What Got You Here Won't Get You There

This book has been by far the longest read book I've ever had. I think I started reading this about more than a year ago and for some reason kept ignoring it in spite of having it in my backpack every day. Among many other reasons Angry Birds was definitely one that kept me away from completing this book sooner. ;-) Finally made it a few weeks ago and eventually got time to write about it.

This is yet another book which reveals a few "aha" moments where you smack yourselves wondering why you didn't realize this earlier. The funny thing is, as I read the book I continue to make the same mistakes, but the realization happens more sooner than later. Should try harder I guess to avoid repeating the same in future. Let's see...

The premise of the book is simple - the very same traits that made you "successful" till now will pull you down to move ahead. Paradoxical is what I thought initially, but few pointers did bring out the "aha" or rather "oops".

Marshall talks about 20 basic flaws that leaders normally get into. By leaders we don't have to look at the executive level. Anybody who's had the responsibility for more than his / her own work is a leader in some sense - regardless of corporate designation.

1. Winning too much: The need to win at all costs and in all situations – when it matters, when it doesn't  and when it’s totally beside the point.
2. Adding too much value: The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
3. Passing judgement: The need to rate others and impose our standards on them.
4. Making destructive comments: The needless sarcasms and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty.
5. Starting with “No,” “But,” or “However”: The overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone, “ I’m right. You’re wrong.”
6. Telling the world how smart we are: The need to show people we’re smarter than they think we are.
7. Speaking when angry: Using emotional volatility as a management tool.
8. Negativity, or “Let me explain why that won’t work”: The need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren't asked.
9. Withholding information: The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
10. Failing to give proper recognition: The inability to praise and reward.
11. Claiming credit that we don’t deserve: The most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success.
12. Making excuses: The need to reposition our annoying behaviour as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
13. Clinging to the past: The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.
14. Playing favourites: Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.
15. Refusing to express regret: The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we’re wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.
16. Not listening: The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
17. Failing to express gratitude: The most basic form of bad manners.
18. Punishing the messenger: The misguided need to attack the innocent who are usually only trying to help us.
19. Passing the buck: The need to blame everyone but ourselves.
20. An excessive need to be “me”: Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they’re who we are.

Thanks to this link I did not have to type all of the above. :-)

Of course not every concept hits you (hard) all the time. Highlighted below a few excerpts which made this book to be a "must read" for anybody (in my perception of course).

(Text in italics are picked from the book)

• Adding too much value - It is extremely difficult for successful people to listen to other people tell them something they already know without communicating somehow (a) "we already knew that" and (b) "we know a better way". You may have improved the content by 5% but you've reduced my commitment to executing it by 50% because you've taken away my ownership of the idea. Try to remember this next time you try to implement a change and you want to involve your team to be a part of the change.  
• Telling the world how smart we are - Being smart turns people on. Announcing how smart you are turns them off. All along I always believed in the principle of self-marketing. It looks like thin-ice after all. Gotta tread carefully.
• Let me explain why that wont work - "If you catch yourself frequently saying, "Let me tell you why that won't work", you know what needs fixing. Can't explain the pleasure of proving someone wrong. Especially if that is going to get yourselves in the limelight. What you lose by this is people approaching you for any positive critique of an idea.
• Making excuses - If we can stop excusing ourselves, we can get better at almost anything we choose. Such a profound statement. Very easy to fall into this pit and very convenient as well. Are you ready to take ownership and responsibility?
• An excessive need to be "me" - I behave this way, and I achieve results. Therefore, I must be achieving results because I behave this way. In other words its simple egotism. However this is one of the key concepts of this book. Just because you were successful because of a particular behaviour it is no free pass to repeat the same and expect a bigger success. Adaptation is key.
• People will do something  - including changing their behaviour - only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values. People only change their ways when what they truly value is threatened. I've always wondered why people don't agree with me when the expected outcome is going to be valuable to them. The key here is "as defined by their own values". Have you attempted to understand what their values are?
• In the "can-do"  environment in an organization there is no system for honouring the avoidance of a bad decision or the cessation of a bad behaviour. Especially at this time of the year when the annual review happens, can we measure avoidance of stupidity as a key objective?
• When sharing information or emotion, we have to ask "is this appropriate and how much should I convey?". Sometimes we do this delibrately to get someone else into trouble. As in poker, the greatest trick is to know "when to fold" not go "All In" every time.
• It is a whole lot easier to see our problems in others than it is to see them in ourselves.Gives a whole new meaning to "a thief can catch a thief". It's so easy to be objective with others than ourselves.
• An apology gives you a sense of closure. Closure lets you move forward. The idea is to move on into the future and not let the past hold you back (emotional luggage).
• Feedforward - "Helping people be right is more productive than proving them wrong". This is a bit different to "feedback" that we are all used to. I think our performance review systems should be changed 180 deg. 
• Measurement - Everything is measurable if we're clever enough to see that it needs measuring - and can devise a way to track it. Gotta remember to use this whenever we need to talk about "metrics". Most often we prefer to stay in the dark being ignorant to the need to measure something.

So there you go... hope you had a moment or  2 of aha or oops. This book was gifted to me by some of my team members. Probably they wished I read and act on some of the lessons mentioned. Tough luck guys....it took a while for me to Get Here. Wishing you all the best to Get There!!

Happy Reading

C