In this book Marshall Goldsmith, one of the most successful executive coaches of our times tells us how successful people become even more successful. He enumerates 21 habits that could hinder one’s success, how to identify these dysfunctions and how to get rid of them.
Many people, at the start of their careers have enjoyed tremendous growth with double and triple promotions fast track career paths and have moved up the corporate leader very fast only to stumble after a certain point in their growth. However hard they try, they seem anchored to that position. They can never hope to reach the top and most of them never will. But they are the very same people who have been earmarked for the top slots. Why some people fail to reach the top? What stands between these people and the top position? This book provides the answers to the above questions and explains how to get rid of the bad habits and handicaps that pull you down and prevent you from moving forward.
The book contains 4 sections, an appendix and an index. The first section—The Trouble with Success—discusses how our previous success often prevents us from achieving more success. It contains three chapters: You are Here, Enough about You, and The Success Delusion (why we resist change). This section acts as an introduction to the book and explains whom the book is for, how the book is organized and how to use this book. It introduces a few habits that inhibit success with real world examples.
The second section titled The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back from the Top identifies the most annoying interpersonal issues in the workplace and helps you figure out which ones apply to you. According to the author, most of the problems that inhibit the further success of highly successful people are behavioral and interpersonal. The first chapter of this section—Twenty Habits explains the 20 such habits. Some of the habits are: winning too much, passing judgment, speaking when angry, making excuses, playing favorites, not listening, passing the buck and so on. The second chapter of this section explains the 21st habit—Goal Obsession.
The third section— The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back from the Top—contains a seven step method for changing our interpersonal relationships and making these changes permanent. The seven steps are Feedback, Apologizing, Telling the World, or Advertising, Listening, Thanking, Following Up, and Practicing Feedforward.
The final section (Pulling out the Stops) the author teaches the leaders how to apply what they have learned (the rules of change) and habits to avoid. The first chapter of this section—Changing: The Rules—contains 8 rules to achieve change. The rules include picking the right time to change, don’t hide from the truth, there is no ideal behavior, the best time to change is now, and so on. The second chapter (Special Challenges for People in Charge) lists out and explains things that you should avoid: stop letting your staff overwhelm you, stop acting as if you are managing you, stop being prejudiced about your employees, etc. The last chapter in this section is the conclusion—Coda: You are Here Now. It stresses the importance of happiness, relationships, following dreams and self actualization in the race to the top. The appendix contains a leadership inventory to identify one’s strengths and weaknesses.
Even though the book is written for managers and executives, the habits mentioned and the solutions offered have a universal appeal. It is equally applicable in the personal life too. The principles will make students better at school and home, parents more endearing to their children, help teachers to gain respect and produce better results, etc. I recommend this book to all who want to move up and ahead in their lives, continuously improve and achieve their goals and ambitions. The inclusion of real world examples and cases in addition to the simple, easy-to-read writing style makes this book an easy read that can change your life for the better.
Book Details:
- Editor: Marshall Goldsmith
- Publisher: Hyperion
- Year: 2007
- ISBN: 1401301304
- Cover & Page Count: Hardcover, 256 Pages
You can order online at Amazon.