Discover the book that forward-thinking business leaders and knowledge workers are recommending to their friends and colleagues—THRIVE: Standing On Your Own Two Feet in a Borderless World by Mike Cook.
“What you’ve been hearing: The outsourced economy has tilted the playing field in favor of equally educated yet largely less expensive workers in other parts of the world. What you need to know: There is more to this picture than meets the eye, and it may not be as scary as it looks.”
“While I agree with (Thomas) Friedman that adaptability is a key to success, as a stand-alone bit of advice it leaves a lot of white space to be filled in. The how-to aspect in particular…THRIVE aims to fill in the white space by offering an approach to being flexible at an individual level, becoming one of Friedman’s untouchables—in a word, adaptable.”
The illusion of security
“We have never had control of the circumstances. We have only had the illusion of control, a mental trick we play to convince ourselves that we are more powerful than the circumstances of life. We are in control, we convince ourselves; therefore we are safe.”
A shift in perspective
“Unlike other periods of economic distress and widespread layoffs—when jobs were disappearing but others would soon appear in their place—in this economy the jobs are moving to locales where they can be done as well for less money, and they may never return. How unfair is that? I believe that finding ourselves in this apparently unfair situation vis-à-vis the rest of the world is actually more a matter of perspective than immutable truth; and the sooner we come to recognize this the sooner we will be able to develop the perspective and skills needed to thrive in the world as it is, rather than looking backward and wishing for the good old days.”
My conditions of satisfaction
“I am convinced that those among us who are the most fun to work with, the ones who make each day worth showing up at work for, the ones from whom we learn the most, would most like to be like, and so on, are the ones who are clear about, 1) their abilities and limitations, 2) their purpose in life, 3) their personal mission, 4) their reasons for working where they do, and 5) their conditions of satisfaction. These are the folks who are leading satisfying lives….”
“Knowing what your ‘conditions of satisfaction’ are and being uncompromising about them, is the way to becoming a card-carrying agent for yourself in the workplace.”
Recognizing myself
“In order to operate effectively in the outsourced economy, the borderless world…you must begin the process of Recognizing Yourself…In the search for yourself you observe the way you go about getting things done, the things that really matter to you to accomplish in this lifetime, your own purpose—and what it is that you want to dedicate you life to, if you do.”
“Do I know enough about myself to know what I need from others? Do I know enough about myself to know what I have to offer others?…What motivates me in the work environment? What kind of work really turns me on? It always comes back to how well do I Recognize Myself?”
“Recognizing Myself (involves):
Creating My Life Purpose (What am I about?)
Creating My Life Work and Work Mission (What is my vision?)
Understanding What Matters to Me (What’s my economic Deal?)
Knowing My Motivators (What is automatically important to me?)
Understanding My Style (How do I go about getting things done?)
Knowing My Natural Work (What is the sound of my song?)
“If we have a purpose that we have created and invested in, the continued expression of this purpose will actively inform our choices and provide a path for adaptation.”
Standing on your own two feet
“I (do) not say anything about standing on your own two feet alone. That’s what we already do and it has left us operating in a constant state of low-grade terror. Standing on your own two feet is about us growing up together, at work and as citizens.
“It is no less risky to adopt the mindset of standing on your own two feet than it is to continue on the path of the willing dependent; however…a person begins to experience personal power. They see themselves as creator of the risk rather than the victim. They begin to see themselves as essentially and undeniably interconnected with the people around them, and they recognize that the key to power is to deliver value before expecting return—a very different perspective.”
Generating connections
“In order to do business in any part of the world you do not even need to leave your computer keyboard. But you do need to know how to get connected and develop knowledge of staying connected.”
“Connection is certainly an outcome of the technology available, but then again we always have a choice in how we use any tool. In effect, the connectivity being made available in the information age is only making more obvious…the interdependence that we must embrace in order to fully participate in an outsourced, borderless economy.”
“We intuitively know that there are levels of being engaged with the people around us, whether at home or at work, but we do not necessarily know much about designing relationships to operate at the levels we really need them to be.”
“I believe the true measure of the strength of any of your working relationships is whether a person is looking forward to the next transaction they complete with you…Some people… always seem to make things harder than they need to be. You can get what you want from them but always think twice before asking. Given the choice, you’ll work around them….”
“The need for developing confidence in your dialogue skills is not something to apologize for; it has become a necessity in the outsourced economy.”
“There is a conscious approach to be learned, and a craft to be developed, in mastering the practice of Designing Relationships.”
“Generating Connection:
Sharing visions of a desired future in which we all win
Leveraging differences
Developing an authentic desire to know and appreciate the perspective(s) of others
“When you move to this level of designing relationships you have crossed a threshold, and you now have the power to add value inside of already valuable relationships, as well as create value-adding relationships.”
The new workplace
“For many folks in management the greatest disappointment of the new economy is that we are no longer able to ‘plug and play’ people like we did in the machine-age model organizations. When I hear someone get cynical about the issues around being related, what I hear underneath is fear, and I think rightly so. It is fairly apparent that over the years many organizations have demonstrated an amazing ineptitude at supporting their employees in effectively relating to one another in the work environment….”
“When I start talking about being engaged in the workplace I am talking about…being engaged with life, being connected to life, because it is all the same. I see the workplace as a metaphor, a model, for life.”
Adaptability
“In order to truly enjoy the experience of the newly flattened globe, (workers) will need to count on being adaptable. They will be one ones who recognize and embrace collaborative skills as fundamental elements of adaptability.”
The Bottom Line
“The bottom line here, keep your skills up to date and be in a learning process at all times. Learn the needed Collaborative Skills and practice, practice. Finally, never forget that Good Reputation is essential to performance. Pay attention to your own Reputation but insist that others manage theirs as well.”
“I found myself rereading passages of THRIVE…because each time, as I delved deeper into the context of my own life experiences, I understood better why I am where I am right now, and where I need to be in the next stage of my career, and for that matter, my life.” —Jim Cardone, CEO, Warp VII Software
