In Get Better At Getting Better, author Chandramouli Venkatesan reminds us that success is not about how good we are today, but whether we have the capability and model to respond better in the future
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Why are some people more successful than others?
Is it skills? Is it hard work? Is it luck? While all these are important, what distinguishes a successful person from a less successful one is the power and effectiveness of their Get-Better-Model (GBM)
This is the premise of V Chandramouli's book Get Better At Getting Better (GBGB). His earlier book Catalyst resonated with me, and left me wanting more. So it was with great expectation that I started reading GBGB. I’m happy to say it was an engaging and enlightening read.
Success is not about how good you are, but about how powerful and effective a model you have to improve how good you are - Chandramouli Venkatesan (@vcmouli11)
What this book is about
In Catalyst, Chandramouli's key idea was that career success comes not from focusing on results, but by focusing on individual growth. The book also dispelled the notion that individual growth only required time and hard work. It showed that to grow and succeed, one need to catalyze four core areas : experience, productivity, career management, and life and values. It was also implied that your ability to learn has to evolve as you grow in your career.
And this is where Get Better at Getting Better comes in.If Catalyst was about what to do to be successful, GBGB is about building the capability and model to be successful.
What does it take to get better at getting better? To answer this, one needs to understand both - the What as well as the How.
According to Chandramouli, the What of getting better involves:
- Not stopping at knowing the answer, but learning how to get to the answer
- Building core capabilities
The How of getting better is addressed by Chandramouli's Get-Better-Model (GBM), which has four components:
- Getting better by yourself. This requires intention and deliberate practice
- Getting better by leveraging others. Here others includes all external resources available to you. This includes your boss, your team, training, coaching, as well as books
- Making others get better. This ensures that you have a more capable ecosystem that multiplies your impact. Here Chandramouli is not just referring to your team and stakeholders within the organization, but at external partners as well
- Making and implementing a get better plan. With so much at stake,and with multiple fronts to focus on, you need a good plan, and implement it rigorously.
To be successful, you must make your team better. The biggest benefit of a team getting better accrues to the boss - Chandramouli Venkatesan (@vcmouli11)
Why this is a Must-Read
Chandramouli's strength is not just in providing a conceptual understanding through intuitive frameworks, but then enhancing that understanding by demonstrating how you can apply these frameworks to real questions and decisions :
- Should you do an MBA (or any higher degree) to rejuvenate your stagnating career?
- How do you leverage your distinct abilities at distinct stages of your career life cycle?
- How do you make meetings more effective?
And in doing this, he transforms from being just an author to a role model - someone you can leverage to get better at getting better.
These and other interesting insights await you in this short and engaging read
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