What Got You Here Won't Get You There: A Round Table Comic: How Successful People Become Even More Successful [Comic]

Marshall Goldsmith (Author), Shane Clester (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 16, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1610660137 | ISBN-13: 978-1610660136

The corporate world is filled with men and women who have worked hard to reach upper level management. They're intelligent, skilled, and even charismatic. But only a handful of them will ever reach the pinnacle — and as executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shows in this book, subtle nuances make all the difference. These are small transactional flaws performed by one person against another that, using Goldsmith's straightforward, jargonfree advice, are easy behaviors to change.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Goldsmith, an executive coach to the corporate elite, pinpoints 20 bad habits that stifle already successful careers as well as personal goals like succeeding in marriage or as a parent. Most are common behavioral problems, such as speaking when angry, which even the author is prone to do when dealing with a teenage daughter's belly ring. Though Goldsmith deals with touchy-feely material more typical of a self-help book—such as learning to listen or letting go of the past—his approach to curing self-destructive behavior is much harder-edged. For instance, he does not suggest sensitivity training for those prone to voicing morale-deflating sarcasm. His advice is to stop doing it. To stimulate behavior change, he suggests imposing fines (e.g., $10 for each infraction), asserting that monetary penalties can yield results by lunchtime. While Goldsmith's advice applies to everyone, the highly successful audience he targets may be the least likely to seek out his book without a direct order from someone higher up. As he points out, they are apt to attribute their success to their bad behavior. Still, that may allow the less successful to gain ground by improving their people skills first. (Jan. 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

By now, the CEO as celebrity is old hat. (Just start counting the books from former company heads.) That goes for the executive-recruiter-cum-president-makers. What has yet to be explored--until now--is the celebrity business coach, the individual who helps C-level executives correct flaws, whether invisible or public. A frequent interviewee in major business magazines like Fortune, Goldsmith, with the sage help and advice of his collaborator Reiter, pens a self-help career book, filled with disguised anecdotes and candid dialogue, all soon slated for bestsellerdom. His steps in coaching for success are simple, honest, without artifice: gather feedback from appropriate colleagues and cohorts, determine which behaviors to change (and remember, Goldsmith specifically focuses on behavior, not skills or knowledge), apologize, advertise, listen, thank, follow up, and practice feed-forward. Admittedly, this shrewd organizational psychologist only works with leaders he knows will listen, follow advice, and change--especially considering that he doesn't receive fees until improvements are secure and visible. On the other hand, these are words and processes anyone will benefit from, whether wannabe manager or senior executive. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Comic: 80 pages
• Publisher: Writers Of The Round Table Press (October 16, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1610660137
• ISBN-13: 978-1610660136
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 6.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great graphic novel that teaches 20 simple lessons to be more successful January 17, 2012

By Alain B. Burrese TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Comic

The Round Table Comics adaptation of "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter is a quick, enjoyable read, that promises to teach 20 workplace habits that you need to break to learn how successful people become even more successful. That's just what this graphic novel edition does. In 50 illustrated pages, this graphic novel captures the main points from Goldsmith's original book. Told in story fashion, each of the 20 habits is covered with just enough to teach you why you should break these habits to become even more successful. It's fun to read and teaches some important concepts.

Previously, I'd read these Round Table and Smarter Comics after I'd read the original book, and the graphic novel versions were great, quick, reviews to cover the main concepts in an illustrated fashion, and I liked the review. This time, I read the graphic novel version of "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" first. I liked the short, simple lessons, but it also made me want to read the book that this comic was based on to get the longer version too.

The illustrations were done by Shane Clester, who I liked from previous graphic novels he's done, and I felt he did a great job with this one too. His illustrations match the lessons and add to the learning you can do in this form.

Even though this short book only touches on each of the 20 workplace habits you need to break, I feel if you think a little about each habit, how it applies to your situation, and if you need to work on improving yourself in this area, you can gain a lot in a short time. However, it might take a bit more thinking on your part to figure out how to apply the simple lessons in your situation. And this is good, thinking about how to actually act upon the lessons will help you learn even more. Also, while the book suggests these are habits you should break in the workplace to be more successful, the lessons can be applied outside the workplace in your personal life too. Breaking them in your personal life can help you be more successful in your home and personal life.

Bottom line, if you liked the original book, you'll enjoy this quick review of the principles in illustrated format. If you like graphic novels that contain self-help lessons, you'll like this one. If you apply these lessons, you'll undoubtedly find yourself becoming even more successful.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of the "Tough Guy Wisdom" series and others.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Buyer Beware: If you order the paperback version, you will get a comic book July 20, 2012

By Homefish

Format:Comic|Amazon Verified Purchase

Let me state that I really enjoyed Marshall Goldsmith's Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back, and I was looking for something additional from him. I saw this book, and to save a few dollars, I opted to get the paperback instead. No where on the Amazon page did it indicate that this was different from the hardback (that's not entirely true -- buried in the title of the item, it says "A Round Table Comic"... (not that I would know what that means).

And while I'm happy to read the comic, I was hoping to add another full narrative by Goldsmith to my library, and now will probably do so in the future. But since Amazon's product detail system yet again fails to take into account different versions of titles (especially when it comes to reviewing such titles), it's extremely difficult to tell what it is that you are actually ordering unless you carefully comb the details page and read many of the reviews and so forth -- even then, sometimes you will get a book that has a totally different cover than what was shown on the details page.. but I digress.

I hope this helps someone make the right decision as to which version to order.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read. March 9, 2013

By Mark Conant, Sr.

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Get the non-illustrated version if you want more detail. Got both versions. Illustrated was more fun, but full version more in depth and helpful as both a reference guide and instructional guide.

Well worth the price.