Marshall Goldsmith

When someone signs off every correspondence with "life is good", you know that, at a minimum, your interaction with him will brim with a certain positive energy. When that person is Marshall Goldsmith, the rock star of CEO coaching and author of 24 management books, you can be sure that energy will be accompanied by sound wisdom.

You say in your book what got you here won't get you there that the very things that have made you successful can keep you from improving. Because they have done well in the past, are many CEOs reluctant to change?

Yes. The more successful we are, the more positive reinforcement we get, the more we fall into what I call in the book 'superstition trap'. CEOs live in a strange world where they get positive reinforcement all the time so it's very difficult for any CEO not to believe that. I was once working with the head of the US army in the New Generals School and the first thing he tells the new Generals is: "Remember, as soon as you get those stars, everyone will laugh at your jokes, but you're not that funny, and everyone will write down your comments but you're not that smart, and women will want to have sex with you but you're not that handsome. It's just your title. Don't let it go to your head".

Those words are so wise. I try to reinforce that with my clients. They're not saluting you, they're saluting your stars and the second you think it's all about you, its over. You've to keep listening, you've to keep learning, you've to make mistakes and you've to apologise for them. The same beliefs that lead to our success can make it very difficult for us to change behaviour, and, as difficult as it is to change our own behaviour, it is even more difficult to change others' perception of our behaviour.

Source ET -Corporate Dosier