What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful

From Publishers Weekly Goldsmith, an executive coach to the corporate elite, pinpoints 20 bad habits that stifle already successful careers as well as personal goals like succeeding in marriage or as a parent. Most are common behavioral problems, such as speaking when angry, which even the author is prone to do when dealing with a teenage daughter's belly ring. Though Goldsmith deals with touchy-feely material more typical of a self-help book—such as learning to listen or letting go of the past—his approach to curing self-destructive behavior is much harder-edged. For instance, he does not suggest sensitivity training for those prone to voicing morale-deflating sarcasm. His advice is to stop doing it. To stimulate behavior change, he suggests imposing fines (e.g., $10 for each infraction), asserting that monetary penalties can yield results by lunchtime. While Goldsmith's advice applies to everyone, the highly successful audience he targets may be the least likely to seek out his book without a direct order from someone higher up. As he points out, they are apt to attribute their success to their bad behavior. Still, that may allow the less successful to gain ground by improving their people skills first. (Jan. 2) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist By now, the CEO as celebrity is old hat. (Just start counting the books from former company heads.) That goes for the executive-recruiter-cum-president-makers. What has yet to be explored--until now--is the celebrity business coach, the individual who helps C-level executives correct flaws, whether invisible or public. A frequent interviewee in major business magazines like For tune, Goldsmith, with the sage help and advice of his collaborator Reiter, pens a self-help career book, filled with disguised anecdotes and candid dialogue, all soon slated for bestsellerdom. His steps in coaching for success are simple, honest, without artifice: gather feedback from appropriate colleagues and cohorts, determine which behaviors to change (and remember, Goldsmith specifically focuses on behavior, not skills or knowledge), apologize, advertise, listen, thank, follow up, and practice feed-forward. Admittedly, this shrewd organizational psychologist only works with leaders he knows will listen, follow advice, and change--especially considering that he doesn't receive fees until improvements are secure and visible. On the other hand, these are words and processes anyone will benefit from, whether wannabe manager or senior executive. Barbara Jacobs Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "As a guy who has had some success in my life, I especially understood and appreciated what this book taught me. The point of the book is actually the title and subtitle. He states: "The problems we'll be looking at in this book are not life-threatening diseases (although ignored for too long they can destroy a career). They're not deep-seated neuroses that require years of therapy or tons of medication to erase. "More often than not, they are simple behavioral tics 'bad habits that we repeat dozens of times a day in the workplace' which can be cured by (a) pointing them out, (b) showing the havoc they cause among the people surrounding us, and (c) demonstrating that with a slight behavioral tweak we can achieve a much more appealing effect. "One of the keys to a good business book can be found in the Table of Contents. This book is not different. The four sections are titled: The Trouble with Success; The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back from the Top; How We Can Change for the Better; Pulling Out the Stops. If you go into a bookstore to check this book out, just look at the twenty habits. They were a scary eye opener for yours truly. I used up one hi-lighter on this book and found way more bad habits I have and need to change than I care to admit. The nice thing about this book is that you can identify the flaws you didn't think you had and fix them without anybody knowing you had a problem. Now that is a huge benefit. All in all, this is an important book." -- Jack Covert, Jack Covert Selects, 1800CEOREAD "Goldsmith has no interest in probing why people behave the way they do. He doesn't try to reshape their personalities. He measures success by the extent to which other people's perceptions of his clients change for the better . . . he teaches them how to apologize for their shortcomings -- 'the most magical, healing, restorative gesture human beings can make,' he writes in his book [ What Got You Here Won't Get You There ] . . . and then to ask for help in getting better . . . 'It's much harder to change people's perceptions of your behavior than to change your behavior,' he says . . ." -- Barbara Rose, Chicago Tribune "If you decide to purchase one new book this year I encourage you to make it What Got You Here Won't Get You There . This is the top tier of leadership information available!" -- weLEAD Rating - highly recommended "The book is written pretty much the way Marshall speaks. It is simple, brutally honest, and humorous. It doesn't try to get fancy. It's economically composed, crafted to be useful. It will appeal to people with no time to waste. Like its author, it's practical and to the point . . . What Got You Here will be required reading for many years to come. -- David Zweig, Senior Editor, World Business Academy Perspectives "This is a superb book, practical with a rich understanding of human behaviour and how to change. Mr. Goldsmith has endless examples from his work and his own personal failings, and the result is a chance for readers whose companies don't hire him to get the benefit of his expertise." -- Harvey Schachter, Globe and Mail "What holds you back from achievement? Marshall Goldsmith is an executive coach who has worked with over eighty CEOs in the world's top organizations -- so he's in the perfect position to examine how global leaders overcome self-defeating habits, translating these lessons to the modern condition and everyday man in What Got You Here Won't Get You There . From key beliefs in successful leaders to common behavior flaws, this book translates drawbacks to success, and will find an audience in any general-interest collection where self-improvement is of interest." -- Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review/California Bookwatch "You'll see the results whether you're a CEO or just getting started." -- BookPage To Marshall Goldsmith: Thank You for Writing This Book (And We're Not Sucking Up): Marshall Goldsmith is one of the most successful of corporate America's celebrity coaches -- he typically makes upwards of a quarter-million dollars for a year or so of work with each individual client -- and is also one of the best. ... The beauty of Goldsmith's approach lies not just in the simplicity of his insights, but also in the clarity of his advice. ... Goldsmith has written a leadership manual that could double as a guide to good parenting and marital peace. -- Knowledge@Wharton Marshall Goldsmith is America's preeminent executive coach. He is among a select few consultants who have been asked to work with more than sixty CEOs. His clients have included many of the world's leading corporations. He has helped to implement leadership development processes that have impacted more than one million people around the world. He has a Ph.D. from UCLA and is on the faculty of the executive education programs for Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan. The American Management Association recently named him as one of fifty great thinkers and business leaders over the past eighty years. Read more