A summary of things you should know about The Objective Leader according to Elizabeth R Thornton: Introduction In this episode Elizabeth Thornton takes a deep dive into her book, TheRead More
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]]>In this episode Elizabeth Thornton takes a deep dive into her book, The Objective Leader, where she shows you how to leverage the power of seeing things as they are.
In her book Thornton reveals years of research on the concept of objectivity and how it will open your world to new cultures, new markets, and new opportunities. The goal of the book is to help you improve your management skills, make decisions faster than normal, avoid bad decision making, and eliminate the fear of failure when it comes to life and business.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who typically overreact to negative situations, judge people too quickly, and let their insecurities get the best of them.
My book talks about the entrepreneur themselves, their mindset, and how to keep them clear in their mindset so that they can make better decisions along the way.
I would suggest the reader read the book from front to back.
I would say that the world is in your mind and we all have the power to change our minds.
The first chapter of the book is all about how I lost a million dollars and I take you through my whole experience from beginning to end.
From there we jump right into chapter two which is all about setting the context for objectivity and subjectivity. I define objectivity as the ability to see and recognize things as they are without projecting your fears, your background, your past experiences, and your mental miles on to whatever it is and responding thoughtfully, deliberately, and purposefully to everything you experience.
The first step in being objective is about understanding how we relate to the world and I call that The Subject Object Relationship which we go into in detail. What we experience through our senses is an object of our awareness and we respond to whatever that is which means you are responsible for and drive your response to everything that you experience. And then we go through what I call Drivers of Subjectivity and all these things that we can project onto what is that may color our ability to see things as they are.
Chapter four is about applying all of that to leadership and lays out a framework for increasing objectivity.
Chapter five is all about being objective under pressure and I give the key tactics, tools, and tips you can use to be objective in the moment.
Chapter six goes over mental models. We all have mental models which are one of the things that we project onto what it is that keeps us from seeing things as they are. One of the things I talk about in this chapter is some of the limiting and unproductive mental models that we have and I share research that I have conducted that points to five mental models that most of us have. In order to transform a mental model you have to think about it differently because mental models are deep rooted ideas and beliefs about the way things are and the way things ought to be.
The last two chapters of the book are devoted to the entrepreneur completely.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 08:00
“The world is in your mind.” – Elizabeth R Thornton
I have been with Babson College as the professor of entrepreneurship since 2006.
I lost a million dollars in an international fruit juice business and it taught me so much. Getting back on my feet I realized it wasn’t the business decision I was making along the way, it was how I framed my world and my inability to see things as they were. As a result of that I started studying psychology, neuroscience, and entrepreneurship and just trying to put it all together. I started learning about objectivity and developed a course around it that I wanted to share with others.
Leadership and Self-Deception by Arbinger Institute
Buy The Objective Leader by Elizabeth Thornton on Amazon today
Visit ElizabethRThornton.com to learn more about Elizabeth and her book
Follow Elizabeth R Thornton on Facebook and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
Seeing What Others Don’t by Gary Klein
Anticipate by Rob-Jan de Jong
Fairness is Overrated by Tim Stevens
Relevant advice and tips:
5 Characteristics of A Great Leader
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
The post A Preview of The Objective Leader with Elizabeth R Thornton appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>A summary of things you should know about Seeing What Others Don’t according to Gary Klein: Introduction In this episode Gary Klein reveals all his insights on his book, SeeingRead More
The post A Preview of Seeing What Others Don’t with Gary Klein appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>In this episode Gary Klein reveals all his insights on his book, Seeing What Others Don’t, where he reveals when, why, and how insights are formed and what blocks them.
In his book Klein shares stories involving his years of cognitive learning research that uncover the origins of creativity and how many successful innovators were able to create their marvelous ideas. The goal of the book is to help you train your brain to be more creative, effectively solve more problems, avoid disruptive idea blockers, and think faster than the average person.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who work in a stressful, fast-paced environment and want to learn how to improve their cognitive thinking skill in order to make fast, intelligent decisions.
My book is based on 120 cases of actual insight research. This is a fresh look of how people actually come up with insights.
There can be some jumping in and out but I suggest you read it straight through.
If there is only one thing the one thing would be this notion of a down and an up arrow. Too often our thinking is over balanced about reducing mistakes and being defensive and there needs to be a balance. We need to balance how much energy we are putting into reducing mistakes and how much energy we are putting into gaining insights.
The first section asks the question of where do insights come from and it not only describes how insights are achieved but it also shows how I came up with each conclusion. The outcome of this first part is a new model of where insights come from. I show that there are several different paths, one is a traditional path, another is a path people have heard of, and the third is a path no one had mentioned before.
Now that we know where insights come from we ask the question why we don’t have more of them. To my surprise I find that there are a lot of forces that work against having insights and the scariest is that organizations are afraid of them. They claim that they want to promote it and believe it but insights don’t work well with organizations because insights are disruptive.
The third part of the book is about what we can do to try to increase insights. I have some suggestions about what we can do personally and I have more suggestions about what we can do to help others gain insights. I also have some suggestions about what organization can do and I am working with organizations that want to increase the number or insights.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 03:38
“I have tried to take some of the mystery out of insights but I don’t want to diminish the aww we feel when we encounter insights whether it’s our own or someone else’s. At these times something magical has happened.” – Gary Klein
I was trained in experimental psychology and over the years I got interested in seeing how people actually work outside of laboratories and specifically how people make life and death decisions under extreme time pressure. So we’ve studied firefighters, nurses, physicians and so forth to see what they actually do.
I would make presentations on my work on decision making to audiences and there was a slide that I would use that had an up arrow and a down arrow. The down arrow was ways to improve performance by reduction and the up arrow was about what to increase in order to improve performance. What you wanted to increase was insights and so I would tell groups that and they resonated to it. They kept asking me questions about the up arrow that I didn’t have answers to. Finally I decided I need to do some research and study the up arrow which is what led me to writing this book.
What Computers Still Can’t Do by Hubert Dreyfus
Buy Seeing What Others Don’t by Gary Klein on Amazon today
Visit PsychologyToday.com to learn more about Gary’s blog
Visit ShadowboxTraining.com to learn more about Gary’s training techniques
Follow Gary Klein on Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
The Innovative Entrepreneur by Daniel Spluber
Anticipate by Rob-Jan de Jong
The Myths of Creativity by David Burkus
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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]]>People who are working towards their financial goals each day will often wonder what it takes to be a billionaire. We are often led to believe that billionaires are differentRead More
The post 7 Successful Attributes Of A Billionaire appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>People who are working towards their financial goals each day will often wonder what it takes to be a billionaire. We are often led to believe that billionaires are different types of people, who are only wealthy because they inherited generational wealth or knew high powered investors during the early stages of their career.
What these people do not know is that billionaires are normal, everyday people just like the rest of us. While some may have inherent advantages, there are several attributes of a billionaire that can be ascribed to most, as well as normal, working class people.
Here are 7 successful attributes of a billionaire shared by many expert authors on The Entrepreneurs Library:
When you research any billionaire’s life story, a common theme emerges. They were willing to outwork everyone else and remained focus, even in the face on extreme adversity. Some would like to believe that becoming a billionaire is the product of luck and genetics, but those who have actually done their homework know that this is not true.
A billionaire does not sleep in until noon. They are up before their competitors and constantly seek out new advantages, so that they can remain ahead of those who are pursuing the same goals. Everyone wants to be a billionaire, but very few are willing to put in the work necessary to do so.
Great book on building work ethics: 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin
Once a person decides that their goal is to accrue a billion dollars, they know that this is a long term goal, not a short term pursuit. Being able to keep their eyes on the prize and not be deterred by setbacks is what separates a billionaire from the pack. They know that there will be issues that arise along the way and they do not allow themselves to become frazzled by them.
Without patience, it is incredibly difficult to become a billionaire. No one ever has a smooth path to their goals and financial pursuits are no different. Being blessed with the patience to realize that there is a solution to every problem and knowing whether you need to stay the course is incredibly crucial when you are on the road to riches.
Great book on managing patience and stress: Performing Under Pressure by Hendrie Weisinger
This is the attribute that confuses those who are not already billionaires themselves. Since someone has more money than they can spend, it seems somewhat foolish to let it sit in a bank account. But it is more crucial for a billionaire to have assets on hand to make transactions that can boost their financial status even further.
It takes money to make money in the modern business world. While it may be fun to blow your new earnings on a mansion, a fleet of luxury cars and a private jet, these are all items that depreciate in value the moment they are purchased. A billionaire is focused on remaining a billionaire does not make these types of purchases. They realize the importance of having liquid assets at the ready.
Great book on building wealth: Get Rich with Dividends by Marc Lichtenfeld
In order to become a billionaire, you need a new and interesting idea, a fresh take on things. One person’s route to earning a billion dollars is not going to be the same as the next person’s. To capture the attention the public, you need to think about the voids that exist in everyday life and find a way to fill them.
A person cannot come up with an inventive plan by thinking just like everyone else. They need to think outside of the box, which is an attribute shared by most billionaires. They know how to think differently than their peers and will zig when most have decided to zag.
Great book on innovation and creativity: Anticipate by Rob-Jan de Jong
Being insightful is about more than being book smart. Being insightful is all about knowing how to read people and deliver what they want. An insightful billionaire is one who knows that their wealth is not the be all/end all. They are constantly searching for ways to remain in tune with the world around them.
Once a person ceases to be insightful, they are no longer as useful to their clientele. A person with lack of insight is a person who does not have their finger on the pulse of what is currently happening in the world.
Great book on being insightful: Credibility by James Kouzes
Becoming a billionaire does not happen because the person decided to stand pat and stop taking risks of any kind. It happened because they were willing to stick their neck out for a cause that they truly believed in. Billionaires do not sit around and wait for things to happen, they make things happen.
The only way to make things happen is to take risks. This does not mean that a billionaire simply lunges at the first opportunity that comes their way. These risks are typically taken in a calculated manner and considered from every angle. Taking risks is a foolish endeavor when they are not properly considered beforehand.
Great book on taking smart risks: The Metronome Effect by Shannon Susko
What gets a billionaire through the hard times? Their unwavering belief in themselves. A person who has an unshakable belief in themselves can conquer any problem that comes along and reach any goal that they set for themselves. They do not wait for pep talks from close friends or read self help books.
They simply dig down deep within and find courage in places that they did not even know existed. They do not allow naysayers to deter them in any way and they know that everything they are doing is done with a purpose in mind.
Great book on confidence: Top Dog: Impress and Influence Everyone Around You by Andy Bounds
The post 7 Successful Attributes Of A Billionaire appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>A summary of things you should know about Anticipate according to Rob-Jan De Jong: Introduction In this episode Rob-Jan De Jong reveals all his insights on his book, Anticipate, whereRead More
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]]>In this episode Rob-Jan De Jong reveals all his insights on his book, Anticipate, where he discusses the 2 skills that are key to mastering the art of leading others.
In his book De Jong provides a guide with practical techniques and inspirational stories that are designed to show you how to expand your visionary capacity when it comes to leadership. The goal of the book is to help you see things more clearly, rejuvenate your imagination, and manage from a birds-eye view in order to develop a strategic advantage on your competitors.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who are managing the operations of a business and need help realigning their management strategy to predict the future of an organization.
My book not only tells you how important having a vision is in a leadership role but more important I explain how you go about developing that vision.
You can read the book straight through or jump in and out where needed.
The core takeaway is that vision is not something you are born with, it’s something you can develop.
The book is broken down into four areas.
The first area is your visionary content – how you go about trading ideas.
The second area is your visionary development – how you go about growing that capacity. Here I propose a developmental framework that really consists of two different dimensions, one is your ability to see things early and the other is how to in a responsible way put that together in a big picture story. I talk about the importance of envisioning multiple futures as you’re developing your big picture through techniques such as scenario planning.
The third area is about yourself and the productive behaviors that you must master in order to make this work. So there are things that you need to reflect on in terms of what builds my capability of doing this from a behavioral and mindset point of view. As you are reflecting on yourself it is equally very important to understand what it is that you stand for as a leader and the things that you truly believe in.
We bring it all together in the fourth area of the book and look at what it requires in order to make your vision fly as you communicate about it. In order for a vision to become powerful you have got to look at three different dimensions which you will find in the book.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 07:06
“Everything is the same until it is not.” – Ellen Langer
I am the father of twin 10 year old boys to whom I am also their soccer coach so I do a lot of work with leadership and put it to practice with 10 year olds. Professionally I work a lot with leadership teams and trying to get them to engage with their strategic agenda. The second thing I do is teach about this subject and I am involved in various executive education programs.
My inspiration comes from about seven or eight years ago while I was doing a lot of work in the field of leadership and at some point I asked the audience what’s the one word you find in the definition of leadership. Immediately they fired back the word vision. From there I asked all these leaders what their vision was and nobody could raise their hand and tell me because they didn’t have one. I didn’t understand how it could be that something we all know is important to have as a leader but yet we don’t have one. That fascinated me and was what inspired me to look into this subject and I wanted to share my discoveries of what I found over the eight years.
Mindfulness by Ellen Langer
Buy Anticipate by Rob-Jan De Jong on Amazon today
Visit RobJanDeJong.com to learn more about Rob-Jan and his book
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
The Prosperous Leader by Jacob Engel
Winning the Long Game by Steven Krupp
Own Your Future by Paul B Brown
Relevant advice and tips:
5 Characteristics of a Great Leader
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
The post A Preview of Anticipate with Rob-Jan De Jong appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
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