Featured In
What Got You Here Won't Get You There
A practical, candid case that the habits which earned you success can quietly block your next promotion, and that removing a few behaviours may matter more than learning new skills.
What It's About
What Got You Here Won't Get You There is Marshall Goldsmith's argument that the qualities that carried a talented professional to a senior role can quietly stall their progress at the next level. Rather than teaching new skills, he focuses on behaviour: the small, habitual things people do without noticing, such as interrupting, claiming credit, or needing the last word. The book was written with Mark Reiter and draws heavily on Goldsmith's executive coaching work.
The style is conversational and anecdotal. Goldsmith illustrates his points with stories from his coaching practice, then offers a short, practical idea or exercise you can try. The chapters are light enough to read in a sitting or two, and the tone is that of a seasoned coach speaking directly to a reader who is already competent and a bit impatient with self-help.
Reading it feels less like studying and more like sitting across from a candid coach who assumes you can handle hearing something uncomfortable. It works best as a mirror and a prompt for action rather than a complete method. Expect a fast, opinionated read that asks you to check your own habits honestly, then decide which one to drop first.
Read this if you…
- are already successful and sense a plateau you can't quite explain
- manage people and want practical ways to think about how your own behaviour affects your team
- prefer short, direct books with concrete exercises over long theoretical discussions
Skip it if you…
- want a rigorous, research-based account of leadership, since the evidence here is mostly anecdote
- are early in your career and need to build core skills rather than unlearn habits
Key Ideas
- 1
Success can hide the habits that hold you back
The traits that earned promotion, such as drive, decisiveness, and competitiveness, get rewarded early, so people miss the moment they become liabilities at a higher level. Goldsmith argues that many successful people do well in spite of certain behaviours rather than because of them.
- 2
A stop-doing list beats a to-do list
Goldsmith's central move is to subtract rather than add. Instead of building new capabilities, you identify a handful of specific, counterproductive behaviours that colleagues notice and find frustrating, then commit to eliminating them. These habits are often small and unconscious, which is why they persist.
- 3
Ask for feedforward, not feedback
Rather than asking others to critique your past conduct, Goldsmith suggests asking for ideas about how you could behave differently in the future. He argues this is easier to hear, less defensive, and more useful for changing behaviour than traditional performance feedback.
- 4
Change is judged by what others see
The book stresses visible follow-through: telling the people around you what you are working on, apologising where it's warranted, and checking back over time. The aim is not a private resolution but a noticeable shift in how colleagues experience you, which is the change that counts for career progress.
Limitations
Much of the evidence is anecdotal and drawn from Goldsmith's own coaching clients, so the claims are hard to test and the selection is his. The book is aimed mainly at corporate executives and can feel narrow for teachers, creatives, or people in small organisations. Some readers find the stories repetitive and the core message simple, and the 2007 publication date shows in some business examples. It also offers no detailed method for changing deep-seated habits, so it works better as a starting point than a full program.
Questions Readers Ask
- Is What Got You Here Won't Get You There still relevant after its 2007 publication?
- Mostly, yes. The core idea that small interpersonal habits limit leaders is timeless, and the feedforward technique is still used by many coaches. Some examples feel dated, and the book does not address remote or hybrid teams, which have changed how colleagues observe one another's behaviour.
- How is this different from a typical leadership skills book?
- Most leadership books add capabilities such as strategy, communication, or delegation. This one asks you to subtract, identifying behaviours that undermine your effectiveness. It is narrower and more personal, so it complements skills-based books rather than replacing them.
What Creators Say About What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Reviews from readers on YouTube. Their opinions are their own.
- Published
- 2010
- ISBN
- 9781847651310
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Category
- Leadership
Book details and cover from Google Books.
Ready to read What Got You Here Won't Get You There?
Get your copy on Amazon, or listen to it on Audible. We earn a commission if you buy through these links.