WHAT IS THE #1 MESSAGE OF "YOUR INNER CEO"?
Getting your Style-of-Life right. It's vital to identify that Central Goal that has been directing many of your activities - for better or worse - your entire lifetime. Reading YIC and doing the exercises in the YIC Workbook become a 'work in progress.' It will have a positive effect from day one, but truthfully, within that first year, the reader will see amazing growth and change.
EXPLAIN A PERSON'S STYLE-OF-LIFE
It's really your blend of hidden convictions that, for better or worse, govern your life. That blend can be helpful, in which case it serves as a Guardian Presence, or destructive, in which case it acts as a Looming Threat. Often when we discover what our Style-of-Life is, we don't like it. That's good because when we react this way it's probably a looming threat to living a significant life, and we can do something about that. Instead of telling ourselves what we prefer to believe guides us, we dig deep to find out what really pulls us forward. Only YOU can do this excavation to become self-aware and take proper action. The book shows you how to fill in the blanks below:
I AM ____________________
LIFE IS _________________
MY CENTRAL GOAL __________
When you do, you capture your Style-of-Life in 10 words or less.
WHO IS ALFRED ADLER AND WHY IS HE SUCH A HEAVY INFLUENCE IN YOUR BOOK?
Adler is the unsung hero of the holy trinity of modern psychology: Freud, Jung and Adler. He was president of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Union that was begun by Freud. But in 1911, he broke with Freud over many differences. Today, we are the beneficiary of several of Adler's concepts: Style-of-Life, Inferiority Complex, Birth Order, Social Interest, and The Creative Self. One way he speaks so significantly to us is his thought that we are far more shaped by our goals than by traumatic experiences in our past. In this way, he points us to the "new" consciousness that the future "causes" the present.
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE FOR "YOUR INNER CEO"?
Short answer: Everyone. From CEOs of the Fortune 500 to all potential successors to top leadership positions. Also: the President of the local school board, managing partners in law firms, managers of hotels, college and university presidents, entrepreneurs, women business owners, and managers to general managers of plant divisions. Also: Clergy, Lions, Kiwanis and Rotary members and association execs. If you happen to be a "Company-of-One", think of all the people you interact with to make your enterprise go! Everyone has the same issues and need for this advice.
WHY SHOULD I READ "YOUR INNER CEO"?
Because it is the best business book you can read that leads to significant self-understanding. This is an "in your face" approach to drilling down inside yourself. Each of its nine chapters contains five-to-seven lessons that will engage you. With each lesson you'll feel compelled to apply what you learn to your daily life and work. It is content rich - no happy talk. This is not "Dress for Success" or "How to Win Friends and Influence People."
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR BUSINESS PEOPLE?
1. Know yourself, 2. Get past the hesitating attitude and act on your strengths you've neglected. Show them the light of day and see where they take you. 3. Clear some hurdles, recognize the flashes, give yourself some credit, acknowledge them and then move forward. 4. Modeling is THE most important thing you can do as an executive - not just what you do, but how you do it.
HOW DOES YOUR CHAPTER ON BOARD RELATIONS DIFFER FROM THE RHETORIC WE'VE BEEN HEARING FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS?
First of all, YOUR INNER CEO helps the reader who is not currently on a Board - be it a Fortune 500 company, local PTA, School District, community organization or church council. Second, it espouses that the #1 job of the Board is to make sure they have the right person as CEO and are assuring the development of that CEO. Much has been made of Sarbanes/Oxley, and that's good because every board member needs to know and adhere to its guidelines. After all, it's the law. But to make it the centerpiece of board work is misguided. That's like saying you take an ocean drive in a convertible on a glorious sunny afternoon with your best girl and focus on the rules of the road. It's true you need to know and adhere to these rules, but that's not the reason you take the drive. In this board chapter, I stress nurturing the natural connections waiting to be tapped by the Board and the CEO, the Board and the Top Team and the Top Team and the CEO, and specifying the CEO as the catalyst for nurturing that outcome. Collaboration depends not on laws, but on trust and candor.
CAN YOU GIVE ME THREE EXAMPLES OF BOUNDARIES SO THAT I CAN RELATE?
A boundary is a situation that somehow captures your attention. You have a sense of coming upon an action or a discussion of importance which may attract or scare you. The point is that it can be highlighted and understood as a definable event, making you self-aware. You must become aware of boundaries to master them in life. Examples might be: 1. Learning a new task 2. Establishing a new relationship or a kiss, a handshake 3. Reaching the end of a project Throughout life, we are moving away, toward or against everything animal, vegetable or mineral that we encounter. Watch for that. Call it. Know it. This teaches you a lot about the patterns of your life, good, bad and ugly. Martin Buber says, "All real living is meeting."
CAN I STILL CROSS OVER BOUNDARIES AND MAKE THESE CHANGES - EVEN THOUGH I'M WELL OVER 50?
Of course, that's what people call young@heart. These "flashes" of recognition for the need to change show in your face, posture and gait. The great news is that "You're never too old to change." Another way to look at this is that life never stops requiring us to adapt. Vint Cerf, one of the world's "Deans" of information technology, is called the "Father of the Internet." He's brainy, charming, energized and committed. Today, his title at Google is "Internet Chief Evangelist" He loves working with Google's army of young fertile minds. In a recent speech that I attended, he said his idea of a great day is wearing out two 26-year-olds. Topping off his distinguished career, he is all systems go!
YOU TALK ABOUT FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE AND HOW THEY COME TO US. ELABORATE.
A "flash" is when you've been forced to see something you've been ignoring. It is nature's elaborate self-correcting wake-up call to something you're avoiding, something true and critical, but which you've obscured with "busyness" or other distractions. Eric Hoffer said, "That which is unique and worthwhile in us makes itself felt only in flashes. If we do not know how to capture and savor these flashes, we are without growth and without exhilaration." The flash is saying to you, "Pay attention to me or part of you will die." When this wake-up call is scary, we shut it out, but it is the truth that we really need to see. It means no harm. It can set you free. Giving a speech on a subject you care deeply about might be an example. So might forgiving a co-worker who wronged you a long time ago.
WHAT IS "THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL"?
It is the pretense that we have control over many more aspects of our lives than we truly do: weather, gravity, changes of seasons, ticks of the clock, terminal illness of your child. People often confuse control with choice. I may not have control over many events in my life, but I do have a choice in how I will treat or react to them. Ask yourself, "Just how well do I deal with adversity, ambiguity and uncertainty?"
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY AUTHENTICITY?
ACTING on your new self-awareness. For example, if you discover that your Style-of-Life constitutes a looming threat, you realize that's "so not you" because the REAL you will do nothing that harms you. We change when we become who we are, and unlearn who we aren't. For many people, not yet knowing who they are, but wanting to, this is taking the first step toward true authenticity. Creating a Style-of-Life that's a guardian presence can take them the rest of the way.
YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN LOOKING THROUGH A MICROSCOPE AND A TELESCOPE. ELABORATE.
This is a lesson in exercising vision - personal or organizational. Most people take the telescopic approach to looking ahead and call this 'vision'. This is their attempt at clairvoyance. There's nothing wrong with that, except that it's premature. First, you need a microscopic, here-and-now approach to figure out who you are and where you're heading at present. Then, you can look long-range. You may be headed in the wrong direction. This is true for organizations as well as people.
YOU DEVOTE AN ENTIRE CHAPTER TO MENTORS? WHY DO YOU FEEL THEY ARE SO IMPORTANT?
We all need to be taught. Who does not need to learn from the experience of accomplished others? In addition, we all learn from models without even realizing it. Teachers/mentors always learn from their students as well. It's talent dealing with talent. WD40's CEO, Garry Ridge, calls it 'The Power of With'.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "SO GOOD YOU DON'T KNOW IT?"
So adept that you're unaware of how good you really are. You're a natural. One sees this sort of effortless, unthinking acuity everyday. It's automatic. San Diego Chargers halfback LaDanian Tomlinson is a perfect example. He doesn't look for holes in the defense - he just finds them automatically. He was named 2006 National Football League's MVP. He is adept and unaware.
SHOULD I READ THE ENTIRE "YOUR INNER CEO" FIRST, DO THE LESSONS AND THEN SHARE WITH MY STAFF?
It depends. If I were doing it, I would read it first, make my notes and outlines, do some, not all, the lessons, and then share them with staff, friends and family. It all depends on you and how you go about things. There's no set way. It;s great for the head of a Company-of-One as well as the CEO of Proctor & Gamble.
CAN I REALLY DO ALL THIS WORK ALONE?
Yes, because if you're willing to do the work, I'll (by way of the book) hold your hand all the way to the last page. There's nothing in here that's beyond understanding, but it does take time and effort. Being Itzhak Perlman, Albert Pujols or Derek Jeter takes at least eight hours of hard work a day. You've got to do the time and effort required.
SOME PEOPLE WOULD RATHER DIE THAN CHANGE. THEY JUST CAN'T BRING THEMSELVES TO DO IT. WHAT'S YOUR ADVICE? HOW CAN YOU HELP THEM HELP THEMSELVES?
That's true, and I would like to help these people. YOUR INNER CEO is a sophisticated book, but I walk step-by-step with the reader. First glance, you might say, "This is impossible; I never could do it"; Second look, "I'm beginning to get my arms around this." The best way out is always through, wrote Robert Frost. We start by having the reader take one step. If she can do that, she may be able to move out all the way. Together we can take a look at your individual Style-of-Life and begin to slowly, yet concretely, make changes.
EXPLAIN THE "AWAY-TOWARD OR AGAINST" PHILOSOPHY.
Simple. When you walk into a room, or are given an assignment by your boss, your instant reaction is to move toward something or someone, away from or against something. It's best to stop and analyze your feelings so that you know what you're doing without being self-aware. First, become aware, then ask, "What purpose (for better or worse) does my reaction serve?" Think of a purpose as a goal. Is it healthful or detrimental?
CAN YOU EXPLAIN "THE FUTURE CAUSES THE PRESENT?" MOST PEOPLE HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THAT.
The great poet Rilke captured this idea in precious few words: "The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens." A goal that we believe in, whether it's healthful or detrimental, whether we're aware of it or not, shapes the way we act today. The hidden goal of the Style-of-Life shapes who you are at present. A guardian presence Style-of-Life will take you into a future that's just right for you.
SHARE WITH US WHY YOU'RE THE GUY QUALIFIED TO WRITE THIS BOOK AND COUNSEL PEOPLE.
In 30 years of consulting with CEOs and Boards, I've completed more than 200 high level executive searches, facilitated dozens of top management team building off site meetings for companies large and small, led lengthy mission development projects that helped organizations reclaim their spirit and frame new purpose, helped resolve disorderly conflicts between top executives, advised Boards on their expanded role in the development of their CEOs, completed corporate culture studies that laid the groundwork for corporate transformation and extended career counseling to hundreds of executives.
HOW DID THE "YOUR INNER CEO" WIKI WORKBOOK EVOLVE?
The idea actually came from a client in Canada who said, "YOUR INNER CEO" is great, but it would be a lot better if I had a workbook to return to every few months or years later - and not have to reread the entire book. It would be a terrific way to catch up and revisit what I'd uncovered about myself." We currently have a workbook in progress, and we welcome input and feedback from business people, Adler students and practitioners, anyone from any walk of life whose read YIC. We've had response from people all over the planet. This YIC Workbook is truly an Open Search to make YIC a better document for everyone who reads it.
WHAT IS ALLAN COX'S WORLD VIEW TODAY AND CRYSTAL BALL FOR 2020?
If leaders understand that the main task is being a catalyst for collaboration, his/her job is not only easier, but far more enjoyable. S/he bears less weight on her shoulders and can accomplish more. Sharing responsibility makes everyone's life easier as does giving up the 'illusion of control'. In 2020, it will be CHANGE OR DIE ... knowledge is being developed at constantly faster rates. Everything is becoming increasingly transparent, so there's no room for 'BS'. Communications will be many-to-many - not just one-on-one or to one privileged group. Every executive will come to expect and appreciate mass collaboration.
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