The Power of the Other

The book review for this week is The Power of the Other by Dr. Henry Cloud

Dr. Henry Cloud is one of my favorite authors. He focuses on improving human performance by addressing psychological issues that all of us deal with. This book is no exception. He describes the four corners that all of us experience at least once in our careers:

  • Corner 1 – Disconnected: being disconnected emotionally and functionally from those around you. Decisions are made in isolation and the quality of the decisions get worse over time

  • Corner 2 – Bad connection: being connected to a person or people who do not bring out the best in you and sometimes bring out the worst. They make you and those around you feel bad.
  • Corner 3 – Pseudo-Good Connection: this is a connection that makes you feel good but it is a temporary escape from reality. This includes things like; addictions, affairs, excessive eating, drive for results, needless acquisitions, etc.
  • Corner 4 – True Connection: this is the corner that every person should strive to be in. This is an environment where the leader connects with those around them and they are able to share their thoughts, concerns, problems and solutions and get honest and valuable feedback. They have people (The Other) who push them to new levels of performance that they could not reach on their own. The Other (people) contribute new energy and intelligence into them that they would not be able to access on their own.

My takeaway from this book is that I am in control of my own performance and that I need to find “The Other” (mentors, coaches and coworkers) who will connect with me and support me while offering honest advice and counsel.

Note that I have previously reviewed:

  1. Rory Vaden’s Procrastinate on Purpose.
  2. Bill Browder’s Red Notice
  3. Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto
  4. Brad Lomenick H3 Leadership
  5. Eula Bliss’ On Immunity: An Inoculation
  6. Adam Grant’s Give and Take 
  7. Paul Leinward’s and Cesare R. Mainardi’s Strategy That Works
  8. John Nemo’s LinkedIn Riches

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Watch for the upcoming release of my two new books: 12 Steps to Business Transformation and The Thinking Business System

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