from a frustrated, overworked business owner to one that works a lot less but still gets more done.

The book is interesting in its style, in that Sam takes you through his learning process and thoughts by reliving key moments in his business and personal life.  I can definitely identify with some of the painful experiences he relates – and his description of the business equivalent of the game “Whack-a-Mole.”

Along the way, he presents some common sense techniques that will help small business owners build foundational capabilities that will keep their businesses on the rails and enable a continuous improvement approach.  If you’re already successful in your business, you probably have some of this nailed already.  Even so, it’s interesting to “try on” Sam’s perspective of dealing with the business as a set of “black boxes” that can be managed and improved in a compartmentalized fashion.  Though this notion is presented as a profound shift in thinking, I believe it is an accepted, proven model (of course, that may be because I already see the world through a “systems thinking” lens).

This book will be useful for new entrepreneurs and business owners who feel they are stuck on the “work harder, work faster” treadmill and who feel like they just can’t get ahead in spite of a solid business idea.

Bonus:  There is a free Work The System quiz you can take after reading the book to ensure that you grok the critical concepts.

Additional resources to add more value

Beyond the book, I discovered a number of complementary – and very useful - blog posts on  on Sam Carpenter's section of the "Startup Nation" blog.  There are also some free teleseminar replays that will give you more information on Sam’s views of working the system.

Read More

Reality Check – on the house

I just found out that Bill Baren will be interviewing Guy Kawasaki on Wednesday, December 10, at 12 pm PST (3 pm EST) to discuss Guy's new book "Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition."

I wrote about Bill’s Time Experts Teleseminar offering in the past, and still think it is pretty cool.  However, I’ve heard from folks who don’t want to pay for the Time Experts program, so this is a great, free alternative (either to soak up Guy’s thoughts or get a free test drive of the Time Experts offerings).

Guy has also offered the first chapter of his new book as a free download to all registrants.  You can sign up at  http://timeexpertstelesummit.com/guy.

If you’ve never heard Guy speak before, you should definitely check it out – he is awesome to listen to.

Read More

Are you a seagull manager?

Last night on the plane, I read Travis Bradberry, Ph.D.'s book, "Squawk! How To Stop Making Noise and Start Getting Results." A reader of this blog was kind enough to send me her extra copy of the book a couple of weeks ago (thanks, Ashley), and I dropped it in my bag. This was a quick read, and a quaint way of dealing with a serious management topic.

You may have heard about seagull managers before - the legend goes that they fly in, dump undesirable stuff on you, then fly away and leave you with a mess. You may have had a seagull manager -- or maybe you are one. In either case, you'll probably enjoy this book and might learn a few things.

Meet Charlie

The book is presented as a fable about Charlie, a seagull who is managing his flock but encounters a mutiny when they begin to go hungry. They blame Charlie for miserable situation and plan to leave a month later, right after their new chicks are born. That means Charlie has 30 days to convince them he can change for the better and convince them to stay.

What follows is a series of coaching sessions from other animals (I mentioned it was quaint, didn't I?) to teach him 3 foundational lessons:

  1. Set full fledged expectations. Make sure the employee's efforts are spent doing the right things the right way. Let them know what is expected and how they will be evaluated in the future. Be sure to get agreement and commitment to work toward established goals.
  2. Establish Communication that clicks. Too often managers do not communicate enough and only communicate when things go wrong. Observe what employees say and do and speak openly with them about their work. Communication clicks when it is frequent and in a langauge everyone understands.
  3. Keep your Paws on Performance. Pay attention to each employee's performance - offer praise as often as constructive feedback.

Solid lessons

The essence of these lessons ring true to me, and they reminded me of some of the great lessons I picked up from Rosa Say's book, "Managing with Aloha!." In particular, this approach fit well with the "Daily Five Minutes" model Rosa evangelizes, and brings about methods that can help you really connect with your employees and interact in a way that meets them where they are (in terms of needs, maturity, etc.) and helps you connect with them at a more meaningful level.

I recommend this book for managers who feel they need to take on lots of tasks because their team is "not ready," for managers who think they may be a bit seagull-like in their management style, and particularly for new managers.

Del.icio.us tags: , , , , ,

Read More

WWCD - What would Churchill Do?

Stuart Finlay sent me a copy of his book, "What Would Churchill Do? Business Advice from the Man Who Saved the World" a couple of weeks ago, and I just carved out the time to read it. The book focuses on Churchill and how we managed things during the heat of World War II -- the period of the Greatest Tests for the Greatest Generation.

In this book, Finlay takes examples of Churchill's leadership and applies their principles to daily management and leadership. He does so with great effect, and the result is a very useful book on business improvement. There are 17 chapters, each focusing on a different lesson (and the reading is easy - these bite-sized morsels are each about 6-10 pages long).

Patterns for success

As I sometimes point out here on the blog, I'm naturally a "pattern seeker" and I look for models in one area of my life that I can apply in other areas. This book feel like a perfect fit for me since, throughout the book, Finlay identifies patterns of action, strategy, and philosophy from Churchill's life and discusses how we can apply those notions in the context of our everyday lives.

But it's more than just a "here's a lesson - learn it and do it" kind of book. I found that Finlay's portrayal of Churchill's unconventional solutions to difficult problems, and the way he was open to hearing and accepting the ideas of others was very inspiring.

For example, one chapter called "Stay Passionate for Things you Don't Agree With," deals with examples of something I've heard referred to as "disagree and commit" in which you support ideas that you don't agree with in order to support the greater good - this can sometimess be difficult due to ego, but Finlay's examples illustrate the importance of being willing to do this.

I think my favorite chapters are:

  • "Dealing with the Stalin's of This World," which discusses how to successfully deal with the difficult customers (literally and figuratively) we all encounter all the time, and
  • "Entities Can't Show Loyalty," which illustrates why you can't get a team engaged without engaging the individuals on the team - groups don't embrace a cause or mission, people do.

And there are more where those came from. And, speaking of more, Finlay refers to this book as "Volume 1," implying that there are more coming. I hope so - I want to learn more from Churchill.

Related items:

Read More