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I just heard Marshall Goldsmith on the HBR Ideacast talking about his new book:

[url=http://www.amazon.com/What-Got-Here-Wont-There/dp/1401301304/ref=sr_1_1/... Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful[/url]

Clearly there are some that like his past work, [url=http://www.manager-tools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=234&highlight=goldsm... Mark[/url].

Has anyone read it, yet? Thoughts, opinions, recommendations?

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ramanik's picture

Great book.
This book is very behaviour focussed. Opens your eyes when he points out what we consider as strength could actually be harming our causes. The changes he suggests are simple and profound.

I would highly recommend this book.

mauzenne's picture
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As you might expect, my opinion of the book is a strong as Mark's. Awesome book!

Oh, and since he gave me his copy, I guess I owe Mark a thanks ... thanks, partner! :-)

regards,
Mike

gpsmith's picture

I took this away on a recent business trip and finished it while I was away; which generally never happens with books I take away.

This is all about looking at yourself or asking other to look at you and how you can improve on your worst traits. His logic is you don't need to be great at some things, but neutral. i.e. If you're annoying someone, you don't need to become best buddies, just stop annoying them.

I found it particularly useful as I'd just been given some surprising feedback during my mid-year review. I had also gone off looking for evidence and not really had anything useful to draw from this other than my boss finding an excuse not to promote me (as it happens I've since found out I am a high D, so maybe there was some truth in it).

As I was in a reflective frame of mind anyway, this was great to allow me to think about my actions and how what I thought are strengths annoy some people.

The only downside (and it is minor) is that although this process he described is something similar to what he does if you can afford his consultancy (which I assume to be a lot of money) he has provided a questionnaire to run your own 360 feedback to work out what to improve. However it doesn't go in to any detail on how to interrupt the results or even if 1 or 5 is good or bad! I guess he doesn't want to reduce his job opportunities, but I doubt my boss will sign him off being a entry level manager and I'm also guessing it's out of my price range. So as most people will be like this it would be good to have had some practical advice on how to implement the ideas more.

I would completely recommend it though, just be prepared to use your own brain if you want to follow the asking others approach.

430jan's picture

I found this book to be extremely congruent with the manager tools way of doing business and it helped me in particular in the area of "value adding" to an employee's ideas. I think that this is a subtle thing that I do to remain in control of the idea, or perhaps genuinely impart what I think will work better. It really opened my eyes and I am so glad that I read it very early on in my transition to management. It was all good, that one thing though was the sort of stop-you-in-your-tracks advice that I took away and used right away. When I moved up to the next level I bought it for the supervisors that were hired that reported to me.

Janet

imahick's picture

I've been a manager for just over a year and a half now. When I was promoted I knew I was playing above my ability and went in search of resources for managers. Manager Tools was what I found and their recommendation for this book put it in my hands. A quote from my most recent evaluation, "I never thought you would be this good as a manager". I believe I owe a lot of that comment to Mike, Mark, and Marshall. If the best judgement of effectiveness is results then Manager Tolls and "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" are worth the investment of time and money.

 

Thanks so much for what you provide.

 

Chad

Peter.westley's picture
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I'm halfway through reading it. Fantastic, clear, concise, and very readable (i.e. easy to read).

I won't repeat what others have said but it's a must read IMHO.

-- Peter

DISC: 2564
@pjwestley