Weekly Book Review: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

By Mark Brown

One of our recent blog posts asked “what is your recipe for success?” If success is a recipe, then it may also be true that constantly repeating that recipe will lead to stale leftovers. As we pointed out in that post, once you master the basics of the recipe, it’s time to “improvise and explore.”

In What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful, Marshall Goldsmith makes a similar argument, but with a lot more evidence.

Goldsmith is a highly regarded executive coach, commanding six-figure fees for helping C-level professionals alter their behavior. This book shares what he has learned from those coaching jobs, while conveying what he teaches his clients.

The first section of the book focuses on “the trouble with success.” How can success be equated with trouble? The problem arises when we allow success to make us blind to our shortcomings. Goldsmith also outlines how past success can lead to “superstitious” behavior. “Superstition is merely the confusion of correlation and causality,” he writes. “Any human, like any animal, tends to repeat behavior that is followed by positive reinforcement. The more we achieve, the more reinforcement we get.”

Section Two is dedicated to the “twenty habits that hold you back from the top,” including:

Adding too much value (i.e, always feeling you have to contribute to every discussion)
Speaking when angry
Withholding information
Failing to give proper recognition
Playing favorites
Not listening
Passing the buck

Happily, Section Three is focused on “how we can change for the better,” which is what personal development is all about. Goldberg lists feedback as the most useful means for change. Another tool is to “advertise,” or telling people you are trying to change. Both of these imply a healthy dose of humility. Section Four wraps up the book with advice on “pulling out the stops,” which helps readers apply the lessons with a few final “rules.”

As Goldsmith states, “The higher up you go in the organization, the more you need to make other people winners and not make it about winning yourself.” That’s good advice for any kind of organization…including a family.

Find "What Got You Here" on Amazon: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
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