Latest / The Action Catalyst / REMASTERED: Triggers Self-Discipline and Creating Radical Transformation, with Marshall Goldsmith (Leadership, Behavior, Coaching, Change)

Transcript

REMASTERED: Triggers Self-Discipline and Creating Radical Transformation, with Marshall Goldsmith (Leadership, Behavior, Coaching, Change) · The Action Catalyst

• 0:00
  Host: I am honored and excited to introduce to you to literally
• 0:03
  a man who has been ranked the number one thinker in the world
• 0:06
  by thinker's. 50 is regularly recognized as the number one
• 0:10
  executive coach in the world by publications like Inc and Forbes
• 0:13
  and Harvard Business Review. And he has best selling books. One,
• 0:17
  I'm sure that many of you have probably heard of What Got You
• 0:20
  Here Won't Get You There. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Marshall
• 0:24
  Goldsmith, Marshall, welcome to the show.
• 0:26
  Marshall Goldsmith: Thank you so much for inviting me.
• 0:28
  Host: What is a trigger, Marshall? Can you just kind of
• 0:30
  give us a background on that?
• 0:32
  Marshall Goldsmith: Yep, a trigger is any stimulus and may
• 0:35
  impact our behavior? My general theory is almost all of us have
• 0:39
  a great plan of who we want to be in life. Yet, we don't
• 0:43
  implement that plan very well, day to day, we're barrage by
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  triggers from our environment that kind of throw us off target
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  in many cases. And that's what the book is about how to deal
• 0:52
  with these triggers.
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  Host: You made a statement, our environments are willpower
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  reduction machines?
• 1:00
  Marshall Goldsmith: That's exactly right. We grossly
• 1:02
  overestimate the importance of willpower in our own willpower
• 1:05
  capabilities. And we grossly underestimate our need for help.
• 1:09
  So as we journey through life, I've go through many, many
• 1:12
  reasons of why we don't achieve the goals that we set. Let me
• 1:16
  just give you one as an example. years ago, my biggest client was
• 1:19
  Johnson and Johnson. And I probably one of the few speakers
• 1:23
  you've ever heard. It's gotten research from 10s of 1000s of
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  people who've been in my courses, and I measure do they
• 1:29
  do what I teach? And do they achieve positive change over
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  time, I published an article about this called leaders at
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  leadership is a contact sport. So if any of your listeners
• 1:39
  would like this, send me an email Marshall, Marshall
• 1:42
  goldsmith.com, or go to my website, and I'll send it so you
• 1:45
  can see it. 86,000 people and showed if people do the stuff,
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  they get better. They don't not surprisingly, they don't change.
• 1:53
  Well, I interviewed people at Johnson and Johnson 98% said
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  they would do what I taught a year later 70% have done
• 1:59
  something that 30% Zero, not even one minute. Which by the
• 2:02
  way, I'm not ashamed of this, and probably this 70% of 2000
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  people's 1400 People getting evaluated by 10 co workers each.
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  That's a lot of people getting better. Well, I had some people
• 2:13
  that did nothing. Why you did, why didn't you do anything? And
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  their answer had to do with a dream that sounds like this. I'm
• 2:20
  incredibly busy right now, live pictures of work and home and
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  new technology that follows me everywhere I feel about as busy
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  as ever have. Sometimes I feel overcommitted. Every now and
• 2:30
  again, my life feels just a little bit out of control. But
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  you know, I'm working on some very unique and special
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  challenges right now, I think the worst of this is going to be
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  over in about four or five months. And then I'm going to
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  take two or three weeks and get organized and spend some time
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  with the family and begin my new Healthy Life program. And
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  everything's going to be different, and it will not be
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  crazy anymore. Right?
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  Host: One of the dynamics that you bring up, which I thought
• 2:59
  was interesting is inertia.
• 3:01
  Marshall Goldsmith: Well, you know, our default reaction life
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  is not to find happiness. Our default reaction life is not to
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  find meaning our default reaction like is inertia, we
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  tend to do have been doing go or have been going say we've been
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  saying in my book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There. That's
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  the premise of the book. You know, if you want to change, you
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  can't just keep doing what you've been doing and expect to
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  get different outcomes. You have to say, How can I change and we
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  fall into a trap that I call the superstition trap, I behave this
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  way I am successful, therefore I must be successful because I
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  behave this way. No, everyone I coach is ridiculously
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  successful. They all be the way they behave. And they're all
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  successful, because they do many things right? In spite of doing
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  some things that don't make any sense. And if we can't challenge
• 3:48
  ourselves, inertia just kicks in and we just keep doing what
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  we've been doing.
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  Host: You bring up things like avoidance and and actually, the
• 3:56
  wheel of change, I thought was one of the most memorable things
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  would you mind just kind of given a given an explanation of
• 4:02
  the the wheel of change, and maybe we could talk through
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  different parts of it.
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  Marshall Goldsmith: Take the concept of change, we could look
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  at the two dimensions positive and negative. And then the other
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  was change or keep. And then we form four quadrants in the wheel
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  of change in the first quadrant is called positive change,
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  creating and if you think about your life, it's very important
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  to say alright, who do I want to become in the future? And what
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  is the positive change in my life that I do want to create
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  positive change. And we don't think about that enough. Most of
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  us spend more time planning our vacation than we do plan in our
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  lives. The second quadrant is called positive keep preserving.
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  And it's very important as we look at the new me that I want
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  to become what is it about the old me that I want to preserve
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  or keep perhaps relationships or good habits or what is it that
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  you don't want to change? What is you want to preserve or keep
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  and you know, I have a home in New York and I see him New York
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  many people get so busy creating in this case particularly well,
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  they forget about preserving things, tell their family. And
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  sometimes what we need to preserve is more important than
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  what we want to create. So both are important, then the third
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  part of the wheel of change is called negative change. And
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  that's a eliminating, hey, what do you want to get rid of? And
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  it's very important because if we keep trying to create or
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  preserve, and we never eliminate, we run out of space.
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  And then we're back into that problem I discussed over
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  constant over commitment. So we consistently say if I'm going to
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  be something different, not just what am I going to put on the
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  plate? What are we going to take off the plate? And then the
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  final part is negative keep which most people have trouble
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  understanding, why would I keep something that's negative? Well,
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  that's called accepting. We're not going to change everything
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  in life. And it's very important to realize what where am I not
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  going to make a difference? Where am I not going to make an
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  investment for change? And Peter Drucker taught me our mission in
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  life is to make a positive difference not to prove how
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  smart we are not prove out right we are, before you deal with any
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  topic ask a question, am I willing at this time to make the
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  investment required to make a positive difference on this
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  topic? The answer is yes. Go for it answer's no, take a deep
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  breath and let it go. So the wheel of change talks about
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  creating, it talks about preserving it talks about
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  eliminating and talks about accepting all four are very
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  important as we plan our journey through life.
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  Host: You've gone through some research here on the difference
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  between active and passive questions, and how they affect
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  our ability to actually catalyze change and overcome
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  circumstances. So you might walk us through that.
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  Marshall Goldsmith: Yeah, I'll start with the daily questions,
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  then getting into specifics of active versus passive questions.
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  I'm now going to share something with your listeners. It takes
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  three minutes today costs absolutely nothing is going to
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  help them get better at almost anything. There's some people
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  who probably skeptical now thinking three minutes at a
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  cost, nothing helped me get better at almost anything.
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  Sounds too good to be true. Half the people start doing this quit
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  within two weeks. And they do not quit because it does not
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  work. They quit because it does work. So I'm going to teach you
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  though, something that's very easy to understand, in theory,
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  very difficult to implement in practice, and then I'll share my
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  own some of my own questions every day. Of here's your
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  homework assignment, get out an Excel spreadsheet. On one
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  column, write down a series of questions that represent what's
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  important in life, friends, family, direct reports,
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  coworkers, whatever it is health, every question must be
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  answered with a yes or no or a number. Yes is recorded as one
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  no is a zero or at number. Seven boxes across one for every day
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  of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
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  Saturday and Sunday, every day fill it out. Well, at the end of
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  the week, the Excel spreadsheet will give you a report card. I
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  will warn your listeners that advanced report card at the end
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  of the week will not be quite as beautiful. As corporate values
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  plaque that they have stuck up on the wall, you quickly learn
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  life is incredibly easy to talk life is incredibly difficult to
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  live. Well. I'm going to share some of my questions. And mine
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  are not intended to be anybody else is one of my daily
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  questions for example, is I only times yesterday did you try to
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  prove you were right when it wasn't worth it? I'm almost
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  never going zero Well, life kind of hearts, that old professor
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  not to be right all the time. How many angry or destructive
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  comments did you make about people yesterday? How many
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  minutes did you walk? How many push ups? How many sit ups? Did
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  you say or do something nice for your wife, your son, your
• 8:20
  daughter? How many minutes did you write? My friend Jim Moore
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  does this and he would tell you that saved his life. He didn't
• 8:25
  kind of save his life or sort of save his life. It did save his
• 8:28
  life. One of his daily questions is are you currently updated on
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  your physical exam? First 90 days he did this? He said no.
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  Every day, he finally said This is embarrassing. I have to get
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  the stupid exam record asking the question, get stupid exam,
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  what the doctor said you have cancer now that was many years
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  ago is going to be fine. The doctor also said had you waited
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  seven more months who had been debt. He knew he should have
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  gotten a physical exam, but he didn't do it. Well, when you
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  hold a mirror in front of your face every day. It's hard to
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  hide, you realize source most of my problems would be me. Well,
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  my daughter and I, my daughter Kelly is a PhD from Yale. She's
• 9:05
  a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School. We went over
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  this together and we were talking about the concept of
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  employee engagement. And she said everything about employee
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  engagement is in all passive questions. Do you have clear
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  goals meaningful work? Or do you have a best friend at work? And
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  she said there's nothing wrong with passive questions. The
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  problem is when we ask a passive question, people have a negative
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  response they blame the environment. She's gave me the
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  idea of asking active questions that begin with the phrase Did I
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  do my best to I'm now going to share my first six daily
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  questions, talk about why they're important and then share
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  some of the research about this we've done and invite everyone
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  to participate if they would like to my first six questions
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  Did I do my best to set clear goals? Not did somebody set
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  goals for me? Did I do my best to set my own goals? Number two,
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  did I do my best to make progress toward achieving my
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  goals? Did I do my best to find meaning rather than did someone
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  give me money? Did I do my best to be happy? Did I do my best to
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  build Positive relationships. And finally, did I do my best to
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  be fully engaged? Six basic questions every day? Well, our
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  research on this is pretty amazing. We've done research
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  involving 1000s of people, we fill out these questionnaires
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  every day for 10 days. And what we've found is about 46% of the
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  people 10 days later, Sam bettered everything about 75%
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  said he got better four items out of the six. I think 94% said
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  he got better at something 6% said no change and less 1% say
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  overall, you're worse. Well, it's amazing. These questions
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  get me focused on on what I cannot change. Focus on what I
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  can change. What's the one question life I can't blame on
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  somebody else? Did I do my best?
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  Host: That accountability, that self accountability and having
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  to reconcile that that's why people stopped doing it because
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  it's sort of uncomfortable to have to sit there for 90 days
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  and admit you haven't done the thing?
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  Marshall Goldsmith: Exactly right. I pay a woman and Kate
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  call me on the phone every day, every day. She just listens to
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  me read the questions I wrote, provide the answers I wrote
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  every day. Somebody said why do you pay a woman to call you
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  don't you know that theory about how to change behavior. I wrote
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  the theory about to change behavior pay woman to call me
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  because my name is Marshall Goldsmith. I'm the world's
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  number one ranked executive coach, a paying woman to call me
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  every day. She listens to me read questions I wrote and write
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  answers I wrote every day. Why do I do this? Because I'm too
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  cowardly to do this by myself and too undisciplined to do this
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  by myself. And you know, it's okay. He once we get over that
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  macho willpower, I can do it on my own nonsense. We all need
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  help. It's okay. My book Triggers one thing I'm very
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  proud of 27 major CEOs endorsed that book, these included CEO of
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  the year in the United States, Guy was ranked number three
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  greatest leader in the world winner of the Presidential Medal
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  of Freedom, CEO Pfizer CEO, Best Buy's CEO, target president, the
• 11:57
  World Bank, on and on and on. Why am I so proud of that? 30
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  years ago, no CEO would admit they have an executive coach,
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  they would have been ashamed to say I need help. Today. These
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  are all bunch of great leaders who stand up on a regular basis
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  and say, I need help. And it's okay.
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  Host: That is a big shift. I do have one more question for you
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  right now, Marshall. But before that, where do you want people
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  to go to connect with you? Where would you point people to?
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  Marshall Goldsmith: One, my website, www My name Marshall
• 12:23
  goldsmith.com, on LinkedIn on YouTube, I've got you know,
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  hundreds of videos on YouTube, I give away all my material to
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  help other people.
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  Host: So the last thing I wanted to ask you here is the
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  difference between self discipline and self control?
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  Marshall Goldsmith: Well, one is what I do, and the other is kind
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  of what I don't do. And I think it's very important to look at
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  both, for example of what I do could be something like I have
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  the discipline on a regular basis to say something nice to
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  someone. What I don't do is I don't lose control. When I
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  speak. My good friend pres hasslein said, you know, why
• 13:03
  should I be entrusted to control someone else I can control
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  myself I, one of my daily questions to avoid speaking when
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  angry around controls. So I think both are very, very
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  important. And as we journey through life very important
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  before speaking in Greek, am I willing to at this time to make
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  the effort required to make a positive? Or the investment
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  required to make a positive difference on this topic? If the
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  answer is yes, do it the answer's no. Let it go. We waste
• 13:28
  so much of our lives, dealing with issues that we're not going
• 13:31
  to change anyway. I mean, I have a home in New York. One of my
• 13:35
  neighbors from my condominium was a young woman named Lindsay
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  Lohan. How many millions of hours are wasted around the
• 13:41
  world people read Lindsay Lohan got drunk Lindsay Lohan got
• 13:44
  stoned Lindsay Lohan was in a car wreck. Well, you know when
• 13:46
  people talk about Lindsay Lohan, I always say one thing. If you
• 13:50
  ever think Lindsay Lohan is a loser, she is not wasting her
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  life reading about you. Well, you know, learning point live
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  your own life. In great life. You know, don't live Lindsay
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  Lohan's life or some movie stars, some celebrity or some
• 14:06
  politician. live your own life, live your own life.
• 14:09
  Host: Marshall, thank you so much for your work and just for
• 14:12
  your incredible clarity and insight into the psyche of what
• 14:16
  enables people to really take action and make change in their lives.
• 14:20
  Marshall Goldsmith: Thank you.