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Good People: The Only Leadership Decision That Really Matters
Good people are your organization’s most critical asset. But what does it really mean to be good? Leaders love to say that any company is only as good as its people, but tend to evaluate candidates and employees more by their measurable accomplishments than by their “softer” qualities, like integrity, compassion, and other values. Bestselling author Anthony Tjan is leading a movement to change the way we think about goodness so that we can become better judges of people and create more goodness in ourselves, in others, and in our organizations. Tjan argues that while competence is necessary, real goodness must also encompass values; a fantastic résumé can never compensate for mediocre character. In Good People, he provides a clear language to discuss goodness, redefining it as a lifelong, proactive commitment that, like any skill, can be exercised, honed, and taught. When leaders prioritize goodness in themselves and in others, they can create lasting cultures and tremendous value. Drawing from his own experiences as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Tjan also taps into the wisdom of his relationships and interviews with extraordinary innovators, executives, artists, academics, teachers, and role models from all disciplines and walks of life who embody his vision. The cases and profiles shared Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria, who has called for balancing leadership of competency with leadership of character; Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has never forgotten her roots and shows profound kindness to her staff and clerks; Hollywood talent manager Shep Gordon, who has counseled his clients on the importance of generosity and gratitude; legendary venture capitalist Henry McCance, whose success proves that humbly ceding the spotlight to others makes room for their greatness; and master jazz musician Clark Terry, who devotedly mentored the young, blind pianist Justin Kauflin.Packed with practical yet often surprising advice, Good People establishes a new language and framework you can use to evaluate, develop, and lead with goodness. Tjan will convince you that there is a hard truth in the “soft stuff” of business, and that choosing and working well with good people is truly the only leadership decision that really matters.
299 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 25, 2017
67 people are currently reading
756 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 5, 2018
I read summarize audiobook of this book in Blinkist app ,i found it useful and rationally way written. Because framework of it is very good and anyone can find their answers about topics.
December 4, 2018
”Singura decizie de leadership care contează cu adevărat este să fii om bun.”
Așadar, o carte mai mult pentru antreprenori și pentru șefi, din care se pot învăța lucruri pe care le pot aplica în companiile lor. Ceea ce a rămas pentru mine, dincolo de sfaturi, întrebări și reguli, este că, pentru a fi un șef ”bun”, nu e suficient să fii bine organizat și perfecționist. Nu, dincolo de asta, trebuie să fii un om bun, cu toate componentele lui: să fii modest, să treci dincolo de interesele personale, să asculți subalternii și clienții, să pui interesele angajaților dincolo de interesele proprii și de interesele (sau profitul) companiei, să organizezi munca implicat și în funcție de ceea ce e mai bine pentru toată lumea din jur. De aceea, vedem firme despre care se spune că sunt în top atunci când vorbim de fericirea angajaților: pentru că angajaților li se creează cele mai bune condiții pentru a fi fericiți și pentru a realiza, în acest fel, plus-valoare și profit către compania în care lucrează; pentru că au conducători luminați și buni.
Așadar, o carte mai mult pentru antreprenori și pentru șefi, din care se pot învăța lucruri pe care le pot aplica în companiile lor. Ceea ce a rămas pentru mine, dincolo de sfaturi, întrebări și reguli, este că, pentru a fi un șef ”bun”, nu e suficient să fii bine organizat și perfecționist. Nu, dincolo de asta, trebuie să fii un om bun, cu toate componentele lui: să fii modest, să treci dincolo de interesele personale, să asculți subalternii și clienții, să pui interesele angajaților dincolo de interesele proprii și de interesele (sau profitul) companiei, să organizezi munca implicat și în funcție de ceea ce e mai bine pentru toată lumea din jur. De aceea, vedem firme despre care se spune că sunt în top atunci când vorbim de fericirea angajaților: pentru că angajaților li se creează cele mai bune condiții pentru a fi fericiți și pentru a realiza, în acest fel, plus-valoare și profit către compania în care lucrează; pentru că au conducători luminați și buni.
May 15, 2018
This book resonated with me, with its emphasis on values first, the section on good mentoring, and prioritising connection over competence. We are all human, no matter how dehumanising the modern workplace can be now, with most people "keeping things professional".
___
"Goodness" is far more than a person's competencies, goodness is about people's humanity, their values, the qualities inherent in their character, and other intangible traits. There is a need to distinguish goodness as competency from goodness as values.
Classic Tsun-yan - thinking of each moment as a potential learning opportunity, implicitly making the point and recognising that we all could work with the people that we wish to, if only we put a little more of ourselves into those we really want to be part of our life story.
One of Tsun-yan's evergreen themes for leadership: counselling others on leading and living with a sense of purpose towards wholeness.
There is compelling scientific evidence that investing in relationships over things like money and fame is key to living a healthy, happy and successful life.
If you focus on the right people with the right values, the rest resolves itself.
Nothing even comes close to the importance of the people who surround us, so we should always prioritise clan and culture - over competency, company name, and cash.
What I felt in the presence of good people was the result of someone helping me become a fuller version of myself.
Good people purposely and proactively put people first, consistently and over the long haul.
Good people grow by continually seeking to improve themselves; this means they not only pursue their own betterment, they also acknowledge a responsibility to help others feel and become the fullest possible versions of themselves.
Good people put a premium on values.
Good people are realists. They understand that goodness requires hard work and a constant balancing of aspirations and real life.
Finally, good people see goodness as something that must be put to work whenever they are faced with the opportunity to do so. They step forward whenever they can, not just when they need to, goodness becomes habitual.
A way to judge goodness: is someone a net energy giver or taker?
Always go with the A team. Ideas and industries change far faster than people change. Good people who are As can adapt and evolve plans while motivating their teams to do the same. Furthermore they can do this while staying true to their core organisational values.
Somewhere along the line, we accepted the idea that being human means being unprofessional.
The most compassionate and human moments occur when people are willing to break from their characters to focus on commonalities rather than differences - when a person gives an unexpected hug or holds out a hand.
Resumes and conventional job interviews don't tell us anything about the more nuanced and elusive traits of goodness.
Are there ten people with whom I'd be willing to start up a relationship of goodness? To be a champion of their cause, an anchor in time of ened, a counselor or mentor in a time of dilemma, a cheerleader during times of success?
General definition of "Good People": those committed to continuously cultivating the values that help them and others become the fullest possible versions of who they are.
A definition is a high-level declarative statement of meaning, and a framework provides the structure to help us better understand that definition. A framework is a mental model that provides anchor points to contextualise our understanding.
The Goodness Pyramid, from the bottom up -
Truth: Honesty and congruence in your thoughts and actions.
Compassion: Selflessness made possibly by understanding others' experiences.
Wholeness: Fulfillment and gratitude for the people we have around us and for our situation in life.
Truth:
If we aren't true to ourselves and true to others, our foundation is hollow.
Compassion:
Openness is a mindset. It is about reducing bias and expanding our viewpoints.
Generosity is compassion in action, and it denotes our willingness to act upon the empathy we feel.
Wholeness:
If compassion engenders caring, then wholeness allows us to feel satisfaction and gratitude for the people around us. Love, the mindset of wholeness, elevates the conditional care of compassion to the unconditional. It is about attaining the permanent mind-set that our own satisfaction and ultimate fulfillment results from supporting the fulfillment and success of others.
Respect is not about obedience or submissiveness; it's about fulfilling our commitments and understanding our responsibilities and obligations to one another.
Truth
The final lesson of the failed IPO was most important: to maintain perspective and gain clarity on the people who really matter around you. Who is there for you when it counts, and who isn't? Missed financial transactions are one thing - a bruising of the ego and wallet - but it stings to discover that some of the loving, trusting relationships with people turned out to be merely transactional. In those moments, you learn a lot about yourself, and a lot about truth, friendship, goodness, and expectations.
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility is being superior to your former self.” - Ernest Hemingway
Only by maintaining genuine humility can one foster a lifelong intellectual curiosity and the openness required for even greater possibility, creativity and humanity.
Many mistranslate humanity as the belief that you think very little of yourself. Rather, humility is thinking somewhat less, rather than little, of yourself.
A leader who has no doubts is a fanatic. A leader whose convictions are strong despite doubt is humble, willing to learn and listen, but with a strong bias for action.
It is pride's negative side - envy, arrogance, or self-righteousness versus the more positive traits of pride, like self-respect or even patriotism - that is the true enemy of humility.
Self-awareness has its own symbiotic, mutually reinforcing mechanism - when you are better able to judge, find, and associate with good people, they will help you reach a higher level of self-awareness.
Being in the company of the right people who provide positive peer pressure is the best way to avoid falling into the trap of wearing a mask or playing an unnatural role.
Processes, policies and norms can have the unintended consequence of encouraging mindless behaviour - the complete counterobjective to self-awareness.
It is impossible to gain self-awareness if you're unable to define what success means.
The ultimate test of self-awareness is understanding your own biases.
Leaders must give permission to their teams to be more reflective, expressive, and human.
Feedback is just a means of having an honest conversation with the aim of getting a better picture of an individual or the overall health of an organisation.
Benjamin Franklin's own version of R&R - routine and reflection. Together, mindful reflection and the order and discipline of routine make for a lifelong learner, and, not unrelatedly, a lifelong leader. The best leaders in my experience are students first and teachers second.
Compassion
Competence without compassion leads to examples like the doctor who is more focused on the cancer than the person with the cancer.
Paul Kalanithi - When Breath Becomes Air: Before operating on a patient's brain, I realised, I must first understand his mind: his identity, his values, what makes his life worth living, and what devastation makes it reasonable to make that life end. The cost of my dedication to succeed was high, and the ineluctable failures brought me nearly unbearable guilt. These burdens are what make medicine holy and wholly impossible: in taking up another's cross, one must sometimes get crushed by the weight.
Dr Jack Erban - We all have a duty to serve and a duty to care, and this duty is both our gift and our privilege.
Yale Professor Sherwin Nuland argued that the medical education system's preferential teaching of technique and protocol effectively rendered the emotional and psychological side of the patient equation an afterthought.
Workplaces require some means of ensuring accountability, measuring productivity, and managing risk. But these policies are often carried out at the expense of compassion, so that the "what" of the business overwhelms the "how".
There can be no empathy and optimism without openness. Openness removes prejudice and therefore allows goodness to shine through.
The press is a good source of valuable feedback and public perception.
The problem in business is that we are too often over-ruled and under-valued. We burden employees with rules and in the process undervalue and underestimate their desire and ability to do the right thing.
Just because we have one bad person doesn't mean I should treat everyone in the organisation less well.
Robert Greenleaf recommends that servant leaders should ask themselves these questions: "Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?"
*In its purest form, empathy demands that we put aside our own vanity and biases in order to feel as others feel. Recognise effort and offer validation before voicing your own point of view or recommendation.*
One way to become a better listener is to steer clear of phatic questions (words and phrases that we regularly use that have become procedural, aka the polite thing to say).
All too often we say the right thing without the right mind-set, and so we hear without listening or understanding. Try "how are you, really?" rather than "how are you?"
Vig Knudstorp, CEO of LEGO: Blame is not failure, it is for failing to help or ask for help.
How we spend our money seems to be just as important as how much money we earn.
Music is simply the vehicle Herbie uses to express his innate humanness and insatiable desire to become the best person he can possibly be.
Wholeness
Leadership, especially great leadership, is a lonely job. Proper leadership requires sacrifice so that others are shielded from this same loneliness and uncertainty.
Leaders can remedy that by seeking wholeness. We feel whole when we are at peace with the realities of the roles we play.
Have we reached a point in our work and life where our natural disposition is to root for others' happiness? Do we practice respect for ourselves and others? And have we accrued sufficient wisdom and experience to be able to distinguish between good and bad judgment, and to act appropriately?
The best leaders recognise this truth - that we must be more than just numbers, that we must work toward the durability of something institutionally good in the character and culture of our organisations and the people we touch.
To experience wholeness, one must allow oneself to both be loved and also to find more love in others. People who put themselves entirely in the service of others act out the highest form of love.
Love is the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.
To love and be loved you must consciously wish and work for someone else's happiness. Love is something more strongly nurturing, widely practical, and deeply service oriented.
Kevin Roberts, author of Lovemarks, had a philosophy that the best global brands built emotional authentic conversations with their customers.
Wholeness and self-love are prequisites for sharing love with others.
Whenever I evaluate businesses for investment, I always try to visit their workplace to see if I can literally "feel the love".
Respect is a close cousin of compassion, but the practice of respect also demands that we defer to others, observe proper decorum, recognise our mistakes, and follow through on our commitments.
It does not matter whether you are a CEO or a team captain, deference can only be won by earning the genuine admiration of another person, typically for either the consistency of your character or the calibre of your competence. Ultimately, genuine respect accrues to those who respect other people.
Dr. Wayne Dyer: "When given a choice between being right and being kind, choose to be kind."
We commend children if they learn from difficult moments rather than pointing fingers and avoiding blame. As adults, we would do well to remember this lesson.
Brene Brown: "Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen."
When considering to take on a new job, there are really only a handful of questions you need to ask yourself: Do you have affection for these people? Can you imagine yourself caring for them and them caring for you? Do you respect the boss's leadership style, and do you think she will respect you? And finally, would you be proud to talk with other people about your colleagues, your boss, and your workplace?
We develop wisdom when we experience the world and learn good judgment alongside good people.
Most people can deal with bad news or subpar outcomes if they set realistic expectations early and are given a chance to course correct.
The author's two life goals: To become as wise as he can, as early as he can. The second is to remember to experience the happiness, awe, gratitude, and curiosity common among children. It's almost as if we understand everything during our first and final five years of life, and in between lie all of life's struggles.
Concentrate on meaningful roles, experiences, learning and development.
Read as many books as you can. Dog-ear pages and scribble in the margins. One especially easy exercise is to keep a log of themes and quotations that have inspired you.
Maslow's self-actualisation has less to do with what we can do for ourselves, and more to do with what we can do for others.
When we use politically correct business terms and euphemisms like "employee engagement", we dilute their essence. The same common needs and concepts exist in both business and personal contexts.
Vulnerability: that everything worth doing carries a measure of risk.
A decision making process: R.I.S.E. - recognising, internalising, sharing, and executing.
When a stressful situation arises, especially one that seems to challenge your values of goodness, having a go-to method will help ease the emotional weight and give you an intial guide towards balance.
The author met Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore REPRESENT) as an intern during the World Economic Forum in Davos, and noted he had balanced the tension between pragmatism and idealism.
When we are idealistic, we live by our values, morals, and ideals even when they inconvenience us or cause us suffering. Pragmatism, on the other hand, looks for answers and prioritises action. They aren't combatants incapable of coexistence. Rather they are two halves of an exquisite tension that is a reality of business and even life.
Seeking equilibrium and balance is very different from surrendering to compromise. While compromising and seeking balance may lead us to the same place eventually, compromise suggests a painful trade-off, while balance suggests the ability to reach a productive equilibrium.
Three questions to identify your core, lifelong strengths, values and passions:
-What did you especially love doing when you were a child, before the world told you what you should or shouldn't like or do? Describe a moment when you experienced this love and how it made you feel.
-Tell us about two of your most challenging life experiences. How have they shaped you?
-What do you enjoy doing in your life now that makes you feel the happiest?
Jumpcut's (standout) core values:
-Help people grow: Help others get a little better, every single day.
-Sign your name on it: Your work should be like a work of art, so masterful that you would sign your name on it.
What matters most in business and life are the deep values underpinning our dreams.
The task of leadership is to dream big, but not so big that no one else can follow our dreams.
Short-termism vs long-termism
Failing fast allows us to creatively iterate towards new innovations, but the question remains, what is the cost of this mind-set? Do we avoid tackling complex problems that can't be solved in quick, iterative development cycles?
Parenting is a long-haul game. So, too, is developing goodness and character.
Is youth truly wasted on the young? Today, I've come to believe that impatience makes many young people miss important opportunities for growth towards goodness.
The American question regularly posed to child development psychologist Jean Piaget - "Can parents do something to speed up the normal developmental process in children?"
Good things take time to develop, and like a child's cognitive development, have to be allowed a natural and patient cadence in order to be realised.
Vulnerability vs Conviction
Nail care service is simultaneously the most-used and least-regulated beauty service in the world.
Brene Brown: Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy - the experiences that make us the most vulnerable.
Vulnerability is defined in this context as a conscious choice, as amenability to novelty and experimentation that allows for the possibility of stumbling upon even bigger ideas. Think of it as risk taking.
Business building and vulnerability are inextricably linked - if you don't allow yourself to have active vulnerability toward risk, there is little chance of reward or change.
Active vulnerability is in essence proactive and informed risk taking. Passive vulnerability is reactive and submissive exposure.
A difference between confidence and conviction - if you're confident, you can support a given decision. If you have conviction, you get that much closer to true accountability. Leaders and decision makers need to realise that they are accountable across all levels of their organisations.
Gandhi - A "no" uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a "yes" merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
Stubbornness is great when you're right, but hell when you're wrong.
Leaders that faced vulnerability with courage gave themselves permission to be uncertain and were comfortable navigating their seas of ambiguity in the belief that any vulnerability that seeped in was the natural consequence of their search for a bigger purpose.
Idiosyncrasy vs Connectedness
Phatic communication refers to the act of relying on convenient, conventional, and not always meaningful words, phrases or even topics.
Valuing dissent provides permission for our differences and idiosyncrasies to come out in an open and safe way.
When interviewing candidates I like to ask whether the person is willing to confess one of their idiosyncrasies. We tend to remember the idiosyncrasies of good people or great leaders because their unusual behaviour, tics, or stories not only make them who they are, they also make them human.
Idiosyncrasy should never be pushed to the point where it serves as an excuse for outcast behaviour that comes at the expense or even the offense of others.
Leadership requires a rarer, less tangible capacity to maintain and construct human connectivity, which derives from revealing our vulnerabilities and idiosyncrasies.
Good people and great leaders are superior communicators who can make the complex clear - they have internalised their ideas. They know who they are, why they do what they do, and where they're going.
Rest of book notes available here.
___
"Goodness" is far more than a person's competencies, goodness is about people's humanity, their values, the qualities inherent in their character, and other intangible traits. There is a need to distinguish goodness as competency from goodness as values.
Classic Tsun-yan - thinking of each moment as a potential learning opportunity, implicitly making the point and recognising that we all could work with the people that we wish to, if only we put a little more of ourselves into those we really want to be part of our life story.
One of Tsun-yan's evergreen themes for leadership: counselling others on leading and living with a sense of purpose towards wholeness.
There is compelling scientific evidence that investing in relationships over things like money and fame is key to living a healthy, happy and successful life.
If you focus on the right people with the right values, the rest resolves itself.
Nothing even comes close to the importance of the people who surround us, so we should always prioritise clan and culture - over competency, company name, and cash.
What I felt in the presence of good people was the result of someone helping me become a fuller version of myself.
Good people purposely and proactively put people first, consistently and over the long haul.
Good people grow by continually seeking to improve themselves; this means they not only pursue their own betterment, they also acknowledge a responsibility to help others feel and become the fullest possible versions of themselves.
Good people put a premium on values.
Good people are realists. They understand that goodness requires hard work and a constant balancing of aspirations and real life.
Finally, good people see goodness as something that must be put to work whenever they are faced with the opportunity to do so. They step forward whenever they can, not just when they need to, goodness becomes habitual.
A way to judge goodness: is someone a net energy giver or taker?
Always go with the A team. Ideas and industries change far faster than people change. Good people who are As can adapt and evolve plans while motivating their teams to do the same. Furthermore they can do this while staying true to their core organisational values.
Somewhere along the line, we accepted the idea that being human means being unprofessional.
The most compassionate and human moments occur when people are willing to break from their characters to focus on commonalities rather than differences - when a person gives an unexpected hug or holds out a hand.
Resumes and conventional job interviews don't tell us anything about the more nuanced and elusive traits of goodness.
Are there ten people with whom I'd be willing to start up a relationship of goodness? To be a champion of their cause, an anchor in time of ened, a counselor or mentor in a time of dilemma, a cheerleader during times of success?
General definition of "Good People": those committed to continuously cultivating the values that help them and others become the fullest possible versions of who they are.
A definition is a high-level declarative statement of meaning, and a framework provides the structure to help us better understand that definition. A framework is a mental model that provides anchor points to contextualise our understanding.
The Goodness Pyramid, from the bottom up -
Truth: Honesty and congruence in your thoughts and actions.
Compassion: Selflessness made possibly by understanding others' experiences.
Wholeness: Fulfillment and gratitude for the people we have around us and for our situation in life.
Truth:
If we aren't true to ourselves and true to others, our foundation is hollow.
Compassion:
Openness is a mindset. It is about reducing bias and expanding our viewpoints.
Generosity is compassion in action, and it denotes our willingness to act upon the empathy we feel.
Wholeness:
If compassion engenders caring, then wholeness allows us to feel satisfaction and gratitude for the people around us. Love, the mindset of wholeness, elevates the conditional care of compassion to the unconditional. It is about attaining the permanent mind-set that our own satisfaction and ultimate fulfillment results from supporting the fulfillment and success of others.
Respect is not about obedience or submissiveness; it's about fulfilling our commitments and understanding our responsibilities and obligations to one another.
Truth
The final lesson of the failed IPO was most important: to maintain perspective and gain clarity on the people who really matter around you. Who is there for you when it counts, and who isn't? Missed financial transactions are one thing - a bruising of the ego and wallet - but it stings to discover that some of the loving, trusting relationships with people turned out to be merely transactional. In those moments, you learn a lot about yourself, and a lot about truth, friendship, goodness, and expectations.
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility is being superior to your former self.” - Ernest Hemingway
Only by maintaining genuine humility can one foster a lifelong intellectual curiosity and the openness required for even greater possibility, creativity and humanity.
Many mistranslate humanity as the belief that you think very little of yourself. Rather, humility is thinking somewhat less, rather than little, of yourself.
A leader who has no doubts is a fanatic. A leader whose convictions are strong despite doubt is humble, willing to learn and listen, but with a strong bias for action.
It is pride's negative side - envy, arrogance, or self-righteousness versus the more positive traits of pride, like self-respect or even patriotism - that is the true enemy of humility.
Self-awareness has its own symbiotic, mutually reinforcing mechanism - when you are better able to judge, find, and associate with good people, they will help you reach a higher level of self-awareness.
Being in the company of the right people who provide positive peer pressure is the best way to avoid falling into the trap of wearing a mask or playing an unnatural role.
Processes, policies and norms can have the unintended consequence of encouraging mindless behaviour - the complete counterobjective to self-awareness.
It is impossible to gain self-awareness if you're unable to define what success means.
The ultimate test of self-awareness is understanding your own biases.
Leaders must give permission to their teams to be more reflective, expressive, and human.
Feedback is just a means of having an honest conversation with the aim of getting a better picture of an individual or the overall health of an organisation.
Benjamin Franklin's own version of R&R - routine and reflection. Together, mindful reflection and the order and discipline of routine make for a lifelong learner, and, not unrelatedly, a lifelong leader. The best leaders in my experience are students first and teachers second.
Compassion
Competence without compassion leads to examples like the doctor who is more focused on the cancer than the person with the cancer.
Paul Kalanithi - When Breath Becomes Air: Before operating on a patient's brain, I realised, I must first understand his mind: his identity, his values, what makes his life worth living, and what devastation makes it reasonable to make that life end. The cost of my dedication to succeed was high, and the ineluctable failures brought me nearly unbearable guilt. These burdens are what make medicine holy and wholly impossible: in taking up another's cross, one must sometimes get crushed by the weight.
Dr Jack Erban - We all have a duty to serve and a duty to care, and this duty is both our gift and our privilege.
Yale Professor Sherwin Nuland argued that the medical education system's preferential teaching of technique and protocol effectively rendered the emotional and psychological side of the patient equation an afterthought.
Workplaces require some means of ensuring accountability, measuring productivity, and managing risk. But these policies are often carried out at the expense of compassion, so that the "what" of the business overwhelms the "how".
There can be no empathy and optimism without openness. Openness removes prejudice and therefore allows goodness to shine through.
The press is a good source of valuable feedback and public perception.
The problem in business is that we are too often over-ruled and under-valued. We burden employees with rules and in the process undervalue and underestimate their desire and ability to do the right thing.
Just because we have one bad person doesn't mean I should treat everyone in the organisation less well.
Robert Greenleaf recommends that servant leaders should ask themselves these questions: "Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?"
*In its purest form, empathy demands that we put aside our own vanity and biases in order to feel as others feel. Recognise effort and offer validation before voicing your own point of view or recommendation.*
One way to become a better listener is to steer clear of phatic questions (words and phrases that we regularly use that have become procedural, aka the polite thing to say).
All too often we say the right thing without the right mind-set, and so we hear without listening or understanding. Try "how are you, really?" rather than "how are you?"
Vig Knudstorp, CEO of LEGO: Blame is not failure, it is for failing to help or ask for help.
How we spend our money seems to be just as important as how much money we earn.
Music is simply the vehicle Herbie uses to express his innate humanness and insatiable desire to become the best person he can possibly be.
Wholeness
Leadership, especially great leadership, is a lonely job. Proper leadership requires sacrifice so that others are shielded from this same loneliness and uncertainty.
Leaders can remedy that by seeking wholeness. We feel whole when we are at peace with the realities of the roles we play.
Have we reached a point in our work and life where our natural disposition is to root for others' happiness? Do we practice respect for ourselves and others? And have we accrued sufficient wisdom and experience to be able to distinguish between good and bad judgment, and to act appropriately?
The best leaders recognise this truth - that we must be more than just numbers, that we must work toward the durability of something institutionally good in the character and culture of our organisations and the people we touch.
To experience wholeness, one must allow oneself to both be loved and also to find more love in others. People who put themselves entirely in the service of others act out the highest form of love.
Love is the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.
To love and be loved you must consciously wish and work for someone else's happiness. Love is something more strongly nurturing, widely practical, and deeply service oriented.
Kevin Roberts, author of Lovemarks, had a philosophy that the best global brands built emotional authentic conversations with their customers.
Wholeness and self-love are prequisites for sharing love with others.
Whenever I evaluate businesses for investment, I always try to visit their workplace to see if I can literally "feel the love".
Respect is a close cousin of compassion, but the practice of respect also demands that we defer to others, observe proper decorum, recognise our mistakes, and follow through on our commitments.
It does not matter whether you are a CEO or a team captain, deference can only be won by earning the genuine admiration of another person, typically for either the consistency of your character or the calibre of your competence. Ultimately, genuine respect accrues to those who respect other people.
Dr. Wayne Dyer: "When given a choice between being right and being kind, choose to be kind."
We commend children if they learn from difficult moments rather than pointing fingers and avoiding blame. As adults, we would do well to remember this lesson.
Brene Brown: "Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen."
When considering to take on a new job, there are really only a handful of questions you need to ask yourself: Do you have affection for these people? Can you imagine yourself caring for them and them caring for you? Do you respect the boss's leadership style, and do you think she will respect you? And finally, would you be proud to talk with other people about your colleagues, your boss, and your workplace?
We develop wisdom when we experience the world and learn good judgment alongside good people.
Most people can deal with bad news or subpar outcomes if they set realistic expectations early and are given a chance to course correct.
The author's two life goals: To become as wise as he can, as early as he can. The second is to remember to experience the happiness, awe, gratitude, and curiosity common among children. It's almost as if we understand everything during our first and final five years of life, and in between lie all of life's struggles.
Concentrate on meaningful roles, experiences, learning and development.
Read as many books as you can. Dog-ear pages and scribble in the margins. One especially easy exercise is to keep a log of themes and quotations that have inspired you.
Maslow's self-actualisation has less to do with what we can do for ourselves, and more to do with what we can do for others.
When we use politically correct business terms and euphemisms like "employee engagement", we dilute their essence. The same common needs and concepts exist in both business and personal contexts.
Vulnerability: that everything worth doing carries a measure of risk.
A decision making process: R.I.S.E. - recognising, internalising, sharing, and executing.
When a stressful situation arises, especially one that seems to challenge your values of goodness, having a go-to method will help ease the emotional weight and give you an intial guide towards balance.
The author met Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore REPRESENT) as an intern during the World Economic Forum in Davos, and noted he had balanced the tension between pragmatism and idealism.
When we are idealistic, we live by our values, morals, and ideals even when they inconvenience us or cause us suffering. Pragmatism, on the other hand, looks for answers and prioritises action. They aren't combatants incapable of coexistence. Rather they are two halves of an exquisite tension that is a reality of business and even life.
Seeking equilibrium and balance is very different from surrendering to compromise. While compromising and seeking balance may lead us to the same place eventually, compromise suggests a painful trade-off, while balance suggests the ability to reach a productive equilibrium.
Three questions to identify your core, lifelong strengths, values and passions:
-What did you especially love doing when you were a child, before the world told you what you should or shouldn't like or do? Describe a moment when you experienced this love and how it made you feel.
-Tell us about two of your most challenging life experiences. How have they shaped you?
-What do you enjoy doing in your life now that makes you feel the happiest?
Jumpcut's (standout) core values:
-Help people grow: Help others get a little better, every single day.
-Sign your name on it: Your work should be like a work of art, so masterful that you would sign your name on it.
What matters most in business and life are the deep values underpinning our dreams.
The task of leadership is to dream big, but not so big that no one else can follow our dreams.
Short-termism vs long-termism
Failing fast allows us to creatively iterate towards new innovations, but the question remains, what is the cost of this mind-set? Do we avoid tackling complex problems that can't be solved in quick, iterative development cycles?
Parenting is a long-haul game. So, too, is developing goodness and character.
Is youth truly wasted on the young? Today, I've come to believe that impatience makes many young people miss important opportunities for growth towards goodness.
The American question regularly posed to child development psychologist Jean Piaget - "Can parents do something to speed up the normal developmental process in children?"
Good things take time to develop, and like a child's cognitive development, have to be allowed a natural and patient cadence in order to be realised.
Vulnerability vs Conviction
Nail care service is simultaneously the most-used and least-regulated beauty service in the world.
Brene Brown: Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy - the experiences that make us the most vulnerable.
Vulnerability is defined in this context as a conscious choice, as amenability to novelty and experimentation that allows for the possibility of stumbling upon even bigger ideas. Think of it as risk taking.
Business building and vulnerability are inextricably linked - if you don't allow yourself to have active vulnerability toward risk, there is little chance of reward or change.
Active vulnerability is in essence proactive and informed risk taking. Passive vulnerability is reactive and submissive exposure.
A difference between confidence and conviction - if you're confident, you can support a given decision. If you have conviction, you get that much closer to true accountability. Leaders and decision makers need to realise that they are accountable across all levels of their organisations.
Gandhi - A "no" uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a "yes" merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
Stubbornness is great when you're right, but hell when you're wrong.
Leaders that faced vulnerability with courage gave themselves permission to be uncertain and were comfortable navigating their seas of ambiguity in the belief that any vulnerability that seeped in was the natural consequence of their search for a bigger purpose.
Idiosyncrasy vs Connectedness
Phatic communication refers to the act of relying on convenient, conventional, and not always meaningful words, phrases or even topics.
Valuing dissent provides permission for our differences and idiosyncrasies to come out in an open and safe way.
When interviewing candidates I like to ask whether the person is willing to confess one of their idiosyncrasies. We tend to remember the idiosyncrasies of good people or great leaders because their unusual behaviour, tics, or stories not only make them who they are, they also make them human.
Idiosyncrasy should never be pushed to the point where it serves as an excuse for outcast behaviour that comes at the expense or even the offense of others.
Leadership requires a rarer, less tangible capacity to maintain and construct human connectivity, which derives from revealing our vulnerabilities and idiosyncrasies.
Good people and great leaders are superior communicators who can make the complex clear - they have internalised their ideas. They know who they are, why they do what they do, and where they're going.
Rest of book notes available here.
December 5, 2018
A good reading not in my top 10% books, but with solid concept and solution for the r day to day problems.
June 27, 2017
Positives
One thing I love about this book and non-fiction in general is the inclusion of chapter summaries. I find it extremely helpful in maximizing value for the reader. Tjan shares valuable insight and the chapter summaries offer a brief overview that is particularly useful if you plan on reviewing the book and taking notes of the key points most pertinent to your life.
Additionally, Tjan manages to balance theoretical concepts and the practical implementation opportunities excellently. This book isn't just explaining the "why", but it delivers value in expressing the "how" of finding good people for your business. I also appreciate that Tjan explicitly states that the ideas he is sharing require conscious effort to implement and won't come easy to most people.
Is this book for you?
If you're a mentor this book provides tremendous value. Tjan discusses the responsibility you have as a mentor and how to maximize the impact of the relationship. Additionally, if you're the mentee, Tjan explains what your responsibilities are, highlighting the fact that the success of a mentor-mentee relationship requires effort from both parties involved.
I also think if you are an employer or recruiter looking to improve your interview/recruiting process this book is excellent. I say this because Tjan provides practical advice on how to recruit people and what to look for in potential candidates. Even though this book isn't marketed as a recruitment guide, the content is so pertinent to the hiring process that I consider it a must-read.
Full review on my blog
One thing I love about this book and non-fiction in general is the inclusion of chapter summaries. I find it extremely helpful in maximizing value for the reader. Tjan shares valuable insight and the chapter summaries offer a brief overview that is particularly useful if you plan on reviewing the book and taking notes of the key points most pertinent to your life.
Additionally, Tjan manages to balance theoretical concepts and the practical implementation opportunities excellently. This book isn't just explaining the "why", but it delivers value in expressing the "how" of finding good people for your business. I also appreciate that Tjan explicitly states that the ideas he is sharing require conscious effort to implement and won't come easy to most people.
Is this book for you?
If you're a mentor this book provides tremendous value. Tjan discusses the responsibility you have as a mentor and how to maximize the impact of the relationship. Additionally, if you're the mentee, Tjan explains what your responsibilities are, highlighting the fact that the success of a mentor-mentee relationship requires effort from both parties involved.
I also think if you are an employer or recruiter looking to improve your interview/recruiting process this book is excellent. I say this because Tjan provides practical advice on how to recruit people and what to look for in potential candidates. Even though this book isn't marketed as a recruitment guide, the content is so pertinent to the hiring process that I consider it a must-read.
Full review on my blog
September 13, 2018
I decided to read this book essentially because I wanted reassurance about my own leadership decisions and wanted to have a way to articulate the importance of building teams made up of people who treat others kindly (and with respect). This book was an excellent choice.
I believe the author is correct in his assessment about valuing goodness over teachable skills. That said, the framework is...a little touchy-feely and probably not something I could live up to personally as an introvert, though I honestly believe it would be/will be worth the attempt. Other readers' mileage will vary!
The sections on the various tensions were pretty amazing. In the work I do (librarian), the tension between pragmatism and idealism is something I consciously think about and confront almost every working day. FML. Having that struggle identified and discussed was amazing. I am also facing the tension between idiosyncrasy and connectedness. I'm working on how to retain my individuality while connecting with others and finding the connection part...a real struggle.
All of the individual pieces of this book from the Goodness Pyramid (omg...the name tho) to the tensions to advice on mentoring to the questions to ask yourself about others...all of these are incredible resources. It's amazing that they're all in one book.
Overall, I couldn't recommend this more highly; however, it will take an especially good person to be able to put it into practice. It's for everyone to consider, even if pursuing goodness in this way is not something everyone can legit DO.
I may purchase a copy.
I believe the author is correct in his assessment about valuing goodness over teachable skills. That said, the framework is...a little touchy-feely and probably not something I could live up to personally as an introvert, though I honestly believe it would be/will be worth the attempt. Other readers' mileage will vary!
The sections on the various tensions were pretty amazing. In the work I do (librarian), the tension between pragmatism and idealism is something I consciously think about and confront almost every working day. FML. Having that struggle identified and discussed was amazing. I am also facing the tension between idiosyncrasy and connectedness. I'm working on how to retain my individuality while connecting with others and finding the connection part...a real struggle.
All of the individual pieces of this book from the Goodness Pyramid (omg...the name tho) to the tensions to advice on mentoring to the questions to ask yourself about others...all of these are incredible resources. It's amazing that they're all in one book.
Overall, I couldn't recommend this more highly; however, it will take an especially good person to be able to put it into practice. It's for everyone to consider, even if pursuing goodness in this way is not something everyone can legit DO.
I may purchase a copy.
January 13, 2022
Book#3 of #2022 -
Name: Good People
Author: Anthony Tjan
Genre: Management
Rating: 4/5
Publisher: Penguin Publishers
Page Count: 287
Recommended to: People who are leaders, people who will be in the leadership position in the future.
My Review: I am not a fan of non-fiction or management books, but I picked this one because of the gist.
"Good People are your organizations' most critical asset. But what does it really mean to be good?"
The author here talks about experiences and incidents from his career where he understood how important it is to be a good leader. Making money and profit will only earn clients, but it will go a long way if we are good and empathetic towards our team. The content lists many ways and action items that people can use to become approachable and nice leaders.
I would suggest this is a must-read for the leadership in every organization, especially during these COVID times, where people are juggling both their personal and professional life. The line between these two lives has blurred to a point where we no longer can see it and are bound to get frustrated and stressed. Having someone at the workplace who understands that people are not machines and need to reboot and have a life outside work helps the team and motivates them to perform better.
Name: Good People
Author: Anthony Tjan
Genre: Management
Rating: 4/5
Publisher: Penguin Publishers
Page Count: 287
Recommended to: People who are leaders, people who will be in the leadership position in the future.
My Review: I am not a fan of non-fiction or management books, but I picked this one because of the gist.
"Good People are your organizations' most critical asset. But what does it really mean to be good?"
The author here talks about experiences and incidents from his career where he understood how important it is to be a good leader. Making money and profit will only earn clients, but it will go a long way if we are good and empathetic towards our team. The content lists many ways and action items that people can use to become approachable and nice leaders.
I would suggest this is a must-read for the leadership in every organization, especially during these COVID times, where people are juggling both their personal and professional life. The line between these two lives has blurred to a point where we no longer can see it and are bound to get frustrated and stressed. Having someone at the workplace who understands that people are not machines and need to reboot and have a life outside work helps the team and motivates them to perform better.
March 29, 2022
It’s common to hear business leaders say that a company is only as good as its people – but do they really mean it?
The fact is, in most workplaces, people have been conditioned to appreciate a person’s competencies over their values. And while a person’s skill set is important, no amount of marketing magic or workflow wizardry can make up for an average character.
A people-first approach might sound fluffy, but it’s actually a savvy business decision. Placing values above competencies, investing long-term in human capital, and compassionately mentoring your workforce creates a positive workplace culture, improves productivity, and creates real value.
But first, we need a shared framework for defining goodness, living up to values grounded in goodness, and resolving tensions when they arise.
We’ve been conditioned by corporate culture to value a person’s competencies over their values, but in truth, the latter is far more important. Skills are more easily measured, but a person’s character is what adds meaningful, long-lasting value to a company and its culture. We need a new framework for defining goodness and guiding our actions and another for dealing with tensions that inevitably arise when we practice goodness in the real world. Practicing goodness can make us better employees, mentors, and human beings, but also benefits the bottom line.
The fact is, in most workplaces, people have been conditioned to appreciate a person’s competencies over their values. And while a person’s skill set is important, no amount of marketing magic or workflow wizardry can make up for an average character.
A people-first approach might sound fluffy, but it’s actually a savvy business decision. Placing values above competencies, investing long-term in human capital, and compassionately mentoring your workforce creates a positive workplace culture, improves productivity, and creates real value.
But first, we need a shared framework for defining goodness, living up to values grounded in goodness, and resolving tensions when they arise.
We’ve been conditioned by corporate culture to value a person’s competencies over their values, but in truth, the latter is far more important. Skills are more easily measured, but a person’s character is what adds meaningful, long-lasting value to a company and its culture. We need a new framework for defining goodness and guiding our actions and another for dealing with tensions that inevitably arise when we practice goodness in the real world. Practicing goodness can make us better employees, mentors, and human beings, but also benefits the bottom line.
December 27, 2024
Anthony Tjan lays out a definition of good people—“those committed to continuously cultivating the values that help them and others become the fullest possible versions of who they are”—as the primary criteria for good leadership. Then expands the definition with a pyramid style framework of traits of goodness.
Ultimately, nothing new here. Tjan rehashes and compiles others to make a fairly intuitive point that intent, morals, and a long-term mindset matter in building teams and mentoring others.
I see parallels to James Macgregor Burns’ moral leadership definition, from his book “Leadership,” who won a Pulitzer Prize for setting a vocabulary and framework for good leadership in 1978. Tjan pulls in a few fresher examples of model companies/leaders like WD-40, but overall I didn’t walk away from this book with much in form of practical new tools.
Ultimately, nothing new here. Tjan rehashes and compiles others to make a fairly intuitive point that intent, morals, and a long-term mindset matter in building teams and mentoring others.
I see parallels to James Macgregor Burns’ moral leadership definition, from his book “Leadership,” who won a Pulitzer Prize for setting a vocabulary and framework for good leadership in 1978. Tjan pulls in a few fresher examples of model companies/leaders like WD-40, but overall I didn’t walk away from this book with much in form of practical new tools.
December 27, 2017
I would really like to see this book really catch on... I see it in all the bookstores, and see business people take it and perhaps they read it. When I think of amazing great impact we could have on the business world if we applied the truth and the framework presented by Tjan here in this book, it get excited about the potential for transformation in the corporate world. And if I remember or apply nothing else form this book, if Only I remember and apply this statement, I can say I had success: "The core purpose of our jobs should be to make others great." In the end isn't that what success looks like, that in some way some people are made/grown greater than they were, or greater than they thought they could have been. I may need a hard copy of this to continue to reference and mark up!
December 10, 2018
Values are more important than competencies, because a person's character adds value to a company and its culture. Practicing goodness can make us better employees, mentors and humans. We overestimate short-term effects and underestimate long-term effects. Goodness transforms our capacity to mentor and will help us bring more benefits to a company. Asking what are you truly trying to achieve? What are you doing well that is helping you get there? What's slowing you down? What will you change tomorrow to help you get faster? and specially, how can I help? are good questions that mentors should ask mentees.
July 31, 2021
إنّ انتماء أيٍّ منّا إلى فئة الأشخاص الطّيبين لا يخضع لقانون المستحيل، فالصّفات النّبيلة والأخلاق الحسنة بعضها مكتسبٌ وبعضها أصيل، كما أنّ باب الانتساب إلى هذه الفئة غير محصورٍ بمكانٍ أو زمانٍ محدّد؛ فجميع الأبواب
مفتوحةٌ على مصراعيها بانتظار المنتسبين، فالخيار بين يديك، والفرصة متاحةٌ أمامك في كلّ لحظة، فاغتنمها.
في الحقيقة نعم ليس مستحيل و لكن صعب جداً
تطبيق هذا الواقع في الجانب العملي
نحن جميعاً نعرف الى اين يتجه العالم الرأس مالي
الذي يعتبر الموظف مجرد مسنن صغير يقوم بتحريك اله اضخم منه
بالطبع ان صفات الصدق و الامانة و الوجوهر الطيب
اذا طبقة سوف تشكل فرق كبير في عالم الاعمال اليوم
و لكن لا فائدة من اي طرح لان السؤال هو كيف سوف نطبقها؟
مفتوحةٌ على مصراعيها بانتظار المنتسبين، فالخيار بين يديك، والفرصة متاحةٌ أمامك في كلّ لحظة، فاغتنمها.
في الحقيقة نعم ليس مستحيل و لكن صعب جداً
تطبيق هذا الواقع في الجانب العملي
نحن جميعاً نعرف الى اين يتجه العالم الرأس مالي
الذي يعتبر الموظف مجرد مسنن صغير يقوم بتحريك اله اضخم منه
بالطبع ان صفات الصدق و الامانة و الوجوهر الطيب
اذا طبقة سوف تشكل فرق كبير في عالم الاعمال اليوم
و لكن لا فائدة من اي طرح لان السؤال هو كيف سوف نطبقها؟
December 5, 2018
We’ve been conditioned by corporate culture to value a person’s competencies over their values, but in truth, the latter are far more important. Skills are more easily measured, but a person’s character is what adds meaningful, long-lasting value to a company and its culture.
We need a new framework for defining goodness and guiding our actions and another for dealing with tensions which inevitably arise when we practice goodness in the real world. Practicing goodness can make us better employees, mentors and human beings, but also benefits the bottom line.
We need a new framework for defining goodness and guiding our actions and another for dealing with tensions which inevitably arise when we practice goodness in the real world. Practicing goodness can make us better employees, mentors and human beings, but also benefits the bottom line.
October 4, 2017
Very good book about leadership and self reflection to be a better person. I recommend this book to anyone especially if you lead one or more team in your office, building a start up, or any other business related leadership, or even a parent.
The writer tells us how great company implement people first value and how it can significantly change the result. Sometimes we forget that "goodness" is the only real long-term advantages instead of product, growth, or profit.
The writer tells us how great company implement people first value and how it can significantly change the result. Sometimes we forget that "goodness" is the only real long-term advantages instead of product, growth, or profit.
July 27, 2019
A solid exploration into goodness. I thoroughly enjoyed the dips into the interviews. In some ways, a text devoted to what was learned about leadership and goodness from around the world would have been a more compelling read. As it was, I found myself encouraged to continue some practices and adapt others. I'm not entirely sure that the pyramid made a sincere difference for me, but I can sense the need to offer practical tools.
October 26, 2019
I listened to the audiobook and my first impression was not good. That changed around Chapter 3.
This book is really good and talks about goodness and helping others which is something the whole world needs right now.
Many of the business examples are trite and there was only one or two that I had not heard or read about before.
The author, at the end, challenges the reader to help ten people and I am going to attempt to do that.
I recommend this book.
This book is really good and talks about goodness and helping others which is something the whole world needs right now.
Many of the business examples are trite and there was only one or two that I had not heard or read about before.
The author, at the end, challenges the reader to help ten people and I am going to attempt to do that.
I recommend this book.
February 11, 2023
as an agency owner I would say that this book is a very MUST READ for any leader , if you are leading people than add this book to your toolkit ..
For me ; over all the book is very full of good stories and between lines wisdom it needs a quality deep reading yet some of the pages talked alot about the authors achievements and i find it a bit boring cuz it was mentioned more than once :/
Other than this its a 9/10 book for me
For me ; over all the book is very full of good stories and between lines wisdom it needs a quality deep reading yet some of the pages talked alot about the authors achievements and i find it a bit boring cuz it was mentioned more than once :/
Other than this its a 9/10 book for me
December 9, 2017
Truth is, I didn’t finish the book. The content could have been boiled down to an essay. It was so repetitive at times I would look at the page number to ensure I hadn’t already read it. Also, Mr. Tjan sounds very accomplished. He makes reference to that fact on nearly every page.
December 5, 2018
Pretty interesting book, mostly aimed at corporate leaders but still a good read for anyone who wants to be a better person. It gives us a way to define goodness and a decision making process, both essential.
December 5, 2018
We need a new framework for defining goodness. Practicing goodness benefits “the bottom line”. “Good” has lost meaning. Ask someone how they “really” are. Give them your full attention for a response.
December 15, 2021
I have not really learned anything new from this book. The Goodness of people pyramid seems very simplified in the sense that it only looks into three factors of a human. I liked the point that leaders should put more importance on values over competence.
August 2, 2017
It's ok - good premiss but dry
July 22, 2018
I really loved his definitions and imperative around finding and being good people. The chapters on balancing qualities was really inspiring and pragmatic.
I will reread this.
I will reread this.
July 31, 2018
highly recommend this management book
December 5, 2018
Blinkist abridgement
March 10, 2019
Some good ideas but also many stories that are about the author’s business success than the theme of the book.
March 31, 2019
Very theoretical principles, realities not analyzed in detailed way. First chapter is interesting.
March 15, 2022
Add this book to your leadership toolkit!! If you are leading people, this book is a must read!!
November 6, 2023
The world needs more authentic and value-driven leaders.
July 8, 2018
Before reading this book, I had never really stopped to think about what we mean when we describe someone as 'good'. It's something that we assume we know, but struggle to articulate. Anthony Tjan is to be commended for his attempt to provide a framework for thinking about what it means to be good, specifically within the context of leadership. While some of the material could have been presented more concisely, it's encouraging to have someone boldly putting forward a case for focusing on character over competence. The chapters on mentoring and becoming a better judge of character were particularly useful.
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