This book deals with what has become one of the most important dilemmas facing most leading managers today, namely, how to be a long-term thinker in a short-term world. Ms. Clark is a well-known coach, keynote speaker and the author of several books on self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their own lives. The present book, relatively short (210 pages), provides many real-life examples, reflecting the author’s ground-breaking research on the topic.
At the end of each of the book’s ten chapters, there are sets of useful take-aways to “remember”. This makes the book even more useful, perhaps even as some sort of handbook.
The book falls into three parts. In White Space she shares with the readers how to bring our agendas under more control, by being able to say no a lot more often, so as to perceive that the reality we live in may be driven less by a sense of business.
In the next section of the book, Focus Where It Counts, the author shares with us how to actually be able to successfully clear our diaries. This section also includes an in-depth discussion of how effective networking might actually support us in becoming more long-term.
The third section of the book, Keeping the Faith, deals with how we, readers, might actually go about to “cement” our focus on long-term thinking.
It all starts with an introduction, which sets the book’s tone “I just wish I had time to think” (page 2), and also introduces several heuristics for supporting more long-term thinking, such as “strategic patience”, “the 20% time” rule (you spend this on new ideas and projects) and understanding the crucial difference between failure and experimentation. And it typically takes much more time (than we might like) to come up with clear paths of success, two to five years!
We need to give ourselves some “white space”. The fundamental point of departure here would be to explore what a successful life might mean to us. We have to get smarter about what we focus on, be clearer regarding what we truly want. How to say “no” to non-essentials is thus also key. The author offers us an important link here, namely, to schedule further out what is relatively less important. And never write so-called to-do lists. Such lists tend to have the opposite effect of creating white space, but actually to fill up one’s agenda even more.
The author discusses in detail how to say “no”. She makes the point that missing out on this, i.e., in effect means that one shall tend to be average at everything. She then suggests that politeness is always key when saying “no”, and that good ways to reach at a “no” might be to request further instruction. Since many presenters of requests simply fail to follow up, many “no’s” might come about through this. When evaluating requests where additional information has been provided, there are four questions to be answered:
The commitment.
The opportunity cost.
Physical and emotional costs?
The “feeling bad” effect from saying “no”.
Moving now to the core of the book, Focus Where It Counts, the question of where to focus our limited time and energy for the best results becomes essential. This starts with setting goals, not to optimize for money, but to optimize for meaning, or even better, optimize for interest. To reconnect with what motivated one in the past is key. But to think bigger might be equally important.
Exploring new ways is of course central, and here is where the 20%-time rule comes in, namely, to work on what is of true interest. While we should always “play things safe”, the 20% rule might help up to take some more risks “in the small”, i.e., to be a little bit bolder! The 20% rule thus might help us to carve out time for key opportunities. The author suggests six issues for steering us to spend the 20% time more wisely:
Get support where needed
A coach? (The author is a coach)
Set deadlines
Learn, learn, learn
Turn setbacks into things that can be salvaged
Long-term thinking
More effective long-term thinking calls for what the author has labelled “thinking in waves”: first learning, then creating (sharing what you have learnt), then connecting (with others, so as to learn from them), and finally reaping (enjoy!).
To create so-called strategic leverage is important indeed – how to do something once and make it count ten times? These might be our fundamentally different archetypes for leveraging:
Leverage one’s relationships
Leveraging for the life one may want, i.e., conducting work and personal life in better ways
Leverage for professional goals
Leverage the currency we have, i.e., connections, podcasts, memberships, …
The next chapter, chapter seven, deals with networking. For this reviewer, this chapter is clearly the most valuable. What seems essential is to avoid being seen as opportunistic by asking for things from others. Research has shown that networking might make one feel dirty! Even contemplating networking might lead to this. It is perhaps particularly so when we are dealing with so-called short-term networking that people might feel worse and shall thus probably never be willing to help again. The author has introduced a good heuristic here, namely, to wait a year before asking for any favors. And this leads us into longer-term network building. Short-term networking should of course be avoided – effective networking is essentially long-term! It is crucial to keep in mind that every relationship has to be reciprocated.
The third part of the book, Keeping the Faith, is all about making one’s long-term focus last. Patience seems to be particularly important here. Clarity of goals is probably key for being able to practice patience!
Strategic patience has to do with working towards exceptional growth, through seeking out more clarity on why one is pursuing a particular track of action, including observing how others are approaching these challenges, as well as being open to advice from experts. And, once more, patience might take two to three years, or even as much as five. Thus, to stay connected with one’s strategy is important.
The author then moves on to discuss five failures that she has experienced, each one involving “close, but no cigar”. She recommends that we might want to follow the so-called lean start-up methodology – test before you fully invest and treat everything as an experiment in the early days. Professor Steve Black, Stanford, is the brain behind this thinking. To come up with multiple paths, often labelled “plan B” seems critical. To put clear dates on where to switch, even abandon, or, hopefully, when to scale up seems fundamental, i.e., have clear metrics.
The final chapter is fittingly labelled Reap the Rewards. Hopefully we might be willing to think ahead by now, perhaps even be willing to make short-term sacrifices. Discipline is necessary. The author introduces another concept here, namely, “distance to empty”, being the time that one’s organization may be able to run without the manager (i.e., you!) having to be present (before becoming “empty”). Where one has been successful when it comes to creating “distance to empty” is an indicator of relative success in implementing the messages of the book. But, once more, success typically takes longer that expected.
In a short coda at the very end of the book, the author introduces three habits of mind that might support more effective long-term thinking:
Independence (stay true to oneself)
Curiosity
Resilience (be open to new things, experiment)
I am wholeheartedly recommending this book. The author seems to have come up with an effective set of guidelines for becoming more long-term. As professor of family business at Harvard Business School, Dr. Francesca Gino, says: “This is one of those rare books that can help us refocus on what truly matters”.
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