When you think about books that impact your leadership journey, do you go past the traditional ones? I look at many aspects of leadership, and the books I pick to read come from different courses, recommendations, and authors I have enjoyed. Over the course of a four part blog series, I will share ten influential books that have truly made an impact on my journey and my key takeaways.
Book #1 – “Who NOT How” by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy
First, when you think about the work you need to accomplish, your gut reaction might be, “I’ve never done this before; how can I become an expert quickly and begin executing?”. According to Dan Sullivan, the author of Who NOT How advises that might be the wrong question to ask yourself. In his book, Sullivan suggests asking new questions to find your Who that can help you deliver on the How. Key questions:
- How can I accomplish this?
- Who can help me achieve this?
Sullivan feels asking these two key questions helps leaders determine, “Who can create results?”, versus the traditional approach of, “How can I solve this problem?”, which causes problems. To find a Who that can figure out the How you must understand conceptually what you need accomplished and why. Then, for simplicity purposes (because I think you should read the book), you relinquish control over how your “Who” accomplishes the task. Now, the author does not suggest you don’t follow up or provide clarifying support when needed, but you don’t get into the weeds of the day-to-day.
Now, you might be wondering why the book is in my top 10; it allows me to elevate my leadership approach, grow my Who’s, find new Who’s, and allow others to develop their capabilities. If it weren’t for the concepts in the book, I’d be spinning on how to elevate a few areas I’ve taken on as part of a recent promotion. I’m so glad this book showed up late last year.
The book focuses on four key areas: 1) Freedom of Time, 2) Freedom of Money, 3) Freedom of Relationship, and 4) Freedom of Purpose. If I’ve piqued your interest, fantastic. If not, here are a few chapter titles that might seal the deal on you to pick up a copy and read:
- Truth about procrastination and how to kill it
- Find Who’s in all aspects of your life
- Time creates money
- Commit to specific results
- If you have enough money to solve a problem, you don’t have a problem
- Be a good Who for others
- How to avoid the wrong Who’s, even the attractive ones
- How to create effective collaborations
- Stop competing and start collaborating
- Who’s expanding your vision
I’d love to hear your thoughts if you choose to read or listen to the book.
Book #2 – “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
Zero to One is a book recommended by my leader that highlights the concept of finding ways to drive 10x improvement; even if it seems minor to you, it could be huge for someone else. In my team, we lead a lot of different capabilities and services, and one that can be seen as small but is quite significant is process optimization. Only some people can see a current process and find the tweaks to free up time and resources for other critical services or support. Now, tie this idea with the concepts in “Who NOT How”, and you can see the benefits of making radical improvements to existing solutions by tapping into those who have the capabilities.
Another area that piqued my interest is the concept of network effects when you start small, test the waters (solution), and prove a proof of concept that can scale. I have executed this concept most of my career but used to call it a “test.” Now, I think of it as an MVP (minimal viable product) or POC (proof of concept). My leadership toolbox, because of this book, pushes me to mentor and coach others to not go for perfection and challenge them to focus on the few areas that they can drive 10x improvement. Not only will they get satisfaction on a significant improvement with minimal effort (they know the how) due to an expert capability, they will also gain valuable insights into what does not require perfection or near-perfect results to go forward.
A third section of the book that resonates with me is how you brand yourself – are you a 10x improver or someone who takes too long to deliver, gets into a rhythm of analysis paralysis, and goes for perfection before you seek feedback? As a leader, you do not always have the luxury of time, and this book demonstrates why it’s essential to consider your personal and team brand.
Some key takeaway questions from the book from a personal leadership perspective are:
- What advantage are you gaining by improving or aiming for perfection?
- When does it make sense to develop something new, and can you win/persuade those old-school thoughts/leaders?
- Know that you can be highly ambitious and have a long-term vision. How can you start small?
- Know where you want to end up (life goal or bold plan). What incremental changes or iterations will get you from Zero to One?
- What path can you set to create opportunities to move from Zero to One? Learn, fail, iterate, fail, and learn through experiences.
- Become obsessed with the company vision, mission, and goals. What areas or opportunities can you focus efforts or resources on for 10x improvement?
While I have plenty more insights from the book, hopefully, this has piqued your interest to add it to your future reading list.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts if you choose to read or listen to this book.
Follow Penny on LinkedIn or checkout theizzyway.ca for more of her blog posts.
