"What Got You Here..." is a great read for business people, and I highly recommend it to my co-workers. The premise to the book is that you may be successful in the workplace, but it may be DESPITE your behavior, rather than BECAUSE of your behavior. This book is all about identifying the interpersonal deficiencies that you need to STOP so that you can be perceived in a positive light.

The book contains a 20-point comprehensive list of behaviors to avoid, with the idea that you will focus on one or two to improve yourself. The one's that struck a cord in myself were "Making excuses" and "Not listening." Also, I've actually gotten a lot of value from using this list to provide feedback for others on what they can improve.

Goldsmith's tips for listening should really be read by everyone. They seem common-sense in retrospect, but yet I catch these rules being violated all the time, by myself especially. For example: not finishing the other person's sentences, or interrupting a speaker, or immediately replying to someone's idea with a "but" or "however."

How do you get better? One thing that Goldsmith suggests is a technique called "feedforward." The idea is that you try and focus on something to change for the future, and for the better. Then you ask people, "how would you suggest being a better X?" Your goal could be to become a better leader, person, or whatever. You could even ask a perfect stranger this question. In contrast, with traditional feedback, you focus on the past and what somebody did wrong. But, you can't change the past and it gets you in a negative mindset.

Why is this not a perfect "you have to read this" type of book? Well, the plan is not exactly easy to implement. The whole idea is to implement a change, and also for people to actually notice that change. But, your reputation at work can be extremely hard to gauge, especially when you are on the bottom rung of the organizational ladder. I think the higher you go, the more value you'll get from this book.

This is not one of the usual feel-good self-help books where the author attempts to motivate you. You really have to be self-motivated and actually implement the book's suggestions, or it will have no value to you. It does provide concrete recommendations on what behaviors to change, which is exactly what I was looking for. I recommend this book and it's definitely worth reading. ( )

Provides insight on how your habits may limit you and how to overcome them. Focuses on leadership roles and how you are perceived as well as improving communication skills. ( )

Intersting thoughts...Most successful people possess extraordinary skills;that’s why they do well. But once people attain success, their bad habits or behavioralfoibles move to the forefront. In fact, often, the more successful leaders become, themore their issues relate to their behavior, and the more power a behavioral problem hasto halt their rise or contribute to their downfall.

This book really isn't what I thought it'd be from the title. I was hoping it'd be a guide on how to unstick your career -- how to evaluate opportunities and set career goals.

Not at all. This book is for people whose overcompetitiveness and self-centeredness are sabotaging their success, who suffer from one or more of the following habits:

#1 Winning too much: overcompetitive regarding trivial things
#2 Adding too much value: making suggestions that come across as criticism
#3 Passing judgment
#4 Making destructive comments: gratuitous sarcasm
#5 Starting with no, but, however: dismissing others' ideas while pretending to agree
#6 Telling the world how smart we are
#7 Speaking when angry
#8 Negativity, or "Let me explain why that won't work"
#9 Withholding information: being "too busy" to debrief direct reports
#10 Failing to give recognition
#11 Claiming credit we don't deserve
#12 Making excuses
#13 Clinging to the past
#14 Playing favorites
#15 Refusing to experss regret/apologize
#16 Not listening
#17 Failing to express gratitude
#18 Punishing the messenger
#19 Passing the buck: failing to accept responsibility
#20 An excessive need to be "me": accepting the above flaws as "just the way I am"

The tagline "How Successful People Become Even More Successful" is a trick to get successful people to pick up a book that is going to criticize them right and left.

But not for naught. The second half of the book presents a methodology for breaking these habits, by addressing them head-on. Apologize to others for your past mistakes, ask for and accept their honest feedback, and enlist them to hold you accountable in the future. Give those you supervise explicit permission -- or even incentivize them -- to call you on your flaws. Eventually, the hope is that you'll start recognizing these tendencies before you act on them.

Even if you aren't the "type" this book is trying to re-educate, the first half of the book is valuable because everyone can benefit from a greater awareness of the habits. They are the insidious kind that nobody realizes they have.

This is a worthwhile - even important read if you've been a manager for a while. I recommend buying this in print because it will turn into part of your management reference library - like Drucker's "The Effective Executive". You can also get a lot of the content free at Marshal Goldsmith's web site. ( )