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| Marshall Goldsmith |
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| “Only win the things that are worth winning. If it’s not worth it, take a deep breath, and let it go.” |
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only perceived to have changed?’ The opposite is true. It is much easier to change behaviour than to change perception. The reason follow-up is so important is that the key stakeholders begin to believe that my clients have changed, when the stakeholder says they’ve changed, not when the client announces that he or she is changing. Through follow-up, you start hearing that you are getting better. Your stakeholders start believing it. This brings not only the change in behaviour, but a change in perception as well.
Can you get feedback through the 360-degree approach?
My preference is to learn from the people around you, not do a self-assessment of how you can learn. The reality is: ‘if by self-assessment you automatically get better, why aren’t you better in the first place?’
How has Buddhism influenced your thinking and your work?
Buddhism has played a central role in my work. Buddha said, “Only do what I teach if it makes sense in the context of your own life. Don’t do what I teach just because I teach it.” I ask my students to do what I teach, only if it makes sense for them. If it doesn’t, don’t do it. This saves a lot of arguments, justifying and rationalisation. I teach people to accept the ideas as a gift, not to dump or critique them. If I allow people to judge or critique the ideas, we will spend twice as much time in debating the value of the ideas, instead of doing something about the ideas. Another Buddhist concept. I build on is the concept of change or the concept of
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emptiness. It means ever changing, a lack of permanence. I believe people can change. I believe every time I take a breath, it is a ‘new me’. There is no fixed identity; there is no fixed ‘you.’ ‘You’ changes constantly. Therefore, anybody can change at any time in their life, and at any time in their career.
In your own evolution as a coach, who have influenced you most, and what did you learn from them?
I was very fortunate to work with several very top people. I was on the Board of Peter Drucker Foundation for about 10 years. I had the opportunity to spend about 50 days with him. Drucker said, “We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do; we don’t spend time telling leaders what to stop.” That comment was the title to one of my best-seller books. A lot of what I said in that book, I got from Peter Drucker. Another one of my great teachers is Paul Hersey. Paul gave me the opportunity to work with very high executives of very big companies, at a very young age. He also taught me the importance of using simple language, not to sound smart or academic and impress oneself, but to speak in words that normal people can understand. I try to do that in my writing as well. Another great teacher was Richard Beckhard, a friend of mine, and one of the world’s experts on organisational development. We co–edited six books together. I have been very fortunate to have wonderful teachers over the years, who made a big difference in my life.
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