Marshall Goldsmith's book What Got You Here Won't Get You There notes "as you advance in the career, behavioral changes are the only significant changes you can make."
He writes that we must overcome two types of flaws, information-related and emotional.
Information-sharing flaws:
- Too much (knowing when to stop, negativity, being judgmental)
- Too little (withholding information, credit, responsibility, all leading to mistrust).
Emotional flaws:
- Responding in anger
- Below the line behavior (Urban Meyer's BLAME, COMPLAIN, DENIAL)
We need a personal stop list, finding "behavioral solutions." Why? Goldsmith notes that successful people tend to have two responses - denial (I don't have a problem) or attack ("Maybe they are right but why is a smart guy like me listening to a loser like you?")
How and what can we stop to become better? In trading and investing, speculators discuss "the other side of the trade." Why am I wrong?
- Avoid negativity.
- Saying "thank you" more after suggestions (regardless of our adoption of them)
- Working on being a 'learn-it-all' not a 'know-it-all'
- Share credit liberally.
- Avoiding responding when angry. I have a friend who uses the '24 hour rule'. When he's angry, he doesn't respond for 24 hours.
Remember the acronym THINK
Possible Solutions to STOP and GO.
1) Listen better.
2) Film the bench (what behaviors have to stop?)
3) Monitor our statements.
4) Solicit feedback.
5) Inform others that we are working on change.
Change is hard. But it demands attention to Kevin Eastman's triad of telling the truth, living the truth, and taking the truth...wanting to improve, working to improve.
Lagniappe: 3 on 2 Continuous Drill
