Why I Picked This Up
I saw the title, saw the reviews, and got excited the way I always do before a new business book. Marshall Goldsmith coaches CEOs and future CEOs at Fortune 100 companies, so I figured I was about to get something sharp and different. I'll be honest up front: I was a little disappointed.
The Honest Take
A lot of this book felt sophomoric to me. Not because the ideas are wrong, but because if you've read anywhere between 25 and 40 books on success, leadership, and management, you already have the basics down. I've given away or sold most of the business books on my shelf after reading them, and this one landed as a rehash of concepts I'd already absorbed elsewhere. If you've never read a book on bettering yourself or your business, this will feel revelatory. If you're 35 or 40 and already in a leadership seat, you probably know most of it cold.
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Goldsmith breaks the book into four sections. Section one is basically an introduction: why you resist change even when you're already successful. Section two is the meatiest on paper — 20 habits that hold successful people back, things like winning too much, adding too much value, passing judgment, making destructive comments, starting sentences with "no" or "however," telling the world how smart you are, speaking when angry, negativity, withholding information, failing to give recognition, and claiming credit you don't deserve. Straightforward stuff if you've been paying attention to how you operate.
What Actually Stuck
Section three is where it got more useful for me, walking through feedback, apologizing, and listening. The one idea I took out of the whole book and actually apply now: the more you listen, the better the speaker becomes. The more engaged you are as a listener, the more the other person opens up and gives you real detail. It sounds simple, but I notice it now in every negotiation and every team conversation — when I actually shut up and listen instead of half-listening while planning my response, people give me more, and better, information.
Section four covers changing the rules once you're in charge, which felt like a natural close but didn't add much new for me personally.
Where I'd Point People Instead
If you're an employee or a manager inside a big corporation and you want the corporate-ladder version of this material, I'd actually point you to Winning by Jack Welch first — that book covers similar ground with more depth for that specific audience. I run my own company, so a chunk of the corporate-ladder framing here didn't map directly to how I operate day to day.
Who Should Read It
- You're around 30 years old, new to a leadership or executive-track role, and haven't read much in this space yet
- You want a weekend read, not a deep study
- You manage people inside a larger organization and want the corporate-ladder framing
If you're already 35-plus, running your own shop, or you've put in your reps with 30-40 books in this category, you can skip most of it — you already know not to be negative, not to speak when angry, and not to claim credit you didn't earn.
I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars. It combines a lot of good material from other books into one place, and the listening insight alone was worth the read for me. But I'm coming at this from a spot where I've got a lot of book knowledge behind me without traditional executive experience, so take my rating with that context. If you're earlier in the journey, bump it up a star.
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