MY GREATEST hero is Buddha.
He is my personal superhero.
Like all of my other wonderful heroes,
Frances Hesselbein, Peter Drucker,
Alan Mulally, and Dr. Paul Hersey,
Buddha was a generous teacher.
The difference between the Buddha
and my other heroes is that although I
never met him, his teachings transcend
space and time to me today and he
illuminates my life thousands of years
after his. Even more incredible, he didn’t
even write a book! He teaches me
across the space and time continuum
and he does it through other people.
Let me give you one example of how I
have tried to use Buddha’s teaching in my
work. Buddha suggested that his followers
only do what he taught if it worked in the
context of their own lives. He encouraged
people to listen to his ideas, think about
his suggestions, try out what made
sense – keep doing what worked – and
to just “let go” of what did not work.
Similarly, I teach my clients to ask their
key stakeholders for suggestions on
how they can become more effective
leaders, then listen to these ideas,
think about the suggestions, try out
what makes sense – keep doing what
works – and let go of what does not.
When our stakeholders give us
suggestions on how we can become
more effective, we can look at
these suggestions as gifts – and
treat our stakeholders as gift-givers.
When someone gives you a gift you
wouldn’t say, “Stinky gift!” “Bad
gift!” or “I already have this stupid
gift!” You would say, “Thank you.”
If you can use the gift – use it. If
you don’t want to use the gift, put
it in the closet and “let it go.”
You would not insult the person who
is trying to be nice by giving you
a gift. In the same way, when our
stakeholders give us ideas, we don’t
want to insult them or their ideas. We
can just learn to say, “Thank you.”
We cannot promise to do everything
that people suggest. We can promise
to listen to our key stakeholders, think
about their ideas, and do what we
can. This is all that we can promise
– and this is all that they expect.
Get in the habit of asking the
important people in your life,
“How can I be a better…?”
This works at work – in your
efforts to become a better leader,
team member, or co-worker.
This works at home – in your efforts to
become a better friend or family member.
Who do you need to ask, “How can
I become a better…?” How do you
typically respond to suggestions? Do you
treat them as gifts – or do you critique
them and the person making them?
That is just one way that I use
what Buddha has taught me.
Recently I was so inspired by Buddha’s
role model that I decided to mentor 15
people at no charge. My idea was to
pick 15 people to teach everything that
I know. In return, these 15 would do
the same thing for 15 others, for free.
MEET DR.
MARSHALL
GOLDSMITH
DR. GOLDSMITH is the author or editor
of 35 books, which have sold over two
million copies, been translated into 30
languages and become bestsellers in
12 countries. His two other New York
Times bestsellers are MOJO and What
Got You Here Won’t Get You There -
the Harold Longman Award winner for
Business Book of the Year. In February
2016, Amazon.com recognized the ‘100
Best Leadership & Success Books’ in
their To Read in Your Lifetime series. The
list included classics and newer books -
management and self-help books. Both
Triggers and What Got You Here Won’t
Get You There were recognized as being
in the top 100 books ever written in their
field. Marshall is only one of two authors
with two books on the list.
I called the project #15Coaches.
The response to this offering was so
overwhelmingly positive that I have
decided to expand the group to 100
Coaches. What is so amazing to me about
the breadth of responses is that everyone
who applied has a desire to “give it
back.” This is a wonderful optimistic
message of who we are as a group!
Because of this incredible response, I
have decided to expand the program
and it is now called #100Coaches. I
am selecting the next 75 coaches! For
more details and updates, please go to
my website (www.marshallgoldsmith.
com) or follow me on social media.
Thank you all for your support
of this great project!
LEARN MORE:
MARSHALLGOLDSMITH.COM
2017 SUMMER
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