Marshall Goldsmith "The Better Boss"

The thing that "stuck" with me about Monday's class was the Marshall Goldsmith article from The New Yorker. The article made me think about my own approach to management and whether I share any of the failings of the CEOs described in the article. The description of Goldsmith made me think of how important it is to be happy in your job. If you aren't a happy person, you aren't going to be a happy manager, and you're not going to have happy employees. It all sort of trickles down. I thought Goldsmith's approach of not dwelling on the "whys" behind the behaviors but focusing on changing the behaviors themselves was very useful and productive model for behavior modification. I liked Goldsmith's story about his restaurant experience in New York where he told the waiter he had a $100 in his pocket and asked the waiter to bring him "the best $100 meal he could come up with." The waiter brought Goldsmith a superb meal and superb service, proving to Goldsmith that if you put faith in people, they will deliver.

-- Crystal Bolner