What Got You Here Won't Get You There

2. Describe this objective in a one-on-one dialogue with anyoneyou know. It could be your wife, kids, boss, best friend, or coworker. It could even be a stranger. The person you choose is irrelevant. He or she doesn’t have to be an expert on the subject. For example, you say, I want to be a better listener. Almost anyone in an organization knows what this means. You don’t have to be an “expert” on listening to know what good listening means to you. Likewise, he or she doesn’t have to be an expert on you. If you’ve ever found yourself on a long flight seated next to a perfect stranger and proceeded to engage in an earnest, heartfelt, and honest discussion of your problems with that stranger—or vice versa—you know this is true. Some of the truest advice can come from strangers. We are all human beings. We know what is true. And when a

put them to mending.

Habit #6 Telling the world how smart we are This is another variation on our need to win. We need to win people’s admiration. We need to let them know that we are at least their intellectual equal if not their superior. We need to be the smartest person in the room. It usually backfires.

People permit themselves to issue destructive comments under the excuse that they are true. The fact that a destructive comment is true is irrelevant. The question is not, “Is it true?” but rather, “Is it worth it?”

My experience proves a simple point: Spend a few thousand dollars and you will get better!

Casey Stengel liked to point out that on any baseball team, one third of the players loved the manager, one third hated him, and one third were undecided. “The secret to managing a ballclub,” said Stengel, “was to keep the third who hated you from getting together with the third who were undecided.”

an organization stocked with clones marching in lockstep doesn’t create diversity in an organization. You need different voices, different mindsets, different personalities in the mix. In my experience, it’s the odd out-of-left-field dissenting voices, the ones challenging groupthink and the status quo, that make an organization hum and thrive.

A lot of managers assume that their staff should be exactly like them—in behavior, in enthusiasm, in intelligence, and most especially, in how they apply that brainpower. You can’t blame them. If I were a super-successful boss, I’d be inclined to populate my organization with clones of . . . me.What better way to assure that everything gets done myway? This, by the way, is a perfectly natural inclination. Given the choice, we all favor hiring people who closely resemble the person we see in the mirror every day.

Rule 8. The Best Time to Change Is Now As

Rule 7. Monetize the Result, Create a Solution