There are thousands of book out in the market
categorized under “Self-Help” & “Motivation” which focusses on every
individual who just cares to buy the book and read it. However, this one is
little different because, I think this book is focusing on individuals who are
already successful. The base idea is that there are few qualities that every successful
profession in holding on to, which as per the author will not take them to the
next level. So as author has clearly mentioned in the cover, this book talks
about “How Successful People Become Even More Successful”.
Ok! Let’s jump quickly to how the content in this book
is structured. Author has crafted the entire content to fit into 4 sections. He
has named sections as below.
Section 1: The trouble with success
Section 2: The twenty habits that hold you back from
the top.
Purposefully, I am not revealing the names of the
other two sections (And you know why!J)
Author opens Section
1 by listing few cases where he gives an example for few of the habits that
held those professionals from the top.
For instance, in Case 3, he talks about a financial
consultant for a prominent New York City Firm. Author claims that this
consultant had “An Excessive need to be ‘me’ ”.
When this guy was invited to manage a portion of the investment
portfolio of one of most admired business titans, he was on such a roll that he
did even notice that they have gone beyond the scheduled hours because of which
his meeting ended abruptly.
In this opening pages, Marshall has given a very clear
picture how these people see themselves and how others see. It goes like this,
“They think they’re contributing to a situation with
helpful comments, but other see it as butting in.”
“They thing they are holding their tongue, but others
see it as unresponsiveness.”
By this time, reader would have started relating
his/her own past incidents and would have thought “Oh! Yes I did that once but I
did know that people see it in this way”.
In the upcoming chapters, Marshall throws light on why
they (Already successful Professions) resist changes, where he states that
since these people are already successful they think that there is nothing to
change. Further, most of the successful people are more confident that they can
always succeed. Later on, author moves to describing the aftermath of success.
Once we are successful, most of us think that we succeeded because we earned
it. Following is one of the key point worth quoting here.
“One of the greatest mistakes of successful people is
the assumption, ‘I behave this way, and I achieve results. Therefore, I must be
achieving results because I behave this way’ ”
Moving
on Section two,
Author discusses about the twenty habits that he
thinks is holding a successful person from the top. By end of this section,
readers will have list of habits that is holding them back. Below are the few
habits in this list.
1. Winning too much!
2. Adding too much value.
3. Making Destructive Comments.
4. Telling the world how smart we are.
5. Failing to give proper recognition.
6. Claiming credit that we don’t deserve. (I think
this is most common in Managerial Dept)
7. Making Excuses (Man! I hate this.)
And the list goes on…!
After discussing each of the 20 habits with examples,
author ends this section with a 21st Habit called “Goal Obsession”
where authors mentions we don’t go by what we want to do but what others want
us to do.
Moving
on to section Three,
Marshall gives us a seven-step method to overcome each
of the identified habits that holds us back. But to start with, Marshall gives
a big lecture on “Feedback”. Yes author believes, the best way (Hard Way) to
find out what is wrong with you is by asking your colleagues/ bosses etc. Well!
That’s going to be awkward but worth.
Then Author discusses about the methods of obtaining
feedback, Ways to Apologize, telling the world that you admit your mistakes and
you are trying to change it for better, improving you listening skills,
Thanking your colleagues etc.
Out of all this, things that are being discussed in “Listening”
surprises the readers by understand that “Listening is no more a passive
activity.” And he also helps us in empowering our listening skills. Author
suggests that one should,
“Think before you speak.”
“Listen with Respect” (Can you even imagining doing
that to your rivals.)
In
Section Four,
Marshall clearly states the ways of how to change in
real and he also helps us by revealing the common misconceptions that one can
encounter during the course of this change.
First of all, after reading to this level, you might
feel that you really have something to change but in real not at all. Secondly,
you have to ensure that you pick the right thing to change. Most importantly,
he warns the readers about the fact that most of us hide from the truth that we
have to hear at some point of time. Best of all, the epic one is this.
Now most of the readers would have made up their mind
to implement the change, then comes the billion dollar question? When can I start
implementing this change? From next year, from next month, from next week, from
my birthday etc.
You know what, Marshal says “The best time to change
is NOW.”
Finally author talks about few challenges faced by
those who are in charge. Out of all the points discussed here, I think the best
part about this is where author hits a nail stating we should stop trying to
coach people who shouldn’t be coached at all. I am quoting the below snipped as
I live this part personally.
“… Stop trying to help people who think everyone else
is the problem”.
Marshall was once called
to work with an Entrepreneur. As usual Marshall obtains a 360 degree feedback
and discussed with the Entrepreneur that this is what people thinks of you.
Surprising, he replied that he already knew this. In continuation, he infect
started defending himself. The funny thing is that author realized that the
Entrepreneur hadn’t called Marshall to change him. He wanted Marshall to fix the employees. (What the hell?? ).
Happy Reading.
