Genuine Curiosity

Hip & Sage – it’s a journey, not a destination

I just finished reading an awesome book: “Hip & Sage: Staying Smart, Cool, and Competitive in the Workplace,” by Lisa Haneberg.  As you may know from my prior posts (linked at the end of this review), I’m a huge fan of Lisa’s books and her Management Craft blog (which is 5 years old this month, by the way)."...if you need unlimited minutes on your cell phone more than you need unlimited texting, this book is for you."

This book is aimed at Baby Boomers & others from generations with more mileage on the tires than Gen-Xers and Millenials.  You can think of Hip & Sage as part “New Technologies 101” and part “how to find tech savvy tour guides,” and it’s designed to help you become conversant, proficient, and comfortable with social media and other new media technologies. 

But I think this book could be relevant to lots of folks.  Regardless of your age, if you feel like a poser talking with people about Twitter, Facebook, RSS, LinkedIn – or even blogs – then this book can help you.  In short, if you need unlimited minutes on your cell phone more than you need unlimited texting, this book is for you.

What does it mean to be Hip?

According to Lisa, Hipness is is about engagement an energy:

“Our ability to communicate, connect, and collaborate with younger generations.  In business, our hipness determines how effectively we work with, inspire, and influence younger workers.  Hip entrepreneurs are able to enroll, engage, and exicte younger customers and business partners.”

If you work with younger people, being Hip can be a game changer (and becoming Hip can be fun).  Lisa provides a set of techniques and philosophies to help you enlist the help of younger mentors in a way that will tap into their knowledge and excitement, and (I believe) make them want to help you get up to speed.

One of the fastest paths to Hipness is to practice genuine curiosity about the things hip people care about, and ask someone who’s already hip to feed your thirst for learning.

If you can find a social media-savvy “workout buddy” that will help, too (@MattHixson is one of mine, for example)

What does it mean to be Sage?

In contrast, Sageness is about sharing hard-won lessons:

“Our natural strengths and characteristics, goals and priorities, and experiences – manifested as skills, drive, judgment, and knowledge – that have been honed, carved, seasoned, and polished through the years.  Our sageness is unique; it may or may not be visible to others or in use contributing to the world.”

Lisa’s section on “Cultivating Our Sageness” is all about tapping into your experiences, but not just so you can be the guru on the mountain that others seek out.  Her guidance is to actively inject your sageness into the business so that the business can benefit from your experience.

Her advice on goal setting and becoming more self-aware can dramatically improve your effectiveness – you should check it out, for sure.

Putting it all together

The magic all happens in the third section of the book, where Lisa discusses how to become both Hip and Sage, including a discussion of how to challenge your beliefs and leverage new knowledge & skills to achieve non-linear success.

The third section also includes some worksheets to help you achieve greater clarity and document your thinking in a useful way.

The bottom line

This book is so rich with useful information I can’t begin to do it justice in this short review, but the bottom line is this:  pick up a copy of Hip & Sage.  On their own, the two chapters on “Job Seeking and Hiring for the Hip & Sage,” and “A Primer on the Generations” are worth the price of the book, particularly if you’re on the wrong side of this economy.

Lisa provides other resources, as well, including the awesome Hip & Sage blog and a voluminous list of resources at the end of the book.

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Related items:

• Two Weeks to a Breakthrough review
• Focus Like a Laser Beam review
• High Impact Middle Management

del.icio.us Tags: leadership,management,Lisa+Haneberg,hip,sage,genuine+curiosity,Dwayne+Melancon

The power of not positive thinking?

I was just reading Kare Anderson’s thought-provoking post on daily affirmations, where she discusses some research that indicates that positive affirmations aren’t as powerful as we’ve been led to believe.

We’ve all heard the “positive self talk” pitch before – repeat the affirmations, become more like them.  (“…I’m good enough, and smart enough.  And doggone it, people like me.”)

Turns out, the conventional wisdom around affirmations may not be entirely accurate (read Kare’s post for more). 

I thought about that one for a while.  Why don’t these affirmations work that well?  What works better?  I’m no expert but I do have some thoughts on this.

• Maybe the affirmations can create too much dissonance inside us.  In other words, even though we say the right things, perhaps some part of us (and even deeper inner voice) remains skeptical.  Could be.
• Maybe some affirmations work better because the don’t define us, they merely inspire us.  For example, maybe we’re more apt to believe an “I can do this.” kind of affirmation before we believe an “I’m a good person.” affirmation.  There is a subtle difference – one encourages us to succeed, while the other places more of a subjective label on us.

Perhaps this is why setting bold goals works for so many of us:  we are more likely to be inspired and motivated to do something than we are to be something.

What do you think?  How well do affirmations work for you, and what works best in getting you through challenges and tough times?

 

Technorati Tags: self improvement,Kare Anderson,Dwayne Melancon,motivation,affirmations

Defining your job

The last week has been busy and very inspiring.  I spent 4 days at a "boot camp" kind of training, in which I had the opportunity to do some formal & informal benchmarking with other organizations on a variety of topics.

I'd like to share one particular aspect with you, which I gleaned from a company that has really "nailed it" in terms of how to make your job your own, and enable you to market your value to your organization.

In this organization, there are 7 core principles they use as guideposts:

1. Don't allow for any ambiguity.
2. Distill your work down to simple objectives.
3. Manage your time against those objectives.
4. Know precisely what success looks like.
5. Understand manager and peer expectations.
6. Systematically review how you are doing.
7. Publish your progress.

I think these are right on the money, and worthy of taking to heart. 

What do you think?  Anything to add to the list?

Bigger goals - the bigger "yes"

I've just returned from a trip to London and have been reflecting on goals and outcomes. I wanted to record my initial thoughts in this post (from my iPhone, no less). I've often heard that goals / objectives must be "reasonable" so you can achieve them. But is that right?

When you look at the great achievements of history, you often hear the words "achieved the impossible" or "succeeded against all odds.". Those hardly sound like the accomplishment of "reasonable" goals.

When was the last time you made a big bet by declaring a goal that seemed impossible?  For me, I think it's been a while. With that in mind I'd like to encourage you to think beyond your safety zone and try to set at least one goal that seems impossible, and try to engage the forces of the universe to help you achieve it.

Awesome “give & get” opportunity

In my last post, I reviewed Rajesh Setty’s book, Upbeat.  Well, I finally got around to subscribing to his new newsletter and was pleasantly surprised that this entitled me to download a PDF copy of his book, “Beyond Code” (which I’ve also reviewed).

This is a phenomenal example of “give & get” – you give Rajesh permission to keep in touch with you in his newsletters, and you get a free copy of a very powerful book.

By the way – I just realized it’s been over 3½ years since I first read Beyond Code, and I still feel its impact.  I have re-read it a couple of times, and have recommended it to others countless times.

If you want to sign up for Rajesh Setty’s newsletter, you can do so by clicking this link.

A good book for our times

I just read my friend Rajesh Setty’s new book, “Upbeat: Cultivating the right attitude in tough times.”  I’ve been a fan of Rajesh’s work since I discovered him through his book “Beyond Code,” a couple of years ago.

This book is a perfect book for anyone who’s feeling victimized by today’s financial crises as it was prepared specifically to help people deal with today’s environment.  That said, I found a lot in this book that will help with improving your outlook on life, in general.

The approach Rajesh takes in this book will help you decide whether you’ll be a victim of circumstance, or whether you’ll take responsibility for your own well being and try to improve your lot in life.  From there, he provides a number of examples and insightful observations to help you figure out how to overcome obstacles and anxiety.

Not just a “feel good” book

Don’t worry – this is not just a “feel good and good things will happen to you” kind of book.  Rajesh is a serial entrepreneur and has had lots of experience with both setbacks and successes, and he rolls all that experience into this short book.

The book is organized around 5 key areas:

1. The Trap – this is how to keep the “gloom and doom” of everyday conversation from eroding your spirit, as well as how to look for the opportunities that will take you to the next level.
2. The Discipline – this is about rituals and habits, as well as becoming a “lean and mean” player in the world.
3. The Network – this is the traditional “help and be helped” networking approach, but also about how not to misuse networking tools (i.e. when Facebook becomes Fakebook).
4. The Strategy – this is all about honing your focus and taking deliberate action.
5. The Action – this deals with a notion I think of as “do the things you want to be known for” which will increase your chances of success when people are looking for a new member of their team.

The “Upbeat DIY Helpbook”

While the first part of the book focuses a lot on attitude, persistence, and commitment, the appendix is kind of like a set of mini-workshops.  Rajesh calls it the “Upbeat DIY Helpbook” and it creates short, introspective exercises to help move you along the right path.  I found that it put a fine point on many of the abstract concepts introduced in the beginning of the book and made it all seem more real.

In summary, this is a short book and an easy read, but don’t let it’s diminutive size fool you – there is a lot of power in these pages.  Oh – and I think Upbeat would be a great gift for you to give someone who finds themselves on the wrong side of this economy.

For more on Rajesh, be sure and check out his blog at http://www.lifebeyondcode.com.

del.icio.us Tags: Rajesh Setty,upbeat,book reviews,Dwayne Melancon,personal improvement

C2R: Complaint to Request

Continuing the spirit of my post about discussion tools, I want to share a technique we’re trying out at work.  It’s called “Complaint to Request,” or C2R, for short.  It’s an easy approach and it is working well so far.  Here is the gist of this technique:

• When you hear a complaint turn it around by saying something like, “I understand.  How can we turn that complaint into a request?”

This kind of question accomplishes a couple of things.  It acknowledges the issue and – more importantly – it shifts the conversation into “solution mode” and helps engage the complainer in thinking about how things could be better. 

We discussed the technique during a managers’ meeting and I must admit I thought this was a “looks good on paper” kind of concept, and didn’t think it would really work.  Nonetheless, I decided to try it out to see what happened. 

That night at dinner, I had the perfect opportunity to give it a try with one of my daughters:

Daughter:	“Dad, you gave me an orange today in my lunch and that made me mad.  It was messy and I got orange gunk under my fingernails.”
Me:	“I understand.  Now – how can we turn that complaint into a request?”
Daughter:	(without missing a beat) “When you make my lunch, can you either cut up the oranges or give me another kind of fruit, like an apple?  And please put a napkin in the lunch bag.”
Me:	“OK, I’ll do that.  Thank you for letting me know.”

I was fascinated by how well it worked, and how easy it was.  I didn’t tell my daughter I was “trying some new Jedi mind trick” or anything like that – I just tried the technique.  Since then, I’ve tried it a number of times at home and at work, and it generally gets good results.

The other thing this has done for me:  When I catch myself complaining about something, I try to think of a way to turn my complaint into a request.

If you try this out, let me know if it works for you.

[Review] Who’s Got Your Back

Keith Ferrazzi’s latest book, “Who’s Got Your Back,” is about developing an inner circle of advisors who will never let you fail. This book is both inspiring and actionable – a very strong combination. 

Superheroes and Mere Mortals

I found this book to be a very reasonable and achievable approach – in other words, something I believe I can actually do.  Why do I mention this?  Well, when I read Keith’s first book “Never Eat Alone,” I was inspired but very intimidated – “Never Eat Alone” felt very compelling, but I believed Keith must be some kind of Superhero to be able to do all of the things he described in any sustained way.

In “Who’s Got Your Back,” Keith shares some of his challenges and helps us see that he is Mere Mortal after all.  In fact, he talks about how some of the relationship skillz he mentions in “Never Eat Alone” were missing inside his company.  [I can relate – I do a much better with communication, organization, and relationship management at work than I do at home.]

He then goes on to share how he has found 3 key people in his life that provide him with unvarnished feedback, encouragement, and input on life strategies.  These are the 3 people who will not let him fail – the 3 people who have “got his back.”

Five key learnings

I got a pre-release copy of this book and got an email from Keith asking me to summarize my five most compelling ideas, anecdotes or lessons that stuck with me.  I thought that was a good approach for this review, so here are mine:

1. Generosity, Vulnerability, Candor, and Accountability are the currency required to bring people into your inner circle.  You have to invest in relationships with others, and trust comes from investing these four things.
2. “Each of us is responsible for creating the safe place around us.”  When I read this line, I had a flashback to my post from a few years ago about taking responsibility for your own well-being.  In the context of this book, that means we are each responsible for creating the environment / demeanor that invites others in.  Sometimes, that may also mean explicitly inviting them in.
3. “Give and Let Give.”  It’s great to be a mentor or give of your talents to others – it can be quite another thing to be able to accept the gifts and talents others share with you.  If you feel you aren’t worthy of others’ attention or “investment” it can be difficult to ask for help or accept it when it’s given.  You are worthy, and “they” are helping you because they want to – accept the help graciously.
4. You can’t rush trust.  Throughout the book, Keith talks about having conversations over “long, slow dinners.”  Relationships take time and if you rush things or try to do too much at once, you probably won’t enjoy them as much.  Trust takes time to build – they don’t sell trust in the drive-through lane. 
5. If you and your mentor aren’t being candid, something is wrong.  This works two ways:  1) they need to know how you (really) feel and what’s important to you, even if it’s hard to talk about; 2) they need to be able to tell you the straight scoop, even if it’s not something you want to hear.  If you have the right mentor, and you’ve created the safe place around that relationship, you can make this work – if it doesn’t feel safe, review 1-4, above, and see if you can figure out what’s missing.  Still not feeling it?  Have no fear, the book will help you get there.

Step by step, you’ll get there

This book does a great job of providing specific steps to help you through the process of building your inner circle.  I’m still working through it, but the steps are clear and concrete so I think you’ll be able to apply them on your own.  Keith also includes a lot of examples from his own life and these stories help you get a feel for what’s required of you at each step.

You’ll find a bunch of other inspiring stories, too – like the one about two real estate pros that had complementary strengths who worked together and were more successful than either could be alone.  Powerful stuff.

“Who’s Got Your Back” touts itself as a program “…to build deep, trusting relationships that create success – and won’t let you fail.”  I think it delivers.

Two good discussion tools

A couple of years ago, one of my mentors taught me a couple of good “tools” to faciliate good discussion.  Today, I was telling someone about them and I thought they were worth sharing.  I have used these on countless occasions and they have served me well.  Give them a try and let me know what you think.

The Magic Wand question

This question is simple, yet powerful: 

“If you could wave a magic wand, what would I be doing for you?” or

“If you could wave a magic wand, what would I be doing differently?”

The nature of this question makes it ideal for uncovering requirements, unlocking expectations, and determining someone’s ideal situation.  I think the notion of a magic wand gets people to think a bit more boldly, since they don’t necessarily have to think about practical constraints.

“An argument could be made…”

When you’re dealing with a touchy subject it can sometimes be difficult to have an objective discussion.  Rather than saying things like, “I think you should…” or “Here’s what I would do…” try reframing the statement by beginning with:  “An argument could be made…”

This subtle shift can make the question feel less personal, and you are more likely to have an objective discussion about the topic.  For example:  compare the following statements:

“An argument could be made to scrap this project completely – what are the implications of that?”
versus
“I think we should kill the project.”

Which approach is more likely to drive a productive discussion?

Putting the work in Teamwork

Recently, I've been involved in some discussions about team dynamics in corporate environments. Specifically, discussions about how teams hold each other accountable, remain focused on the "bigger we," and improve the team's ability to work together.

In my career, I've been part of lots of teams - ranging from the criminally dysfunctional to the high-performing. One of the things I've noticed is that the better the team, the better they want to be - and the more they focus on improving team function.

One of the teams I'm on now is working improving team dynamics, and we're preparing for our first meeting soon. This has sent me back to my bookshelf to review my "top 5" books that have made their mark on me in this area.

I'd like to share my short list with you, and invite you to share any gems of your own with me in the comments.

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
  • This is an easy read with some hard advice. It describes a team engaged in some destructive, disloyal, and counterproductive habits - many of which sound exactly like some of the screwed up teams I've been on. Through the fable in this book, you learn how to do things the right way (or at least in a much better way) with a strong focus on holding each other accountable. Every team can learn from this book.
  • My top takeaway: Focus on results and insist on mutual accountability through constructive conflict.
• The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable
  • I've reviewed The Offsite here before. This one (another fable) focuses on team dynamics but on provides some tools to figure out whether you have a process problem or a leadership (or leader) problem.
  • My top takeaway: Create a unifying purpose and don't let ineffective leaders destroy the team.
• Managing with Aloha
  • This book isn't just about teamwork, but teamwork runs through it. Concepts like "The Daily Five Minutes" are written from the perspective of a manager connecting with their team, but I find this concept - and many others in this book - can be applied to increasing the effectiveness of your relationships with peers / team members. This is another book I've reviewed here.
  • My top takeaway: Effective teams require people to feel respected and valued, even when things aren't going well.
• Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars
  • Well, Patrick Lencioni gets to be on my short list twice (he also wrote the "Five Dysfunctions..." book above). You've probably seen the dynamic in teams where it's always "their" fault, and the easiest way to get ahead is to make the other people in the room look bad (and you usually do that behind their back). This book helps you deal with these bad behaviors and get them out of your team - they have no place in an effective team.
  • My top takeaway: Work toward "the bigger we" and stop the in-fighting. Your business should be focused on collective success in the market, not individual success inside the company walls.
• Why Smart Executives Fail
  • OK, OK. So this isn't a book about teams, but it is a book about leadership and leadership debacles. It's useful, however, for anyone in a leadership position to better recognize their contribution to dysfunction. Remember what you've brought to the party. There is a spot-on summary in this post at Aussie Rules.
  • My top takeaway: If your team is dysfunctional, you are probably part of the problem.

I've read lots of other good books, but found these to by my preferred "must re-visit" list around the topic of team effectiveness.

What books are on your short list?

"Outliers" really stands out

I've enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's books in the past (I thought "The Tipping Point" was excellent, but thought "Blink" was just Ok in comparison). I just finished reading "Outliers" and it is by far my favorite Gladwell book so far (on a side note, it's also the first book I read on the Kindle 2).

In Outliers, Gladwell seeks to understand why some people excel in life. Is it "natural talent and ability?" Is it hard work? Is it luck? Can it be replicated?

Fascinating case studies

The reason I enjoyed this book is that it presents intriguing findings woven into fascinating stories. Some of the topics include a discussion of lots of odd phenomena and stereotypes:

• Is there a "best" time to have been born?
• Are the most successful people those with the highest IQ's?
• Why are so many successful professional hockey players born early in the year?
• Are Asians really better at math? Why or why not?
• Do lower income students tend to do worse, academically, than those from higher income families?
• Why are there so many Jewish lawyers in New York?
• Does ethnicity play into likelihood of plane crashes?
• Why were the Beatles, Bill Gates, and Bill Joy so successful and influential?

The answers to all of these - and more - are covered in this book. Or at least Gladwell's convincing theories are covered!

Engaging reading

Gladwell has perfected the art of drawing you into an intriguing story, then presenting a research-based analysis of why things occurred the way they did, the interactions & influences that were involved, and giving some serious "think about" material.

The best thing about the stories is that they feature real people, including Gladwell's own family. Comparing the opinions, thoughts, and actions with how things turned out can be fascinating - you can see the flaws in some of the thinking, but can also see how you may have made the same flawed decisions if you were immersed in the same situation.

Still not convinced?

I searched this book for a short example I could share in this review to get you jazzed about the book, but they were hard to condense into a paragraph or two. So, here is something to chew on that might get you thinking:

• Gladwell analyzed the 75 wealthiest people in history - starting with Cleopatra and the Pharaohs of ancient times (Bill Gates is #37 on that list, incidentally, when the wealth figures are normalized)
• Fourteen of these 75 are Americans born within 9 years of each other in the mid-nineteenth century - that's almost 20% of the wealthiest people in thousands of years - all born in a historical blink of an eye

Curious how that happened? You'll find out in this book. And it relates to the answers to most of the questions I listed above.

If you haven't done so yet, I recommend you read Outliers - and I'd love to hear whether you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Laugh to death by PowerPoint

I’m always on the lookout for ways to make PowerPoint more interesting.  In the past, that’s been things like using “Beyond Bullet Points” and whatnot.  Here’s another idea:  be funny.

I stumbled across the YouTube channel of a comedian named Tim Lee, who uses PowerPoint in his act – and he is very good! Check out the video below (or use this link).  If you like it, be sure and subscribe to Tim Lee’s YouTube channel.  Enjoy!

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Related items:

• Beyond Bullet Points review
• Presentation pet peeves

Cracking The Leadership Code

I just finished reading “The Leadership Code: Five Rules to Lead By,” from Harvard Business Press. In my experience reading these Harvard Business Press books can be hit-or-miss, since some of them can seem a bit dry and theoretical.  For me, The Leadership Code was definitely a hit.

Find the winning formula

The book set out to objectively determine:

1. What percent of effective leadership is basically the same? Are there some common rules that any leader anywhere must master? Is there a recognizable leadership code?
2. If there are common rules that all leaders must master, what are they?

The authors benchmarked a number of high performers and figured out the answers to these questions and collected some fantastic best practices along the way.

Five rules for leaders

There are five “rules” presented in the book, each accompanied by a set of diagnostic tools to help you determine where you and your organization are in relation to the high performers in the study.  Some of the tools focus on your strengths and weaknesses as a leader, while others focus on how functional or dysfunctional your organization may be.

The rules are:

• Rule 1: Shape the Future
• Rule 2: Make Things Happen
• Rule 3: Engage Today’s Talent
• Rule 4: Build the Next Generation
• Rule 5: Invest in Yourself

At this point you may be thinking, “What? Those rules don’t don’t seem very exciting.” 

But don’t let these descriptions fool you – The authors present compelling content about accountability, goal setting, true leadership, staff development, dealing with conflict & alignment, and strengthening your own individual skills.

Some things to think about, and some things to do

Each of the rules is discussed in detail, beginning with the findings from the study and a summary of the key capabilities effective leaders demonstrate for that rule.  After a discussion of the findings, the authors typically move into guidance on how to figure out where your gaps are in relation to the ideals.

For example, there is a “Leadership code self assessment” test to help you figure out your relative strengths and weaknesses in 5 critical areas, which map to the 5 Rules:

1. Strategist
2. Executor
3. Talent Manger
4. Human Capital Developer
5. Personal Proficiency

When you take the assessment, you’ll find you have strengths and weaknesses.  The authors found that effective leaders never scored below average on their weaker disciplines.

After you determine your strengths and weaknesses, how do you exploit your strengths and improve your weaknesses to at least average?  Good news:  the authors do a masterful job of providing practical, actionable advice for each rule.  I think the reason the advice rang true was because much of it comes in the form of stories from the high performers, who provide details on how they tackled shortfalls in each of the areas (including some war stories about when things didn’t go very well. 

The stories from the high performers made the rules feel “real” and helped me understand how these best practices can be applied in the real world.

Crack the Leadership Code

One important message I took away from this is that there are repeatable best practices that can help improve your leadership in any organization.  In other words, if you aspire to become a great leader, there is hope.

The other thing I noted is that the best practices were very congruent with some of the values-based leadership books that have made such an impact on me, like Managing With Aloha, and books I feature in the book list in the left sidebar of my blog.

In short, I highly recommend The Leadership Code.  If you want to find out more, the authors have also provided some resources (free and fee) at their book site.

Road Rules (are you the truck or the squirrel?)

Andrew Sherman recently released a book called “Road Rules:  Be the Truck.  Not the Squirrel.” which uses an interesting approach to explain some powerful business and relationship principles.  The book relates life concepts to driving rules, which I think are an excellent memory aid.

In the book, there are 12 “essential rules” to help you share the road of life.  This book is an easy read, as the material is relevant and the writing style is very engaging.  A lot of the advice is very common sense kinds of information, but the metaphors in the book provide new triggers and different perspective on when, why, and how to use certain techniques to better interact with the world.

Signs of life

Want a taste?  Well in the chapter “Pay Attention to the Road Signs of Life,” Sherman uses common road signs to take us through a number of critical skills.  Here are 2 examples from the chapter:

	Pay careful attention to changes in your roadway of life that are truly inevitable.  You may be cruising along in your lane of choice, only to learn that you will be out of runway sooner than you expected.
	Don’t speed past and endanger people working in teams when they are trying to be productive.  If you cannot add something to the process, do not interfere, impede, or endanger it.  Be respectful to those that are trying to make your pathway more passable.

Keeping it between the ditches

I liked the whole book, but there are a few chapters that really rang true for me.

• The first is “Embrace Your Dashboard,” which is about determining the indicators, metrics, and “gauges” that will help you monitor your progress, live a more balanced life, and keep yourself on track.  There is some good advice in here.
• The second is “Be Guided By Your Navigational System,” which is about planning your trip so you know where you want to go, being ready to take a detour if you get blocked, and listening to advice and feedback (like traffic reports).
• The third is “Accidents Can Happen Even to the Best Drivers,” which provides tips to handle life when things don’t go your way.

In summary, this is a fun treatment of some serious content and is a good resource for honing your skills so you can be a better driver on the road of life.

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.  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.