I just finished the book Switch and I loved it. If you’re interested in changing yourself, the people around you, anything in your organization or anything at all, this book has both inspiring stories and some concrete ways you can start the change you want today. Here’s a summary of the books main thoughts:

1. Direct the Rider
FOLLOW THE BRIGHT SPOTS. Investigate what’s working and clone it.
SCRIPT THE CRITICAL MOVES. Don’t think big picture, think in terms of specific behaviors.
POINT TO THE DESTINATION. Change is easier when you know where you’re going and why it’s worth it.

2. Motivate the Elephant
FIND THE FEELING. Knowing something isn’t enough to cause change. Make people feel something.
SHRINK THE CHANGE. Break down the change until it no longer spooks the Elephant.
GROW YOUR PEOPLE. Cultivate a sense of identity and instill the growth mindset.

3. Shape the Path
TWEAK THE ENVIRONMENT. When the situation changes, the behavior changes. So change the situation.
BUILD HABITS. When behavior is habitual, it’s “free”—it doesn’t tax the Rider. Look for ways to encourage habits.
RALLY THE HERD. Behavior is contagious. Help it spread.

Points of Reflection:

- Before projecting change actions for others, what can you change in your own life/work?
- If nothing in your life needs changing, do you feel like you are growing?

My wife wrote a post today about ostriches and how tons of people continue believe the myth that ostriches bury their head in the sand. I’m sure at some point you’ve heard of this myth, saw it in a cartoon, or taunted the awkward “bird” at the zoo to take a sand dive.

It got me thinking about the things we misbelieve about ourselves. Whether it was a horrible teacher in elementary school, a bad coworker or boss, former “friends,” or even from your own parents, we tend to put excess weight to the cutting, negative words of the people around us.

Instead of misbelieving someone else’s projections of insecurity, believe in your ability to attain any of the dreams you’ve ever had. Listen to yourself, your heart and your work to take the first steps toward achieving those dreams. The misbelief of people telling you that you’re not this and you can’t do that are simply myths, like ostriches burying their head in the sand. Don’t listen, because misbeliefs do just that, they bury you.

Action Steps (you can do any one or all):

• Start a mistake journal. It will help you feel like you’re not a product of your mistakes. They’re just mistakes.
• Write a misbelief you’ve held on a piece of paper. Give it to a close friend or partner and ask them to get rid of it.
• Write a letter to a person whose misbelief you’ve held on to. You may decide you want to send it, I’ll leave that part up to you.

Some Points of reflection:

1. Die on a treadmill: Yesterday, I tweeted this quote by Hugh MacLeod, “If somebody in your industry is more successful than you, it’s probably because he works harder at it than you do.” Will Smith speaks to the same idea of hard work and success, that he’s willing to die on the treadmill. What are you willing to work for so hard that you’d die while doing it?
   
2. Lay one brick at a time: though this seems like a simple strategy, a lot of people will use the weight of an extremely difficult or large task as an excuse not to get any of the work done. The overwhelming feelings of defeat when facing an enormous project can be stifling. Sometimes laying the first brick is removing the excuses and just starting. What excuses do you have right now that’s keeping you from starting?
   
3. Focus on making a difference: In this vignette, Will Smith is talking about adding value. Whatever industry you’re in, whatever people you work for or with, you have an opportunity to add value. Examine the work that you’re doing, whether it’s in your job or not, is it simply just actions and business or does it make an impact?

Yes, your idea sucks…if it stays as an idea. One of things I’ve been learning as of late is to do more and talk less. Seth Godin calls it shipping, Mike Myatt calls it actionable leadership, and I will call it “mouthless movement.”

It’s not always easy for me to put all my thoughts into action and for a while now I’ve had tons of ideas and thoughts in my head. What’s even worse? I let a lot of people know all the ideas and thoughts and did very little to put those ideas into action. Someone recently told me that most people have good ideas and are able to analyze situations, whats going to make you stand out is getting the job done.

I would love to be recognized for my ideas and my thoughts and have someone pay me for them. I think most of us would. Success will require more than thinking about hypotheticals and talking about ideas, but showing that you can get things done. Repetitive action is the shortest path between you and success.

Action Steps:

1. Write (yes, with a pen or a pencil, they’re still useful and not yet archaic) down three things you want to accomplish this week.
2. Prioritize. Don’t start #2 until #1 is done.
3. Get ‘em done.

I recently read Nancy Ortberg’s Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands. The book is a compilation of some of Ortberg’s best and simplest leadership lessons. I highly recommend this book to any leader and/or learning leader.

One of the stickiest lessons from the book was something that Ortberg asks her daughter to do upon entering her freshman year of college. She asks her college-bound daughter to keep a mistake journal of all the mistakes she makes.

Though it may seem like a mistake journal would make a person even more insecure by having to face their mistakes on a regular basis, Ortberg provides a clear purpose for this type of journal writing. She states ” Unless we get comfortable in both our mistakes and what we learn from them, we inadvertently create organizational cultures of fear and sameness.” So instead of continually running away from the mistakes we make, by getting into the practice of writing them down, we can become more comfortable with ourselves and the mistakes we will inevitably make.

Action Steps (some adapted from the book):

1. Write down three mistakes every day. Since you’re going to be documenting them, make sure they’re good ones, not made up ones.
2. Sleep easy realizing that the “world was still spinning on its axis and tomorrow is another day.”
3. Review your past mistakes once a month to see your growth and comfort with certain types of mistakes.

1. Rule 1: Be a Strategist and Shape the Future.
2. Rule 2: Be an Executor and Make Things Happen.
3. Rule 3: Be a Talent Manager: Engage Today’s Talent.
4. Rule 4: Be a Human Capital Developer: Build the Next Generation.
5. Rule 5: Be Personally Proficient: Invest in Yourself.

Action Steps:

• Ask people who know you and your work style well to assess in you these five areas. I like numbers ie. 1 to 5.
• Average the scores of others to determine your scores.
• Ask a mentor or coach to go over your scores with you and help determine how you can improve and what is going really well. Ask them to be specific.

In case you wanted to see Smallwood’s Obama report card.

Managing being the leader on your team as well as being the best can come with a number of caveats. As the leader, you can be seen as selfish, boastful, controlling, distrusting, and over zealous if you try to take over and do everything.

The key to being both is learning adaptability. Being the most adaptable member of your team can allow you to exhibit excellence as a team leader but also know how to defer to your other team members. Adaptability gives you the ability to adjust to different situations and lead different types of people and personalities. The best leaders adapt, while good leaders just manage well.

Points of Reflection
Are you the go-to-person on your team? If so, in what situations can you defer to your team and still achieve maximum success?
List all the responsibilities of your team. If you can do them all fairly well, you can take some giant steps toward adaptability.