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20 Habits That Won’t Get You There

what-got-you-here-wont-get-you-there-how-successful-people-become-even-more-successful Marshall GoldsmithI’ve just finished Marshall Goldsmith‘s great book: “What got you here, won’t get you there – How successful people become even more successful“.What is the book about?My one sentence answer is:It is about removing your personal obstacles to further magnify your strengths. Here’s some more detail:Marshall describes the 20 habits of leadership that hold us back from getting where we want to be:

  1. Winning too much (p45)
  2. Adding too much value (p48)
  3. Passing judgement (p50)
  4. Making destructive comments (p53)
  5. Starting with “no”, “but” or “however” (p57)
  6. Telling the world how smart we are (p59)
  7. Speaking when angry (p62)
  8. Negativity or “let me explain why that won’t work” (p65)
  9. Withholding information (p68)
  10. Failing to give proper recognition (p71)
  11. Claiming credit we don’t deserve (p73)
  12. Making excuses (p76)
  13. Clinging to the past (p79)
  14. Playing favourites (p81)
  15. Refusing to express regret (p83)
  16. Not listening (p86)
  17. Failing to express gratitude (p88)
  18. Punishing the messenger (p91)
  19. Passing the buck (p93)
  20. An excessive need to be me (p96)

That’s quite a few flaws to deal with right?I was reading the book on a plane trip to Brisbane with my fiancee. We jumped into a cab and she suggested that we could go to work drinks on the Friday night with her friends. I immediately said: “That sounds great. The only problem is I have my friend in town from the UK and I’ve got a huge week so I’ll be pretty tired.” In a classic number 8 style (negativity or “let me explain why that won’t work”), I’d leapt straight to the reasons why it wouldn’t work rather than looking for ways it could work.As Marshall detailed each of the 20, I kept seeing myself in situations at home and at work displaying these habits. In some parts, he literally quoted words or phrases that I have used… It was like ripping off the rose coloured glasses, looking into a not so pretty mirror and seeing my behaviours clearly and how they impact those around me.Perfection across the 20 habits is absolutely not the aim. The aim is to take your single worst habit out of the equation – the one that is really holding you back.So what’s Marshall’s solution to breaking these habits?It’s a 7 step process:

  1. 360 degree feedback on your behaviour as a leader (see the appendix on p225 for a list of 72 questions)
  2. Confront the reality of your flaws
  3. Apologize to those you’ve impacted
  4. Advertise your efforts to improve
  5. Follow up religiously on those efforts
  6. Listen without prejudice
  7. Gratitude

There are a stack of other great ideas in this book. Here are 2 of my favourites to wrap up:Feedforward:Feedback is based on the past (behaviours, patterns, data etc). Feedforward is a way of getting buy-in into the future – particularly when you have decided what you want to get better at.The question to ask is:What are 2 things I/we can do to get better at [desired outcome]?You do not get better without follow up:Am I getting better? Checking in with those around you to see if you are actually getting better (or indeed anything else) is essential to creating lasting change. It holds us to the goal, it helps us measure our progress, it reminds us that change “is an ongoing process, not a religious conversion” (p162).Here’s a video from YouTube of one of Marshall’s presentations: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY7UJVYM9n0]

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