Book of the Month

One of my New Years resolutions was to read one book per month. While this may not seem like much of a goal, it seems good to me. As part of my resolution, I have decided to write a brief report about the book on this blog. I think this will help me stay motivated for fear of being shamed if I miss the goal. One caveat before make this first report: I love self-help business books (i.e. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) and biographies, so don’t be surprised if that’s about all that you see.

This month’s book is What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith. I stumbled on the book at the new releases table at the library at work. When I picked it up I was intrigued that it included 20 habits that people need to break to be more successful. Since I would like to be successful and I have many habits, I started to read. I skipped to the habits that are about a quarter of the way through the book. As I read them over, I noticed three things (the first two came quickly): 1. I know a lot of people with these habits; and 2. Holy cow, I have a lot of these habits.


My third realization was that essentially all of the habits can be summed up in one word, Pride. “Pride” is a word that has two distinct definitions. First, most people think of things like being proud of their accomplishments or being proud of their children. Pride is a good thing. As Mormons we use a different definition of pride. We see pride as being a negative force (I try to think of different ways to convey the same feelings about my children). In 1989 Ezra Taft Benson spoke about pride this way:

“Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing.

“The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.

“Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of ‘my will and not thine be done.’ As Paul said, they ‘seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.’”

I’m not sure that’s what the author intended for me to get out of the book, but that’s what I got. Many of the habits that he describes are things that we all do, and many of the solutions that he proposes are relatively easy to put in to practice. I don’t think I will get rich by following what is laid out in the book, but I do think that I can treat people better and be a better person to work with if I follow the advice.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to think about my own shortcomings and learn some practical things that can help me to get over them. Overall, I liked the book. I might not buy it, but it is worth getting out of the library.