What Got You Here Won't Get You There Quotes

“Successful people become great leaders when they learn to shift the focus from themselves to others.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“People who believe they can succeed see opportunities where others see threats.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“A leader who cannot shoulder the blame is not someone we will follow blindly into battle. We instinctively question that individual’s character, dependability, and loyalty to us. And so we hold back on our loyalty to him or her.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“People will do something—including changing their behavior—only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“people only change their ways when what they truly value is threatened.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“But the higher up you go in the organization, the more you need to make other people winners and not make it about winning yourself.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“An old Buddhist parable illustrates the challenge—and the value—of letting go of the past. Two monks were strolling by a stream on their way home to the monastery. They were startled by the sound of a young woman in a bridal gown, sitting by the stream, crying softly. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazed across the water. She needed to cross to get to her wedding, but she was fearful that doing so might ruin her beautiful handmade gown. In this particular sect, monks were prohibited from touching women. But one monk was filled with compassion for the bride. Ignoring the sanction, he hoisted the woman on his shoulders and carried her across the stream—assisting her journey and saving her gown. She smiled and bowed with gratitude as the monk splashed his way back across the stream to rejoin his companion. The second monk was livid. ‘How could you do that?’ he scolded. ‘You know we are forbidden to touch a woman, much less pick one up and carry her around!’ The offending monk listened in silence to a stern lecture that lasted all the way back to the monastery. His mind wandered as he felt the warm sunshine and listened to the singing birds. After returning to the monastery, he fell asleep for a few hours. He was jostled and awakened in the middle of the night by his fellow monk. ‘How could you carry that woman?’ his agitated friend cried out. ‘Someone else could have helped her across the stream. You were a bad monk.’ ‘What woman?’ the sleepy monk inquired. ‘Don’t you even remember? That woman you carried across the stream,’ his colleague snapped. ‘Oh, her,’ laughed the sleepy monk. ‘I only carried her across the stream. You carried her all the way back to the monastery.’ The learning point is simple: When it comes to our flawed past, leave it at the stream. I am not suggesting that we should always let go of the past. You need feedback to scour the past and identify room for improvement. But you can’t change the past. To change you need to be sharing ideas for the future.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How successful people become even more successful

“Overcommitment can be as serious an obstacle to change as believing that you don’t need fixing or that your flaws are part of the reason you’re successful.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“It works because helping people be “right” is more productive than proving them “wrong.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“If you know what matters to you, it’s easier to commit to change. If you can’t identify what matters to you, you won’t know when it’s being threatened. And in my experience, people only change their ways when what they truly value is threatened.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How successful people become even more successful

“the best solicited feedback is confidential feedback. It’s good because nobody gets embarrassed or defensive.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“If you keep your mouth shut, no one can ever know how you really feel.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“When you start a sentence with “no,” “but,” “however,” or any variation thereof, no matter how friendly your tone or how many cute mollifying phrases you throw in to acknowledge the other person’s feelings, the message to the other person is You are wrong.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“It’s not about you. It’s about what other people think of you.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“There’s nothing wrong with understanding. Understanding the past is perfectly admissible if your issue is accepting the past. But if your issue is changing the future, understanding will not take you there. My experience tells me that the only effective approach is looking people in the eye and saying, “If you want to change, do this.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“No one expects you to act on every piece of advice.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“Treat every piece of advice as a gift or a compliment and simply say, “Thank you.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“One of the greatest mistakes of successful people is the assumption, “I am successful. I behave this way. Therefore, I must be successful because I behave this way!” The challenge is to make them see that sometimes they are successful in spite of this behavior.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“Successful people, however, believe there is always a link between what they have done and how far they have come—even when no link exists. It’s delusional, but it is also empowering.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“If you want to succeed at goal setting, you have to face the reality of the effort and the payoff before you begin. Realize that the ‘quick fix’ and the ‘easy solution’ may not provide the ‘lasting fix’ and the ‘meaningful solution.’ Lasting goal achievement requires lots of time, hard work, personal sacrifice, ongoing effort, and dedication to a process that is maintained over years. And even if you can pull that off, the rewards may not be all that you expect.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How successful people become even more successful

“If you want to change anything about yourself, the best time to start is now. Ask yourself, “What am I willing to change now?” Just do that. That’s more than enough. For now.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“The next time you start to speak out of anger, look in the mirror. In every case, you’ll find that the root of your rage is not “out there” but “in here.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How successful people become even more successful

“The only natural law I’ve witnessed in three decades of observing successful people’s efforts to become more successful is this: People will do something—including changing their behavior—only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“going backwards is not about creating change. It’s about understanding.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How successful people become even more successful

“Warren Buffett advised that before you take any morally questionable action, you should ask yourself if you would want your mother to read about it in the newspaper.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“Our quest for a successful outcome may end up doing more harm than good to our organizations, our families, and ourselves.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“Emotional volatility is not the most reliable leadership tool. When you get angry, you are usually out of control. It’s hard to lead people when you’ve lost control. You may think you have a handle on your temper, that you can use your spontaneous rages to manipulate and motivate people. But it’s very hard to predict how people will react to anger.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“parents must constantly remind their children to say, “Thank you.” It’s one of the last and hardest things to teach naturally rebellious kids.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

“change is not a one-way street.”
― Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There