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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Julie Zhuo
Read between
July 6 - August 1, 2022
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?
How can I help you? What can I do to make you more successful? What was the most useful part of our conversation today?
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.
“The job of a manager . . . is to turn one person’s particular talent into performance.”
Good CEOs know that they should double down on the projects that are working and put more people, resources, and attention on those rather than get every single project to the point of “not failing.”
At the end of the day, if you don’t believe someone is set up to succeed in his current role, the kindest thing you can do is to be honest with him and support him in moving on.
protecting low performers only increases the damage when, inevitably, a manager is forced to let them go.
If this person were not already at the organization, would I recommend that another team hire him or her knowing what I know?
feedback inspired you to change your behavior,
make sure you address the following: What a great job looks like for your report, compared to a mediocre or bad job
task-specific feedback becomes a lightweight, habitual part of your day,
Behavioral feedback helps people understand the reality of how others see them, which may be different than how they see themselves.
What is X doing especially well that X should do more of?, and b) What should X change or stop doing? The thoroughness of 360-degree feedback means that it takes more time to gather, so it’s not practical to do more than a handful of times a year.
1. Make your feedback as specific as possible.
2. Clarify what success looks and feels like.
3. Suggest next steps.
great management typically comes from playing to your strengths rather than from fixing your weaknesses.
How would the people who know and like me best (family, significant other, close friends) describe me in three words? MY ANSWER: thoughtful, enthusiastic, driven What three qualities do I possess that I am the proudest of? MY ANSWER: curious, reflective, optimistic When I look back on something I did that was successful, what personal traits do I give credit to? MY ANSWER: vision, determination, humility What are the top three most common pieces of positive feedback that I’ve received from my manager or peers? MY ANSWER: principled, fast learner, long-term thinker
Whenever my worst inner critic sits on my shoulder, what does she yell at me for? MY ANSWER: getting distracted, worrying too much about what others think, not voicing what I believe If a magical fairy were to come and bestow on me three gifts I don’t yet have, what would they be? MY ANSWER: bottomless well of confidence, clarity of thought, incredible persuasion What are three things that trigger me? (A trigger is a situation that gets me more worked up than it should.) MY ANSWER: sense of injustice, the idea that someone else thinks I’m incompetent, people with inflated egos What are the top
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What opportunities do you see for me to do more of what I do well? What do you think are the biggest things holding me back from having greater impact? What skills do you think a hypothetical perfect person in my role would have? For each skill, how would you rate me against that ideal on a scale of one to five?
I’ve learned about what enables me to be my best:
hours of sleep
done something pr...
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know what my desired outcome looks like b...
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feel like I’m learning and growing.
schedule half an hour of “daily prep”
Twice a year, I look back on the past six months and reflect on what I’ve gotten better at. Then, I set new learning goals for the next six months.
Don’t pay the double tax on your mental load.
The first is conjuring up a public figure you admire, someone who seems to have the perfect life, and Googling “[person’s name] struggle.”
The second tactic is to admit that you’re feeling bad. I’ll take out a Post-it note and write, “I am super stressed out about X.”
Your own growth is in your hands, so if you feel you aren’t learning from your manager, ask yourself what you can do to get the relationship that you want.
The key is to treat your manager as a coach, not as a judge.
“What skills do you think I should work on in order to have more impact?”
(1 percent of time saved per year is about twenty hours).
When you invest in your personal learning and growth, you’re not just investing in your own future but also the future of your team.
good meetings are simple and straightforward.
The meeting was a great use of my time. I learned something new that will help me be more effective at my job.
left with a clearer sense of what I s...
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Everyone was engaged. I fel...
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How do you know whom you should invite? Go back to your answer for what a great outcome looks like for your meeting, and ask yourself: Which people are necessary to make that outcome happen?
One exercise I do every January is to map out where I hope my team will be by the end of the year. I create a future org chart, analyze gaps in skills, strengths, or experiences, and make a list of open roles to hire for.
What kinds of challenges are interesting to you and why? Can you describe a favorite project?
What was the hardest conflict you’ve had in the past year? How did it end, and what did you learn from the experience?
What’s something that’s inspired you in your work recently?
As a manager, one of the smartest ways to multiply your team’s impact is to hire the best people and empower them to do more and more until you stretch the limits of their capabilities.
Process is simply the answer to the question “What actions do we take to achieve our goals?”
Assume you have a magic wand that makes everything your team does go perfectly. What do you hope will be different in two to three years compared to now?
How would you want someone who works on an adjacent team to describe what your team does? What do you hope will be your team’s reputation in a few years? How far off is that from where things are today? What unique superpower(s) does your team have? When you’re at your best, how are you creating value? What would it look like for your team to be twice as good? Five times as good?
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything,”
People who achieve the most are selective as well as determined.”
