Review

I love Julie Zhuo’s writing style, she’s able to cover a lot of ground quickly. She frames the major challenges of leading a team well. Her practical advice is spot on. The book is full of little gems. I found myself agreeing with her high-level perspective on things (e.g. hiring is an opportunity not an obligation) and I love that.

Key Takeaways

The 20% that gave me 80% of the value:

• Management is the art of getting better outcomes from a group of people working together through influencing purpose, people, and process
• Assess yourself based on both your team’s achievements now (your work) AND your teams’ ability to achieve outcomes in future
• Management is a role. Leadership is the ability to guide and influence people – it’s a skill
• People doing good work is a function of motivation and skill
• Power dynamics mean the manager must take the lead on building trust – invest time into it.

Coaching Model: Identify, Understand, Support

• Identify What Really Matters
  • What is top of mind for you right now?
  • What priorities are you thinking about this week?
  • What’s the best use of our time today?
• Understand by Getting to the Root of the Problem and What Can Be Done about It
  • What does your ideal outcome look like?
  • What’s hard for you in getting to that outcome?
  • What do you really care about?
  • What do you think is the best course of action?
  • What’s the worst case scenario you’re worried about?
• Support by Identifying Things That You Can Do to Help
  • How can I help you?
  • What can I do to make you more successful?
  • What was the most useful part of our conversation today?

• Great feedback inspires behavior change → that results in their life getting better
• Every major disappointment is a failure to set expectations. You shouldn’t hear bad news for the first time in a review.
• Have a growth mindset. You can get better at anything. Feedback and making an effort to improve will accelerate your progress.
• Give every meeting a purpose → think about what a great outcome looks like.
• Diversity makes amazing teams, and diversity has many dimensions
• Prioritize diversity by actively seeking candidates that offer something different
• Perfect execution is more powerful than perfect strategy
• People-centric skills become more important as a manager: Hiring leaders, building self-reliant teams, establishing a clear vision, communicating it well
• Always walk the walk → if you’re not willing to change your behavior for a stated value then don’t bring it up in the first place