How Women Rise Master Class

The udemy Master Class was disappointing.  A hodge podge of previous trainings/talks that Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith had conducted and promotional clips for How Women Rise.

Takeaways:

* Day 1: Who do I need to know to make this job/initiative a success?  Results in more support and visibility, and less work...!  For recent App Orchard Epic initiative, will set up meeting with a key player for background to start building & leveraging the relationship.

* Goldsmith quoting Peter Drucker, "Our mission is to make a positive difference.  Not to prove we're smart or right."  The onus is on use to sell the Influencer.  If we can't, accept the decision and move on.  They don't have to buy.  We have to SELL.  Definition of power: Influence potential.

* Buddha Happy: Every deep breath brings in a new me.

* Feed Forward - ask about ideas for the future, not feedback about the past.  Don't commit to say anything.  Say thank you.

* Ruminating - Over-analyze environment.  Don't be so hard on myself.  Every women that Marshall has worked with, he has to tell her: Let it go!  People relate to someone who is...human!  Trying to be perfect focuses on myself.

* Avoid letting my radar distract me - will lose influence, people will notice I'm not focused.

* Disease to Please -> Disease sabotage.  Can't please everyone all of the time.

* Leveraging relationships - Ask for specific help.

Edge by Laura Huang

Edge was not an assigned reading, but a book I had heard about and caught my interest, especially since the author is an Asian-American woman.  

The premise of the book is that for people who have an 'adversity' (i.e. not white and male...), an edge is needed to get noticed by people who are in the position of power who are, well, white and male... 

The start of using an edge to your advantage is to know your basic goods.  Mine are:
    - Getting things done: Breaking down large, complex initiatives and implementing
    - Putting in scalable processes within and across departments
    - Clear communication, measurable results

Avoid jumping to conclusions - frame and identify the symptoms, and then formulate the problem.  I see this in an integration project that I am working on with another department.  

 The team jumps into the solutions without framing the problem, which leaves a lot on the table.  I don't realize that I'm doing this when I start on an initiative with a solution already in mind...  This makes for a narrowly defined solution.

Thinking linearly underestimates what is possible.  Thinking exponentially (zigzagging) is what I need to focus on (improv's 'yes, and').  I am a very linear, logical thinker and need to tap into the creative 'unrealistic' side of my brain.

Being over-prepared can immobilize me, deprive me of dynamically regulating and calibrating. I should embrace conversations, especially open conversations (who, what, when, how), with an open mind.

The other key besides knowing my edge is delighting others, which requires having an opinion and point of view.  Being authentic while having the audacity to have a bold, surprising stance.

Knowing how others see me is helpful so I can redirect on how people should see me.