What Got You Here Can Get You There

I'm half way through "What Got you Here Won't Get You There" and I already have a lot of notes and post-its all over it. I was recommended this book at more than one Leadership Training so I decided to give it a try. Incidentally I was also half way through "How To Read a Book" when I started, so I picked a few good habits to really absorb its content and reason through it actively rather than passively.

Don't get me wrong, the title of this post is simply provocative. Marshall Goldsmith collects a good amount of bad habits and explores them in depth. There are decent call outs that are exaggerated to get the point across (although some examples are from real people and experiences). I was a bit put off by some blank statements and assumptions about successful people. Some of the habits listed are simply...toxic office behavior. I feel lucky that I never worked in teams where this attitude was accepted (with a few individual instances being an exception), even if it seemingly carried successful outcomes.

A good example was the one leader looking over everyone's shoulder, making up arbitrary deadlines, and questioning everything everyone was doing. He was able to squeeze a project within a tight made-up deadline. In the end, a successful outcome. Too bad he built no trust, no following, and definitely no commitment. It only worked once and people caught up quickly. That was an incredible opportunity for me to learn the type of leader I didn't want to be. I want my team to work hard against a deadline not because I am being annoying, but because of a shared understanding of urgency. Not only have I seen that play out positively, but camaraderie came into play when others jumped in to help make the deadline. With no prompting on my end but with my full approval and support.

I recommended every current and aspiring leader to work hard on creating a safe and supportive environment and the sky will be the limit. When I read through some of the bad habits in the book, I could confidently say that if anyone on my team were to do some of those it would not affect the relationship we have with one another. We understand where everyone is coming from and that we come with good intentions. No one withholds information intentionally and, when we feel it's something we should know, we say it out loud and give the other the chance to fix the mistake. We are regular people and don't expect each other to be perfectly executing on every interaction we have. Another example is the "negatrons" (people who will often find the negative aspect of whatever you're discussing). We need some of that! If we keep staying unrealistically positive we just pave the way for failure. Negativity can and should be harnessed to reinforce an idea.

Thoughts

I believe that you need to build awareness of some of the bad habits listed in the book. You might find some of your behaviors might actually fall under one of the 20 categories mentioned by Marshall. Don't fret though and think about your relationship with the rest of the team. Some of these behavior won't have the catastrophic effect depicted in the book IF you have a strong relationship with your peers. That doesn't mean you should pay no attention to your own behaviors and how you communicate, but you know (hopefully) that your team will call you out if you step out of the right path. As a leader, I would focus on that first and continue on your journey of growth following some (or all) the recommendations from the book.

I will leave with this quote that I enjoyed, although I don't seek power but good leadership instead. If you switch "have power" with "be a great leader" this will be just as effective.

In order to have power, you need to inspire loyalty rather than fear and suspicion