Marshall Goldsmith

Do not expect a narrow-minded person to be open-minded. My most popular post! We can spend an enormous amount of energy trying to explain things to people who neither understand nor care to understand. It often leads to frustration, because no matter how carefully we explain, their world is too limited to take in what we are saying. The frog that lives in the well will never grasp the vastness of the ocean. That doesn’t make it a bad frog or a stupid frog. It simply means it is a well frog. Expecting it to see beyond its walls is unfair to the frog and exhausting for us. In life, some people simply cannot see beyond their own well. Instead of wearing ourselves out trying to make them, we can accept their limits, move forward, and invest our energy in places where it will make a difference. Life is good. Marshall

If you are waiting for perfection, get ready for a long wait. Some people spend their whole lives waiting for everything to be just right - before they speak up, start the project, or say “I love you.” Here’s the secret: perfection is always running late. You don’t need flawless timing, spotless plans, or universal approval. What you need is a little courage, a little forgiveness, and a sense of humor. Start where you are. Do your best. Enjoy the day. Then get some sleep. Life is good (not perfect). Marshall

It can be very difficult for anyone to challenge someone they believe is smarter than they are, has the highest integrity, and has always been right in the past. In the case I am referring to, I later interviewed several direct reports of the leader who made this disastrous decision. A decision that cost the company billions of dollars. I asked them, “Did you think this decision could be wrong?” Many answered, “Yes. I was very worried.” I then asked, “Why did you not say anything before the decision was made?” Invariably, they described his extraordinary intelligence, his integrity, and his remarkable track record of success. They assumed that if they disagreed, they must be the ones who were mistaken. No one wanted to challenge someone who had been right so many times before. As a leader, the more respected you are, the more intentional you may need to be about actively seeking unfiltered views from your stakeholders. Life is good. Marshall

It is impossible to steal my intellectual property. Why? I give it away! To the degree possible, I believe we should all be knowledge philanthropists and share everything we know. Let us get real. Anything we understand today is built on wisdom generously shared with us by others. In my own life, Paul Hersey, Peter Drucker, Frances Hesselbein, Alan Mulally, and many other wonderful teachers freely gave me their insights. They did not charge me. They taught me because they were kind and generous human beings. Please visit MarshallGoldsmith.com for free articles, videos, and courses. Please visit MarshallGoldsmith.ai to receive my answers to your questions. Although I am not charging money, I do hope that you “pay” me by sharing what you learn with other people. Life is good. Marshall

I am deeply honored to be the second author of 'The Power of the Learning Mindset' with @Dr. Lilian Ajayi Ore, Ed.D. Our book is ranked #9 on the USA Today bestseller list — across all books, including fiction. Lilian has done an amazing job. In this new world, business leaders face unprecedented challenges. Technology can transform entire industries overnight. Markets shift. Expectations evolve. Stability is temporary. How do you stay relevant in the middle of constant change? How do you build teams that thrive under pressure? How do you foster innovation while still maintaining operational excellence? The answer is both simple and demanding. Executives, managers, and team leaders at every level must be learners, leaders, and coaches at the same time. Learning is no longer optional. It is the foundation of modern leadership. Learn to love learning. If you do not, it may be time to reconsider the role you want to play. Life is good. Marshall

I’m grateful to share the The Power of the Learning Mindset, which I had the privilege of co-authoring with @Dr. Lilian Ajayi Ore, Ed.D., has been ranked #9 on @USA TODAY's Best-Selling Booklist. This book reflects a belief that has guided my life’s work: leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about having the humility and discipline to keep learning. Together, Lilian and I explored how curiosity and a commitment to continuous growth helps leaders build stronger teams and achieve meaningful, lasting impact. Thank you to everyone who has read the book and continues to choose learning every day. I am deeply appreciative. You can learn more about the book and see the full USA TODAY Best-Selling Booklist here: lnkd.in/dyhynX5s Life is good! Marshall

Peace isn’t the absence of problems. It’s the presence of perspective. It's easy to "live" in two time zones at once, replaying yesterday or rehearsing tomorrow. When we: - relive the past through regret - "pre-live" the future through worry ...the present moment slips by unnoticed! Lao Tzu said, “If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” The best leaders don't avoid stress. They pause, breathe, and come back to now. You can’t change the past, and you can’t control the future. But you can always choose how you show up in this moment. Like so many things in life - it's a discipline. Life is good. Marshall Please visit MarshallGoldsmith.ai and ask as many questions as you wish!

People often ask me what I'd change about my life. My answer is always: Nothing! Because that would take away the lessons I learned from my mistakes. We all love success stories. But if you’re honest, most of your growth didn’t come from winning. It came from getting it wrong, feeling the sting, and learning how to do it better next time. Humility keeps you open. Arrogance shuts you down. And the moment you think you’ve “arrived” is usually when you stop improving. Don’t erase your mistakes. Study them. Own them. Thank them. They’re life’s most consistent teachers. Life is good. Marshall Please visit MarshallGoldsmith.ai and ask as many questions as you wish!

Great leaders plant trees they’ll never sit under. Our environment shapes us - but we can also shape the environment for ourselves and for others. You can tell a lot about a person by the time horizon of their actions. Some think in days. Some think in quarters. A few think in generations. The greatest leaders I’ve ever met don’t chase applause. They invest in growth they may never see - teams that outlive their tenure, cultures that thrive without their supervision, and habits that make life better for people they’ll never meet. They plant trees knowing the shade will belong to someone else. Life is good. Marshall Please visit MarshallGoldsmith.ai and ask as many questions as you wish!

Many high achievers feel a need to justify almost everything with, “It will improve my productivity.” Many successful people are, in their own way, addicted to achievement. We have been trained to measure our value by our output. If we rest, it must make us more effective. If we are happy, it must increase our performance. If we spend time with people we love, it must somehow give us an edge. Please do not do this to yourself. It is fine to achieve to achieve. There is nothing wrong with loving accomplishment. But it is just as important to rest to rest. To be happy to be happy. To enjoy a quiet moment without turning it into a strategy. Not everything in life needs to earn its keep. Sometimes rest is simply rest. Sometimes joy is simply joy. And that is enough. Life is good. Marshall

Much of life comes down to discipline! The discipline to REALLY listen. The discipline to try your best to be happy. The discipline to do the most important things when you don’t feel like it. The discipline to take a breath, ask for help, say thank you, apologize, and move on. Big accomplishments are usually but built on thousands of tiny, disciplined moments no one ever sees. If you want to cross the bridge between where you are and where you could be, discipline is the toll you pay every day. Life is good. Marshall

Even a slight change of perspective can change the whole picture. The biggest breakthroughs don't usually come from dramatic moments. They come from small shifts - noticing something you used to overlook, questioning an assumption you’ve carried for years, or simply asking yourself, “Is it worth it?” When you look at a challenge from a different vantage point, your challenge changes. When you look at a person with more generosity, your relationship changes. When you look at yourself with honesty instead of judgment, your path forward changes. Life is good. Marshall

The higher you go, the less you need to be the star. Make THEM the stars! When you reach the top, you already get to win most of the arguments anyway. You don’t need to prove you’re the smartest person in the room Great leadership means helping others shine. Go out of your way to show respect to everyone in your organization - at all levels. In my experience working with many great leaders, the best ones never acted “above” anyone. They made everyone feel respected, valued and seen. As Cicero wisely noted, the higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk. With each promotion, let your humility grow faster than your title. Life is good. Marshall Please visit MarshallGoldsmith.ai and start asking questions.

Many high achievers believe they will find peace and happiness after they achieve some lofty objective. They will not. Happiness and achievement are independent variables. In my life as a coach, I have worked with many extraordinary achievers. They reach the summit. They earn the title. They build the company. They win the award. And yet, the sense of peace they expected does not arrive. Achievement can bring pride. It can bring recognition. It can bring financial reward. But it does not guarantee peace or happiness. Peace and happiness come from how we experience this moment, not from the next accomplishment. If we tie our well-being to the next goal, we sentence ourselves to a life of postponement. There is nothing wrong with striving. Achievement can be meaningful and noble. But do not expect it to be more than it is. If you want peace, practice peace now. If you want happiness, practice happiness now. Life is good. Marshall

This may be the best advice I have ever read for dealing with criticism. When someone tells us that another person has spoken negatively about us, our instinct is to defend ourselves. We want to explain, justify, or prove that we were misunderstood. Yet there is another response. A calmer one. A wiser one. We can remember that none of us is perfect. If someone points out a fault, there are probably other faults they did not even see. In that sense, we have all done worse than what is being discussed. So why become upset? Take a deep breath. Smile. Let it go. The older I get, the more I realize that being at peace is more valuable than being right . Life is good. Marshall If you have a moment, please visit MarshallGoldsmith.ai. It is free, and it continues to improve every day.

John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, understood something many people miss - coaching is not about control. It is about care. His wonderful quote perfectly captures the spirit that motivated him for decades. I had the honor of meeting Coach Wooden several times. The first time, I was earning minimum wage in a small bookstore across from UCLA. He was a friend of the owner and would stop by the store to visit and talk . Even though he was already a legend, he treated me with complete respect. I was just a clerk. He never made me feel small. Years later, after I completed my Ph.D., he attended one of my talks. Once again, he was gracious and kind. He thanked me for the great work I was doing. That is what I remember most. Not the championships. Not the fame. The humanity. Great coaches change lives not only through what they teach, but through how they treat people. To all of you who coach, mentor and guide others - thank you. We are fortunate to be in a profession where a simple conversation can shape a life. Life is good. Marshall

Feedforward is based upon the philosophy of helping people be right in the future. Feedback is great for letting know where we are in the present and how we got there from the past. Overly dwelling on proving people wrong because of what they did in the past can be depressing and unproductive. Helping people be right in the future is energizing and hopeful. Feedforward is positive, simple, focused, fast - and even fun! You can still cover almost all of the same material as feedback, only in a more positive way. Get in the habit of asking for feedforward. Ask, “What is one idea that might help me get even better in the future?” Listen carefully. Say “thank you.” Don’t promise to do everything that’s suggested. Do promise to listen and do what you can. Then follow up. Repeat the process. Keep improving. Enjoy the journey. Life is good. Marshall Please visit MarshallGoldsmith.ai. Ask as many questions as you want. You will get lots of ideas for the future. Just use the ones that work for you!

My old friend Philip Kotler, has been recognized for decades as the world authority on marketing. I am a fan of his work! Philip taught me that, “The best advertising is done by satisfied customers.” He is exactly right. A mediocre advertising campaign backed by delighted customers will always outperform a brilliant campaign rejected by disappointed ones. In the end, we must deliver. Customers will talk. Their voices cannot be managed forever. For many years, I was recognized as the world’s number one leadership coach. The truth is simple: I did not earn that reputation through clever marketing. I earned it because I have been blessed to have extraordinary clients were kind enough to publicly endorse my work. As coaches, our brand is not built by what we say about ourselves. It is built by what others say about us. Great coaching creates results. Great results create advocates. And advocates build a reputation. Life is good. Marshall Please visit MarshallGoldsmith.ai. It is not a coaching bot. It is designed to share information that may be of help to both coaches and their clients. I hope that you like it!

Too many people complain about where they are - and do not move on! We can all get stuck in a rut. Life begins to feel boring, predictable, and repetitive. That is usually the signal that it is time to explore something new. I am not naïve. Sometimes we truly need the paycheck and have to tolerate a situation that is far from ideal. But even then, the key is to start moving. If you are bored and you can leave, begin looking. If there are no jobs available, start re-educating yourself. If you cannot re-educate yourself, find ways to make your current work more meaningful or interesting. Do something! Being in a rut is not the problem. Choosing to live in the rut is the problem. Life is good. Marshall

As I approach 77, my mission has become simpler and simpler - to help you have a little better life. Over the years I have become more of a realist. I may not transform your life. I may not change your multi-billion-dollar corporation. But perhaps I can help you have a little better life. Maybe only a better minute. That is good enough for me. In the past year, more than 30 million people have viewed my social media posts. If each person experienced just one little better minute, that adds up to a lot of better minutes in the world! Thank you for reading what I write and for allowing me to share these small reflections. You have given me the greatest gift of all, the gift of meaning. Life is good. Marshall

People with very high IQs can have very irrational ideas. We too often confuse intelligence with rationality or wisdom. The history of the world is filled with examples of highly intelligent people who held deeply irrational beliefs. Intelligence can help us solve complex problems. It can also help us defend bad ideas. The next time a very intelligent and very confident person says something that feels a little “off,” do your homework. Check the facts. Think for yourself. Draw your own conclusions. Being smart does not make any of us immune to being wrong. Life is good. Marshall