Triggers

Throughout his career, Marshall Goldsmith has challenged the way we work, and by extension, live. With his latest book, “Triggers”, he tackles the question every advice author faces: Okay, I know what I need to do. But how do I do it?

Here’s the best review I can offer. At page 116 I picked up a pen and began to write down some “engaging questions” for myself. I read dozens of business books a year, and can’t remember the last time I took action that quickly (or at all, to be honest).

Goldsmith, one of the world’s most influential business coaches, is in the business of helping people change themselves and their organizations. This book takes a look at why people do - or don’t - change behaviors they know perfectly well need changing. He looks at why doing something different is difficult, but more importantly, points out the factors (he calls them “triggers”) that can fast-track or derail those efforts, and offers practical (simple but certainly not easy) next steps.

While the book offers some of the usual consultant-y matrices and acronyms, what’s far more important is the shifting of responsibility for the changes to the one person who actually controls behavior: ourself. Disengaged at work? That’s on you. Letting the busy-ness and stress of life get in the way of your relationships? Only one person has the ability to do a darned thing about it. The good news, is there are concrete things you can actually do to get on with it.

With “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” he challenged us to examine the habits and behaviors that can inhibit our success. In “Mojo,” he pointed out that sometimes it takes a crisis to point out the necessary changes, and now with “Triggers,” he helps those who are properly motivated and willing to put in the work, to finally get “there.”

Review by Wayne Turmel