13L Viewpoints

A Book Review: What Got You Here Won't Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith

By Susan Reed

I don’t get excited by a lot of books, but this one really captivated me. It’s about effective leadership, and this author takes a new and unique approach in helping you improve your communication, behavioral and leadership skills. As you move from a predominantly technical role to a higher leadership role, the author describes 20 things Not To Do. That’s right . . . Not Do! More on that in a moment.

If you’re lucky enough to take a leadership course, you learn what to do but, in fact, you may just have a small behavioral trait that just needs a little tweaking - and without that adjustment, you may be sabotaging your own career. Since over 70% of a leader’s time is spent on behavioral or “soft” skills, you need to pay attention to those skills as you move up in an organization. Interpersonal behaviors are often leadership behaviors.

If you can change your behavior in even one small area, you can earn more success and make improvements with your relationships and effectiveness. These adjustments will be positively noticed by your co-horts, your family, and, most of all, yourself. Even though they may be small changes, they are, nevertheless changes - and changes are hard to make. Goldsmith concedes these are not easy tweaks. But to be an effective leader you must have soft skills that enable you to influence, persuade, and make and maintain successful relationships.

Here’s the author’s list of the 20 things Not To Do:

1. Winning too much. The need to win at all costs and in all situations.
2. Adding too much value: The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
3. Passing judgment: The need to rate others and impose our standards on them.
4. Making destructive comments. The needless sarcasms and cutting remarks.
5. Starting with “No,” “But,” or “However”: qualifiers that really say, “I’m right. You’re wrong.”
6. Telling the world how smart we are.
7. Speaking when angry.
8. Negativity, or “Let me explain why that won’t work”.
9. Withholding information: to maintain an advantage over others.
10. Failing to give proper recognition.
11. Claiming credit that we don’t deserve.
12. Making excuses: The need to reposition our annoying behavior as unfixable so people excuse us for it.
13. Clinging to the past: the need to deflect blame.
14. Playing favorites.
15. Refusing to express regret.
16. Not listening: The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
17. Failing to express gratitude.
18. Punishing the messenger.
19. Passing the buck.
20. An excessive need to be “me”. Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they’re who we are.

The remainder of the book provides several effective ways to make these changes and gain feedback from others on how well you’re doing. Goldsmith offers valuable insights gained from his many years of experience as an executive coach.

Bottom line - changing behavior is extremely hard. To better your chances, Goldsmith suggests help from others and follow-up. One analogy I came up with is how important it is for people trying to lose weight to have a support system like Weight Watchers. Once someone stops going, their weight often goes back on. It’s also similar to using a foreign language. If you stop practicing, you lose it. But with a little coaching, a few lessons, and someone to talk with you can perfect your skills. Find people to practice with! The payoffs are enormous.