Spotlight on ... Losing It/10 Tips for Surving and Thriving at Work

I received some interesting information with a review request. I'm not requesting the book but asked if I could share the info. I don't work in an office environment but know that some of my readers do. I hope it helps.

Losing It
by Bill Lane
978-0133040241
176 pages

Description: Why do otherwise brilliant and successful leaders flame out...often spectacularly? How can you prevent your own career train wreck by learning from their experiences? In Losing It, long-time GE insider Bill Lane draws on his immense experience working with senior leaders to distill today’s core causes of executive failure. Lane reveals exactly how to recognize your own emerging leadership flaws--and then systematically fix, eliminate, or overcome them. This ruthlessly candid book pulls no punches. It won’t always be comfortable to read. But it just might save your career.

From arrogance to B.S., distraction to wishful thinking, even the savviest executives can fall victim to the same endemic diseases of flawed leadership. Having been Jack Welch’s speechwriter for nearly two decades, Lane draws on his close observations of leaders at GE--and other top companies--to shine the cold, cruel light of reality on the types of behaviors that are career killers.

Lane reveals how to tell when you’re being lied to--by anyone, especially yourself. You’ll discover how to recognize subtle, silent temptations to compromise your performance, agility, or integrity, so you can maintain (and build on) the standards of excellence that got you this far.

Packed with compelling true stories from the pinnacles of global business, Losing It reveals the career disasters top leaders never saw coming...so you can keep them from ever happening to you!


Currently available at Barnes and Noble and amazon and always, check your favorite bookseller.

Bill Lane's 10 Tips
for Surviving
and Thriving at Work

1.) Be paranoid about keeping current.
You can never even appear to coast on your knowledge. Stay potently curious. Act like a benevolent nut and fanatic. Sign up for jobs you don’t fully understand and surmount the learning curves masterfully. Stay on the edge, even if to you it seems forced and phony. The ultimate sustainable advantage in your career is the ability to learn.

2.) Banish yes-people.
False validation will sink you. Surround yourself with smart truth tellers and listen to them. Your goal should not be to feel good; it should be to know what’s happening in the business. Without suffering the blabbering of fools, hear out anyone who has a worthwhile observation. Reward your reports for their candor.

3.) Make micromanaging look good.
Learn the business right to its roots so you understand how everything works. Otherwise you could be the victim of a snowjob because you don’t know the difference between truth and fancy. Once you have enough information to be sure you have good people handling things, you can back off a little. But don’t preside like a doodling tycoon. Manage.

4.) Hold a moral ethical compass.
Some failings are beyond your control; integrity is not. Avoid even the grey zone. Avoid even slight discomfort. Imagine yourself on the other side. If you would not agree with it, do not do it. Some spin and BS is OK, but never tell a lie. And never break the law, even if it doesn’t seem morally or ethically wrong to do so. Don’t get steeped in sleaze culture. Integrity isn’t necessarily instinctual. You have to practice it.


5.) Pay attention to the subtext of jokes.
If there’s anything people are uncomfortable telling you, there’s a good chance they’re going to let it slip in their humor. If your colleagues stop busting your chops good-naturedly or your boss starts taunting you about how you can go back to sleep, take note. Something has shifted. You’re going to need to figure out what’s changed and up your game considerably.

6.) Work to do sustainably good work, not just to get promoted.
Look for the long-term, sustainable advantage, not how to make this year’s quarter or “number.” Being a one-hit wonder will only keep you on the charts, so to speak, for a short while.

7.) Stay humble. Arrogance is at the root of every flame-out.
Arrogant people tend to make Tonya Hardings out of their reports by treating them badly. Add to that they often don’t ask for advice or seek out answers to their questions for fear of appearing fallible. If we learned anything from Greek drama, it’s that hubris will ruin you.

8.) Dejargonize.
Your communications should provoke something. Jargon and buzzwords have been overused to the point of meaninglessness. They are career retarders. Smart people will turn off and everyone will resent you for wasting minutes or hours of their lives.

9.) Embrace management changes
What’s done is done. A gloom and doom attitude won’t make people “come to their senses” about hiring decisions you disagree with. Be optimistic. Be constructive. Lead by example. But don’t doubt the general direction of the company. If you think it’s no good and can’t fake it, you have to leave.


10.) Attack good news.
Don’t be complacent about it. Give credit loudly and publicly where credit is due, but make sure what you’re hearing adds up and that the good news keeps betting better.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

A native of Brooklyn, Bill Lane served as a Green Beret officer in Vietnam from 1968-69. After his return to the States, he was a congressional liaison officer and speechwriter at The Pentagon for seven years. Lane was later appointed Manager Of Executive Communications at General Electric, and spent nearly twenty years as Jack Welch's speechwriter, retiring in 2002.

Strategy+Business named Lane’s first book, Jacked-Up: How Jack Welch Talked GE Into Becoming The World's Greatest Company, one of "Best Business Books of the Year."

Bill Lane lives in Easton, Connecticut.

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