What Got You Here...

In May 2010 I “found” and read Marshall Goldsmith’s “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”. The world’s best coach gives a list of 20 behaviours to identify and fix. I have studied the book by first putting myself under the microscope. What behaviours do I need to work on in myself?

Not listening
Adding too much value
Winning all the time
Taking disproportionate credit
Excessive goal orientation

Leaders and Libraries

A few years ago, coach and Lumiere alumnus, Vasundhara Jakka invited me to speak at “Read to Lead”, her popular book club, and I picked “What Got You Here…” to talk about. The book made a powerful impact on me as someone on a journey to self improvement.

On 26th September 2020, I was invited to speak at an event hosted by Rajeev Narayanan, Founder, The Learning Elements (TLE) in a feature titled, “Leaders and Libraries”.

26th September 2020 was a particularly poignant date for me. We lost my mother-in-law, Lata Soman, on 18th June 2020. Aai as we called her was a big positive influence in my life. Aai was particularly proud of the effort I made to work on myself to manage my temper. She urged me to watch my sharp tongue. “You do everything and then spoil it all with your sharp comment”, she would say. Through the 27 years that she was my mother (after my mother passed when I was 27), Aai policed and demanded good behaviour. She ticked me off for bad behaviour – my sharp tongue. Learning to hold my tongue, being calm, learning patience, all came the very hard way with a high price.

Aai would have been proud to listen to Rajeev on the book, “What Got You Here…”. One is lucky to have people in life who love you enough and want to give you a leg up to get from here to there.