Rakesh Khurana Lecture

Just heard that Rakesh Khurana, author of From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession and associate professor in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, will be speaking at Hopkins tomorrow (Sept 25) at 5pm for the "The Inaugural Carey Business School Dean's Lecture."

To view the table of contents, click here; download the Introduction in PDF format here.

Click here to register.

The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin: Chapters 5 - 8

As promised, here are my thoughts on Chapters Five through Eight of Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking (click here to read all my posts on this book).

In the second half of this book, Martin mentions some of the same people from the beginning of the book and continues to write about people from a wide range of disciplines:

• Victoria Hale of the Insitute for OneWorld Health
• K V Kamath, ICICI Bank
• Meg Whitman, eBay
• Nandan Nilekani, Infosys Technologies Limited
• Ramalina Raju, Satyam Computer Services
• Bruce Mau, Bruce Mau Design
• Taddy Belcher, CIDA City Campus
• Gerry Mabin, The Mabin School

Chapter Five, Mapping the Mind, is when Martin begins to teach readers how to hone their integrative thinking skills. Martin puts forth a model of "your personal knowledge system" (which is "highly path-dependent") broken down into three parts:

• Stance: Who You Are and What You're After - further discussed in Chapter Six
• Tools: Knocking the World into Shape - further discussed in Chapter Seven
• Experiences: Where Stance and Tools Meet the World - further discussed in Chapter Eight

The example stances that Martin discusses are all varied and interesting in their own right.

Within experiences, Martin defines skills and sensitivities that are built through experience as follows:

• Sensitivities: capacity to make distinctions between conditions that are similar but not the same
• Skills: capacity to carry out an activity so as to consistently produce the destined result

Chapter Six, The Construction Project, is all about the integrative thinker's stance and the six key features they have in common:

1. Integrative thinkers believe that whatever models exist at the present moment do not represent reality; they are simply the best or only constructions yet made.
2. Integrative thinkers believe that conflicting models, styles, and approaches to problems are to be leveraged, not feared.
3. Integrative thinkers believe that better models exist that are not yet seen.
4. Integrative thinkers believe that not only does a better model exist, but that they are capable of bringing that better model from abstract hypothesis to concrete reality.
5. Integrative thinkers are comfortable wading into complexity to ferret out a new and better model, confident they will emerge on the other side with the resolution they seek.
6. Integrative thinkers give themselves the time to create a better model.

In my opinion, these six key features could really be condensed into fewer points but it's still useful as it is.

Martin goes on to describe three stances about the world (first three) and three about the self (last three) that he believes are the foundation of a personal knowledge system that will lead to integrative thinking:

1. Existing models do not represent reality, they are our constructions.
2. Opposing models are to be leveraged, not forced.
3. Existing models are not perfect; better models exist that are not yet seen.
4. I am capable of finding a better model.
5. I can wade into and get through the necessary complexity.
6. I give myself the time to create a better model.

Strangely, Martin uses the movie Crash to illustrate a need for integrative thinking. But what I found most interesting from this chapter was that Bruce Mau, one of Martin's integrative thinkers, meditates when faced with complex problems -- it's not everyday that a business book advocates meditation!

Chapter Seven, A Leap of the Mind, breaks down the tools required for integrative thinking as generative or modal reasoning (as opposed to declarative reasoning), causal modeling, and assertive inquiry. The aspects of "multidirectional feedback loops" are also discussed. And Martin's use of Taddy Belcher's successful creation of CIDA City Campus as a model of integrative thinking is both educational and inspirational.

Finally Chapter Eight, A Wealth of Experience, concludes the book by detailing A G Lafley's experiences starting from the Navy Exchange to Harvard Business School and finally to Procter and Gamble. The key experiences an integrative thinker strives for are ones that deepen mastery and nurture originality.

You know, having written my thoughts on each of these chapters, I feel like I've learned more from this book than I initially realized. I love when that happens!

Click here to view an excerpt of this book.

If you'd like to learn more, click here to listen to a podcast by Roger Martin about this book, courtesy of businessweek.com or click here to view the whole January 2008 Special Report on the book.

Enjoy!

The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin

I've finally gotten through yet another one of my library books -- The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking by Roger Martin (click here to read all my posts on this book).

Will write more in detail about Chapters Five through Eight (just as I did for Chapters One through Four) but just wanted to write down a few of my thoughts now.

While I enjoyed this book and the stories and examples of integrative thinking, I didn't feel like it was substantive enough.

Call me a scientist, but I much prefer business books like Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins for the hard data and proofs.

Still, I would recommend this book as it does provide insights to becoming a better thinker and thus a better decision maker.

The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin: Chapters 1 - 4

So far I've read the first half of Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking (Chapters One through Four) which focus on examples of CEOs succeeding through integrative thinking (defined as the ability to hold two opposing ideas in your mind at once, and then reaching a synthesis with elements of both while improving on both). Some of the people featured were quite varied:

• Michael Lee-Chin, AIC Limited
• Isadore "Issy" Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
• A G Lafley, Procter & Gamble
• Bob Young, Red Hat (and now Lulu.com)
• Tim Brown, IDEO
• Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival
• Marta Graham, Denishawn School dance company
• Moses Znaimer, CityTV

In Chapter Two, No Stomach for Second-Best, Martin discusses the process of thinking and deciding and isolates four key parts to this process: salience, causality, architecture and resolution. He further defines the differences between integrative and conventional thinkers:

1. Integrative thinkers take a broader view of what is salient.
2. Integrative thinkers don't flinch from considering multidirectional and non-linear causal relationships.
3. Integrative thinkers don't break a problem into independent pieces and work on each piece separately. They keep the entire problem firmly in mind while working on individual parts.
4. Integrative thinkers search for creative resolution of tensions, rather than accept unpleasant trade-offs.

Chapter Three, Reality, Resistance, and Resolution, focuses on the concept that how each of us filters the world around us (which we do to protect our brain from being overloaded) determines how we see the world; that none of us experiences reality as it is but simply a model of reality.

Chapter Four, Dancing Through Complexity, condemns simplifications and specialization in clear terms:

Truly creative resolutions . . . spring from complexity.

Simplification makes us favor linear, unidirectional causal relationships, even if reality is more complex and multidirectional.

...

Simplification also encourages us to construct a limited model of the problem before us, whatever it might be. The alternatives we perceive are meager and unattractive, closing any remaining avenue to an integrative resolution. The simplifying mind has no choice but to settle for trade-offs, also known as the best bad choice available.

...

Specialization is a variant of simplification. . . the specialist attempts to preserve depth and thoroughness by masking out all but a few square inches of a vast canvas.

Hmm, seems a little harsh to me but Martin does show some convincing examples of integrative thinking at work.

Slowly getting through these library books -- must keep plugging away!

The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking by Roger Martin

These past few weeks I've been so slow at getting through my library books.

I did start reading The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking by Roger Martin (published by the Harvard Business School Press).

Roger Martin has been dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto since 1998 and is also professor of strategic management at the Rotman School focusing his research in the areas of global competitiveness, integrative thinking, business design and corporate citizenship. During his 13 years with Monitor Company (a global strategy consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts), Martin founded and chaired Monitor University, the firm's educational arm, served as co-head of the firm for two years, and founded the Canadian office.

Martin starts off his book with this appropriate F. Scott Fitzgerald quote:

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.

Interestingly, Martin mentions three top selling business books in the first chapter, Choices Conflict, and the Creative Spark:

• Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Honeywell CEO Larry Bossidy and consultant Ram Charan
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by professor-turned-guru Jim Collins.
• Jack: Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch, the former super-CEO of GE General Electric Company

Martin appears to mock the ineffectiveness of these books, though he does state:

I don't wish to denigrate any of th books mentioned. They were best sellers for a reason: businesspeople want to know what makes a great leader because they themselves would like to be better leaders. Each book offers a particular perspective, and each perspective is valuable. But to approach every business problem with the question, "What should I do?" is to foreclose options before they can even be explored.

Sounds to me like he's just covering himself.

The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker by Steven Greenhouse

Last month, I wrote about Steven Greenhouse's latest book The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker after reading this NYTimes.com article adapted from the book.

I thought of this book again when I visited the New York Times Book Review and read Robert H. Frank's review titled "Labor Pains" published May 25, 2008.

I haven't checked it out at the library yet but after reading David Cay Johnston's Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) (click here to read my other entries on this book), I'm even more interested in The Big Squeeze.

Will write more when I get around to reading this book!

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Transactional Flaws

Yesterday, I wrote about What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Discover the 20 Workplace Habits You Need to Break by Marshall Goldsmith and said:

I found the list of “transactional flaws” so interesting that I really want to share it with you all, but I’d be spoiling the book for you if I did that and this book is fantastic and really worth reading. I’d hate to rob you of that experience.

Well, I've had so many request to share them that I realized the least I could do is point you to the URL on author's website where you can find the list of transactional flaws. So here ya go, click here to read Marshall Goldsmith's list of 20 transactional flaws that cause interpersonal issues and may prevent us from reaching our personal and professional goals.

I don't know about you but I am absolutely guilty of 60% of these flaws at least some of the time.

Number 17, failing to express gratitude, Number 10, failing to give proper recognition, Number 11, claiming credit that we don't deserve, are three of the flaws that I very rarely commit. I go out of my way to thank people and recognize their efforts, both privately and publicly, and I enjoy giving credit where it's due. In fact, I probably give too much credit in an effort to prevent committing this flaw.

Similarly, Number 18, punishing the messenger, Number 15, refusing to express regret, Number 12, making excuses, and Number 13, clinging to the past, and are flaws I'd like to believe that I seldom commit. I try my best not to blame people and I'd like to believe that I take full responsibility -- publicly if necessary -- for my actions (and do so without deflecting blame to the past), though I'm sure I could improve.

Number 1, winning too much, I don't do too often either. I'm pretty much anti-competitive so while I like to do well compared to my own internal standards, I generally don't feel a need to "win." Same goes for Number 19, passing the buck, and Number 20, an excessive need to be "me." I try to work on my faults, and realize that I'm still a long way from fixing them all, but I certainly try not to claim that my faults are just part of who I am, take it or leave it. is the same.

Number 4, making destructive comments, and Number 8, negativity, or “let me explain why that won’t work," I'd like to believe are not part of my modus operandi though I would guess that unfortunately my desire to find the truth can sometimes come off as a "let me explain why that won't work" kind of attitude.

Number 9, withholding information, and Number 16, not listening, just sound totally ludicrous to me! I believe that people have these flaws but would like to believe that I am not among those people.

Number 2, adding too much value, I commit frequently. I try to refrain from providing advice unless I am asked, but when I am asked I probably give more advice than is necessary. Number 5, starting with “no” “but,” or “however,” I absolutely do all too frequently. I hadn't realized until reading this book how destructive this can be, even with the best of intentions.

Number 6, telling the world how smart we are, I probably do commit more frequently than I should. I can think of several occasions when I've said something and then immediately realized how arrogant I probably sounded.

Number 14, playing favorites, and Number 3, passing judgment, I want to believe I don't commit but I know that I do. No matter how "fair" we all like to think we are, we subconsciously if not consciously continually pass judgments play favorites. I absolutely need to work on these flaws.

Number 7, speaking when angry, I certainly do in personal situations though I would like to believe that I very rarely commit this flaw in professional situations. Still, I could stand to work on this.

What Got You Here Won't Get You There - Personal Notes

The table of contents and my personal notes from reading:

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Discover the 20 Workplace Habits You Need to Breakby Marshall Goldsmith
256 pages, Hyperion January 9, 2007
ISBN-10: 1401301304

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Section One: The Trouble with Success.
1. You are Here
2. Enough About You
3. The Success Delusion, or Why We Resist Change

Section Two: The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back from the Top
4. The Twenty Habits
5. The Twenty-First Habit: Goal Obsession

Section Three: How We Can Change for the Better
6. Feedback
7. Apologizing
8. Telling the world, or Advertising
9. Listening
10. Thanking
11. Following Up
12. Practicing Feedforward

Section Four: Pulling Out the Stops
13. Changing the Rules
14. Special Challenges for People in Charge

Coda: You Are Here Now

Appendix: Global Leadership Inventory

Transactional Flaws (Chapter 4)
1. Winning too much: the need to win at all costs and in all situations—when it matters, when it doesn't, and when it's totally beside the point
2. Adding too much value: the overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion
3. Passing judgment: the need to rate others and impose our standards on them
4. Making destructive comments: the needless sarcasms and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty
5. Starting with "No," "But," or "However": the overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone "I'm right. You're wrong."
6. Telling the world how smart we are: the need to show people we're smarter than they think we are.
7. Speaking when angry: using emotional volatility as a management tool
8. Negativity, or "Let me explain why that won't work": the need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren't asked
9. Withholding information: the refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others
10. Failing to give proper recognition: the inability to praise and reward
11. Claiming credit that we don't deserve: the most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success
12. Making excuses: the need to reposition our annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it
13. Clinging to the past: the need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else
14. Playing favorites: failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly
15. Refusing to express regret: the inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we're wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others
16. Not listening: the most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for our colleague
17. Failing to express gratitude: the most basic form of bad manners
18. Punishing the messenger: the misguided need to attack the innocent who are usually only trying to help us
19. Passing the buck: the need to blame everyone but ourselves
20. An excessive need to be "me": exalting our faults as virtues simply because they're who we are

The Four Commitments (Chapter 6)
1. Let go of the past
2. Tell the truth
3. Be supportive and helpful - not cynical or negative
4. Pick something to improve yourself - so everyone is focused on more "improving" than "judging"

Soliciting Feedback (Chapter 6)How can I do better?
What can I do to be a better partner at home / better colleague at work / better leader of this group?

The Skill that Separates the Near-Great from the Great (Chapter 9)
Listen
Don't interrupt
Don't finish the other person's sentences
Don't say "I knew that"
Don't even agree with the other person (even if he praises you, just say, "Thank you")
Don't use the words "no", "but," and "however"
Don't be distracted. Don't let your eyes or attention wander elsewhere while the other person is talking
Maintain your end of the dialogue by asking intelligent questions that (a) show you're paying attention, (b) move the conversation forward, and (c) require the other person to talk (while you listen).
Eliminate any striving to impress the other person with how smart or funny you are. Your only aim is to let the other person feel that he or she is accomplishing that.

My Nightly Follow-Up Routine (Chapter 11)
1. How happy are you?
2. How much walking did you do?
3. How many push-ups?
4. How many sit-ups?
5. Did you eat any high-fat foods?
6. How much alcohol did you drink?
7. How many hours of sleep did you get?
8. How much time did you spend watching TV or surfing the Internet?
9. How much time did you spend writing?
10. Did you do or say something nice for Lyda (my wife)?
11. Did you do or say something nice for Kelly and Brian (my children)?
12. How many times did you try to prove you were right when it wasn't worth it?
13. How many minutes did you spend on topics that didn't matter or that you could not control?

Criteria for picking a coach (Chapter 11)
One, it shouldn't be a chore for your coach to get in touch with you (and with cell phones that's no longer an issue). You never want to have some technical problem as an excuse for not following up.
Two, your coach should be interested in your life and have your best interests at heart. You don't want someone yawning through your checklist as you answer whether you flossed, or remembered to take your vitamins. For example, Jim Moore is an old friend, also from my home state of Kentucky. We enjoy talking to each other. It's not a burden for us to call each other.
Three, your coach can only ask the prescribed questions; he or she cannot judge your answers. (Warning: If your coach is a spouse or parent, suspending judgement might be asking a lot of them.)
After that, it's a simple process. Pick an issue in your life that you're not happy with and that you want to improve. Make a list of a dozen small daily tasks - nothing so major that it overwhelms the rest of your day - that you need to do to improve in your chosen area. And have your "Jim Moore" ask you about each task at the end of the day. That's it. As with any exercise, you won't see results immediately. But if you stick to it with daily follow-up, you will do all the tasks on your list. The results will appear. You will change. You will be happier. And people will notice.

Feedforward (Chapter 12)
1. Pick the one behavior that you would like to change which would make a significant, positive difference in your life. For example, I want to be a better listener.
2. Describe the objective in a one-on-one dialogue with anyone you 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 useful idea comes along, we don't care who the source is. (If you think about it, a stranger - someone who has no past with you and who cannot possibly hold your past failings against you or, for that matter, ever bring them up - may be your ideal feedforward "partner.")
3. Ask that person for two suggestions for the future that might help you achieve a positive change in your selected behavior - in this case, becoming a better listener. If you're talking to someone who knows you or who has worked with you in the past, the only ground rule is that there can be no mention of the past. Everything is about the future.
For example, you say, I want to be a better listener. Would you suggest two ideas that I can implement in the future that will help me become a better listener?
The other person suggests, First, focus all your attention on the other person. Get in a physical position, the "listening position," such as sitting on the edge of your seat or leaning forward toward the individual. Second, don't interrupt, no matter how much you disagree with what you're hearing.
These two ideas represent feedforward.
4. Listen attentively to the suggestions. Take notes if you like. Your only ground rule: You are not allowed to judge, rate, or critique the suggestions in any way. You can't even say something positive, such as "That's a good idea." The only response you're permitted is, Thank you.

Changing: The Rules (Chapter 13)
1. You might not have a disease that behavioral change can cure
2. Pick the right thing to change
3. Don't delude yourself about what you really must change
4. Don't hide from the truth you need to hear
5. There is no ideal behavior
6. If you can measure it, you can achieve it
7. Monetize the result, create a solution
8. The best time to change is now

Appendix: Global Leadership Inventory
The leadership inventory was developed as part of a research project (sponsored by Accenture) involving 200 specially selected high-potential leaders from 120 companies around the world. Respondents are asked to rate leaders on a five-point scale, ranging from Highly Satisfied to Highly Dissatisfied.
Consider your own (or this person's) effectiveness in the following areas. How satisfied are you with the way he or she (or you) . . .

Thinking Globally
1. Recognizes the impact of globalization on our business
2. Demonstrates the adaptability required to succeed in the global environment
3. Strives to gain the variety of experiences needed to conduct global business
4. Makes decisions that incorporate global considerations
5. Helps others understand the impact of globalization

Appreciating Diversity
6. Embraces the value of diversity in people (including culture, race, sex, or age)
7. Effectively motivates people from different cultures or backgrounds
8. Recognizes the value of diverse views and opinions
9. Helps others appreciate the value of diversity
10. Actively expands her/his knowledge of other cultures (through interactions, language study, travel, etc.)

Developing Technological Savvy
11. Strives to acquire the technological knowledge needed to succeed in tomorrow's world
12. Successfully recruits people with needed technological expertise
13. Effectively manages the issue of technology to increase productivity

Building Partnerships
14. Treats coworkers as partners, not competitors
15. Unites his/her organization into an effective team
16. Builds effective partnerships across the company
17. Discourages destructive comments about other people or groups
18. Builds effective alliances with other organizations
19. Create a network of relationships that help to get things done

Sharing Leadership
20. Willingly shares leadership with business partners
21. Defers to others when they have more expertise
22. Strives to arrive at an outcome with others (as opposed to for others)
23. Creates and environment where people focus on the larger good (avoids sub-optimization or "turfism")

Creating a Shared Vision
24. Creates and communicates a clear vision for our organization
25. Effectively involves people in decision-making
26. Inspires people to commit to achieving the vision
27. Develops an effective strategy to achieve the vision
28. Clearly identifies priorities

Developing People
29. Consistently treats people with dignity
30. Asks people what they need to do their work better
31. Ensures that people receive the training they need to succeed
32. Provides effective coaching
33. Provides developmental feedback in a timely manner
34. Provides effective recognition for others' achievements

Empowering People
35. Builds people's confidence
36. Takes risks in letting others make decisions
37. Gives people the freedom they need to do their job well
38. Trusts people enough to let go (avoids micromanagement)

Achieving Personal Mastery
39. Deeply understands her/his own strengths and weaknesses
40. Invests in ongoing personal development
41. Involves people who don not have strengths that he/she does not possess
42. Demonstrates effective emotional responses in a variety of situations
43. Demonstrates self-confidence as a leader

Encourages Constructive Dialogue
44. Asks people what he/she can do to improve
45. Genuinely listens to others
46. Accepts constructive feedback in a positive manner (avoids defensiveness)
47. Strives to understand the other person's frame of reference
48. Encourages people to challenge the status quo

Demonstrates Integrity
49. Demonstrates honest, ethical behavior in all interactions
50. Ensures that the highest standards for ethical behavior are practices throughout the organization
51. Avoids political or self-serving behavior
52. Courageously "stands up" for what she/he believes in
53. Is a role model for living our organization's values (leads by example)

Leading Change
54. Sees changes as an opportunity, not a problem
55. Challenges the system when change is needed
56. Thrives in ambiguous situations (demonstrates flexibility when needed)
57. Encourages creativity and innovation in others
58. Effectively translates creative ideas into business results

Anticipating Opportunities
59. Invests in learning about future trends
60. Effectively anticipates future opportunities
61. Inspires people to focus on future opportunities (not just present objectives)
62. Develops ideas to meet the needs of the new environment

Ensuring Customer Satisfaction
63. Inspires people to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction
64. View business processes from the ultimate customer perspective (has an "end to end" perspective)
65. Regularly solicits input from customers
66. Consistently delivers on commitments to customers
67. Understands the competitive options available to her/his customers

Maintaining a Competitive Advantage
68. Communicates a positive, "can do" sense of urgency toward getting the job done
69. Holds people accountable for their results
70. Successfully eliminates waste and unneeded cost
71. Provides products/services that help our company have a clear competitive advantage
72. Achieves results that lead to long-term shareholder value

Written Comments
What are your strengths? Or if you are evaluating someone, what does this person do that you particularly appreciate? (Please list two or three specific items.)

What specifically might you do to be more effective? Or if evaluating someone, what suggestions would you have for this person on how she or he could become more effective? (Please list two or three specific items.)

What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

I read What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Discover the 20 Workplace Habits You Need to Break by Marshall Goldsmith in January 2008, but strangely reading about positive psychology has made me think about the ideas in What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.

This can probably be explained by the fact that the books I read about positive psychology and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There both discuss how to improve yourself and your life. Just using very different philosophies and techniques.

Personally, I found What Got You Here Won’t Get You There to be one of the best books I've read about becoming more successful in business as well as life.

Goldsmith, an executive coach, educates us about 20 "transactional flaws" (bad habits) that may prevent us from accomplishing our professional and personal goals. What I love about this book is that it does not talk down to the reader; in fact this book is aimed towards already successful people who want to become even more successful!

While I haven't made much of an effort to apply the principles of What Got You Here Won’t Get You There to my own life yet, it was eye-opening to read about what my flaws are and how they prevent me from accomplishing even more.

I found the list of "transactional flaws" so interesting that I really want to share it with you all, but I'd be spoiling the book for you if I did that and this book is fantastic and really worth reading. I'd hate to rob you of that experience.

Also, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There includes an appendix of the Global Leadership Inventory, which was developed as part of a research project (sponsored by Accenture) involving 200 specially selected high-potential leaders from 120 companies around the world. To apply it in your own life, you would rate yourself (or another person) on each of the 72 characteristics leaders on a five-point scale, ranging from Highly Satisfied to Highly Dissatisfied. The characteristics are organized into the following groups:

• Thinking Globally
• Appreciating Diversity
• Developing Technological Savvy
• Building Partnerships
• Sharing Leadership
• Creating a Shared Vision
• Developing People
• Empowering People
• Achieving Personal Mastery
• Encourages Constructive Dialogue
• Demonstrates Integrity
• Leading Change
• Anticipating Opportunities
• Ensuring Customer Satisfaction
• Maintaining a Competitive Advantage

If you're curious about What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, you may be interested in the Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments xi
The Trouble with Success
You Are Here 3
Enough About You 11
The Success Delusion, or Why We Resist Change 16
The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back from the Top
The Twenty Habits 35
The Twenty-First Habit: Goal Obsession 99
How We Can Change for the Better
Feedback 111
Apologizing 136
Telling the World, or Advertising 142
Listening 147
Thanking 157
Following Up 161
Practicing Feedforward 170
Pulling Out the Stops
Changing: The Rules 179
Special Challenges for People in Charge 199
Coda: You Are Here Now 221
Appendix 225
Index 231

Click here to download the 800-CEO-READ Podcast interview with Goldsmith.

Or click here to watch Goldsmith's talk at Google in October 2007 about What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.

And if you really want to learn more, visit the author's website by clicking here; you'll find an abundance of high quality free articles, videos, audio files, and other advice by Goldsmith.

What the Best MBAs Know: How to Apply the Greatest Ideas Taught in the Best Business Schools

I've considered many graduate school options...medical school, law school, business school, doctoral programs, masters programs...but more and more I think I will not go to graduate school.

I figure I love to read and learn and if I put my mind to it, I can learn just about anything.

So I think I will finally take a friend's suggestion to read What the Best MBAs Know: How to Apply the Greatest Ideas Taught in the Best Business Schools by Peter Navarro (editor) -- my friend is in business school so I figure she knows what she's talking about.

From what I gather, the contributors are from top-ranked business schools like Sloan (at MIT), Kellogg (at Northwestern), Wharton (at the University of Pennsylvania) and Stanford and feature detailed chapters important MBA topics such as strategy, accounting, managerial economics, marketing and decision analysis.

Here's the table of contents in case you're curious:

Part 1: The big MBA picture
1. Who should read this book? 1
2. The big picture - an overview of the MBA curriculum 6

Part 2: The strategic and tactical MBA
3. Management strategy - five steps to successful strategic analysis 19
4. Macroeconomics and the well-timed business strategy 57

Part 3: The functional MBA
5. Strategic marketing - delivering customer value 87
6. Operations and supply chain management - getting the stuff out the door 119
7. Financial accounting - "doing the numbers" for investors, regulators and other external users 152
8. Managerial accounting - "doing the numbers" for internal decision making and control 171
9. Corporate finance - the big questions and key concepts 194

Part 4: The organizational and leadership MBA
10. Organizational behavior - the power of people and leadership 227

Part 5: The MBA toolbox
11. Statistics, decision analysis, and modeling - how the numbers help us manage 261
12. Managerial economics - microeconomics for managers 287
13. Concluding thoughts 318

Click here for an audio excerpt on the author's website.

What the Best MBAs Know was published in 2005 so I'd guess that the information is still relevant though I may simply borrow a copy from the library and hold off purchasing until McGraw-Hill publishes a second edition.

The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker by Steven Greenhouse

Just read this NYTimes.com article adapted from Steven Greenhouse's new book The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. Chapter One is available here on the NYTimes.com website or here on the author's website.

Greenhouse, a labor and workplace reporter for The New York Times, examines the stresses and strains faced by workers at companies like FedEx and Wal-Mart (as wages have stagnated, health and pension benefits have grown stingier, and job security has become virtually nonexistent), and points to Patagonia and Costco and even the casino-hotels of Las Vegas as models for corporate America.

Patagonia sounds like an awesome company to work for! Isn't that everyone's dream to be able to go to work wearing whatever you want, take long lunch breaks or leave early to enjoy life, and to get paid to do volunteer work? Okay, probably not, but it certainly is part of my dream.

On the other hand, FedEx has hired most of its drivers as "independent contractors" to increase the company's earnings. If the same people were employees, they'd have to pay benefits, social security, and would not be able to fire people simply for missing work due to illness.

Reading about this book makes me think of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (2001). The author left her usual journalist job and spent 1999 and 2000 working jobs paying $7/hour (less than half of a living wage and what millions of low-skilled Americans make). She worked as a waitress in Key West, FL, as a cleaning woman and a nursing home aide in Portland, ME, and in a Wal-Mart in Minneapolis, MN and found that it is nearly impossible for such Americans to lift themselves to middle class.

It also makes me think of Small Giants: companies that choose to be great instead of big by Bo Burlingham, which describes several privately held businesses that have become "giants" in their field without becoming huge corporations. These companies all seemed to honestly care about their employees and the community. I think that many publicly traded companies are focused too much on growth and return -- rightfully so since they are obligated to do what is best to increase returns for shareholders -- and I think the world would be a better place if companies instead aimed to do what's best for the community (owners, employees, existing customers, and potential customers).

I highly recommend Small Giants and plan to add The Big Squeeze to my list of books to read.

Funny, even Wal-Mart sells The Big Squeeze.