What follows are two examples of the biggest mistakes that companies and people (especially managers – those responsible for the perfomance of others) make in the arena of "people development."

• Dave has just been promoted to manager at Schweikert Plastics. His boss Eric, the CFO, has recognized that Dave does not collaborate well. He interrupts people in meetings; he constantly checks his BlackBerry® in those meetings; he derides the people who report to him in public forums. Eric, in his infinite wisdom, has concluded that Dave doesn't have "people skills." As a result, he is sending Dave to the workshop at the Harvard Business School entitled People Skills for Financial Managers Who Have None.

• Tim is the head honcho of Human Resources at Kraus and Company. A year ago, Tim got the go-ahead to create a new Development Appraisal process for Kraus. After the year of very hard work, Tim has completed his mission. The focus of his process, like those of many other companies, is to help people identify their weaknesses compared to the "skills of value" at Kraus and to identify mechanisms to improve their skills in those areas.

That flushing sound you hear is the money these two companies spent, swirling down the drain!

I call them Development Delusions. The initial example is based on two false notions. One, that "people skills" is a precise term and that when it's used, everyone understands what it means, is just patently wrong. The second, that sending someone to a seminar will change his behavior, is also fallacious.

The second example illustrates another myth: People improve the most in their areas of greatest weakness. The fact is, they don't. That isn't to say that people cannot improve somewhat in areas of weakness that also happen to be integral to their jobs and important to their companies. It does mean, however, that people don't get any emotional "juice" from that effort. That work will be a source of ongoing frustration because, even with ongoing focus and determination, weaknesses rarely – almost never – become strengths. We believe that much of what you've learned about development and potential are myths. Here are my governing beliefs:

• You must accept that you are not equally and infinitely capable of all things. To be successful you must apply strength to opportunity.

• You must understand and accept your strengths and weaknesses, and their implications, in a precise and granular way.

• You must understand that knowing what to do and actually doing it are not the same thing.

• You must apply your strengths to your available time to give you maximum leverage.

• You must understand the differences among the following:

• Knowledge,
• Skills,
• Talents,
• Character attributes and the best the routes to, and limitations of, their development and their impact on your performance and potential.

• Your mind can either be your best friend or your worst enemy.

• You must resist the temptation to expend endless time and money improving significant weaknesses. They're weaknesses for a reason.

For more detail on the subject of personal/leadership development, click on one or more of the following from our archives:

• December '07 – "Do You Have CEO Disease?"
• August '07 – "The Power of Leverage"
• February '06 – "The Power of Your Internal Voice"
• December '05 – "Confidence is Your Primary Competitive Weapon"

 

 Three Books You Must Read About Money

Personal development philosopher Jim Rohn once said that, "Your net worth will be the average of that of your three closest friends."

 

He's right for two reasons: First, the people closest to you impact your thinking in profound ways. Second, as you become more successful financially, you change the people with whom you socialize. These aren't bad things; they're just facts of life.

 

Over the years, I've developed my philosophy of life. Regarding personal responsibility, I've boiled it down to the following sentence: "My life is a result of my choices, actions and their consequences." That includes money. When I retire, you will not have to subsidize my life – not because I'm a gazillionairre, which I am not, but because I believe that you should not have to pay for my choices, and I should not have to pay for yours.

 

Our public schools do a woeful job of teaching students about money. If you want to know why, you need look no further than the people running our school systems – union members with guaranteed pensions who (largely) believe that wealth is, by definition, the product of luck or chicanery, anything but initiative, risk-taking and hard work. If you are one of those people, stop reading here.

 

For the rest of you, I've found three books to be really useful. In no particular order:

 

• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. Graham is the father of value investing; this is the Bible. You want credibility: Graham was Warren Buffet's mentor. This book can be tough sledding, as it assumes a baseline level of financial literacy. It is a very rewarding read, however.

   To order, click the book cover.

 

 

• For those of you without the patience to wade through Graham, I recommend The Little Book of Value Investing. Written by Christopher Browne, this short book (about 175 pages and 5" by 8") will give you enough meat to kindle your interest in going deeper and enough basics to leave you with improved investing acumen.

   To order, click the book cover.

 

 

• The Only Three Questions that Count by Ken Fisher. Ken is the founder and CEO of Fisher investments. While this is a book ostensibly about investing, its lessons are deeper and broader. For example, Chapter 5 is entitled "When There's No There, There!" In it, he talks about "The Six Investment Life Lessons of Gertrude Stein." Lesson #4 is "Don’t Let Your Mind Blindside You Into Doing Something Stupid." We could spend hours discussing the implications of that admonition. This is a great book; Ken Fisher is one insightful guy!

   To order Ken's book, click the book cover.

 

See you next month. Until then, get real; get tough; get going!