The Daily Carrot Principle

365 Ways to Enhance Your Career and Life

Adrian Gostick, Chester Elton

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781439194904
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

From the authors of the smash bestseller The Carrot Principle comes an inspiring and lively page-a-day guide to harnessing the remarkable power of the carrot—taking yourself and your team to new heights of success in work and life.Based on their twenty years of experience teaching leaders at Fortune 100 companies, as well as one of the largest research studies ever conducted on workplace satisfaction, Gostick and Elton share a wealth of wisdom about simple but amazingly effective ways to boost your productivity and work satisfaction by setting clear goals, communicating effectively, building trust, and offering recognition in ways that make others feel appreciated and motivated.Each engaging page of The Daily Carrot Principle features a core kernel of wisdom, enlivened by thoughtful and witty quotes from the likes of Thomas Edison, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Jim Collins, and Oprah Winfrey, plus a bonanza of insights from standout managers and employees the authors have studied. An easy-to-implement "carrot action" ends each page, providing the simple steps to begin applying this wealth of wisdom immediately.Whether you are a business leader, team member, student, mom or dad, or anyone hoping to achieve more in your life, this book will be an inspiring and practical guide to unleashing your hidden potential and leading a richer life.

1 JANUARY

Dream Big

Dream no small dreams for they have no power
to move the hearts of men.

—Goethe

In a cab ride in New York City, we struck up a conversation with the driver. He had an eastern European accent, so we were curious as to how he ended up in the Big Apple. When we asked, he told us that he left Romania during the reign of Nicolae Ceausşescu, risking everything. Why did he do it, sleeping on the streets and saving pennies to bring his family to America? His explanation: “You have something here that we don’t have in Romania. Something I want for my children . . . dreams!”

Dreams and ambitions can sometimes get a bad rap today. It’s easy to discount the former as childish and the latter as greedy. That’s a mistake. In a way, troubled times can make it easier for people to reorient their priorities. If there was ever a time to dream big, it is today. When the rest of the world says hunker down and try to survive, we say that it is time to thrive.

So go ahead and dream. A dream is a powerful motivator.

CARROT ACTION: Make a list of your successes. Then make goals for this year that will build on that momentum.

2 JANUARY

The Effectiveness of Praise

How the encouragement of others propels us forward.

In 1925, Dr. Elizabeth Hurlock conducted a study with a group of fourth and sixth grade math students in the United States. She wanted to see whether their output could be modified, not by the content of the lessons but by the feedback they received as they solved problems. The control group was praised for their efforts; another was criticized; and a third ignored. Hurlock measured their improvement by the number of math problems they solved each day.

The results were immediate. By the second day, the “praised” students dramatically outperformed the rest. At the end of the five-day study, the results were in: the students increased the number of solved problems in direct relation to the level of encouragement they received.

• Praised students: +71%

• Criticized students: +19%

• Ignored students: +5%

Praise works! Whether in the classroom, office, or other work site, people need encouragement to do their best work.

CARROT ACTION: In a journal, write down an experience in your life in which someone encouraged and praised you, and by doing so motivated you to achieve something great.

3 JANUARY

Who Do You Trust?

Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust.

—Oliver Wendell Holmes

Johnny Carson was the host of the television game show Who Do You Trust in 1957. To play, couples were separated, and the husbands were given a category of the question they were to answer next. They had to either answer it or “trust” their wives to answer it. Ironically, that show aired during the quiz show scandal era, when it was discovered that the popular game show The $64,000 Question had scripted the loss of a contestant to allow a more popular contestant to win. The whistleblower? The losing player.

How much do you trust the people on your team? Given their different strengths, do you know which person will respond best to a particular challenge?

The curious thing about trust is that it presumes familiarity. You can’t trust somebody you don’t know. So the first step in establishing trust is getting to know the people around you. And equally important is letting other people come to know you.

CARROT ACTION: Boost levels of trust in your organization by using language that encourages it—for instance, express confidence in others’ abilities to achieve their goals. Trust is also built as we get to know our colleagues outside the office. Once a month go out for drinks, dinner, or a movie together.

4 JANUARY

Thank You in Ninety Seconds

Instant Carrots.

The next time a co-worker helps you out, grab a thank-you card, a pen, and follow these steps to quick recognition:

Write a fun comment about that person and your relationship.

• Dear Sue, How many times a day do I hear you say, “No problem?”

Thank them for whatever it is you appreciate.

• Thanks for picking up the phones for me this morning when I got called away.

Tell them specifically how what they did helped you.

• If you hadn’t, we would probably have missed the call from Tom at TechnoTex, and I’m guessing he would have placed his order somewhere else.

Tell her why what she did was important.

• I appreciate your teamwork. If the company were full of Sues, the competition wouldn’t stand a chance!

CARROT ACTION: Take ninety seconds today to write a specific note of appreciation to someone who has helped you.

5 JANUARY

Failing Well

I have not failed. I’ve just found
10,000 ways that won’t work.

—Thomas A. Edison

We love the story of Charles Goodyear and his invention of vulcanized rubber, which shockingly has nothing to do with Leonard Nimoy. It’s the process that takes a common substance and transforms it into the thing that allows modern life to exist. Without rubber there would be no cars, bicycles, planes, or even our favorite pair of old sneakers.

The crazy thing about Goodyear’s story is that the final breakthrough was a fluke. Angry with the people who mocked his latest failed experiments, he threw the rubber-sulfur mixture in his hand onto a nearby burning stove in disgust. When he went back to get it, he discovered that heat had cured the rubber. Eureka! In an instant, all of the struggle—his time in debtor’s prison, the years of poverty and hunger—evaporated.

Later, Goodyear said that failure gave him information necessary to be able to recognize the meaning in the breakthrough.

That’s a good concept to keep in mind in your business. The key is to embrace that unstable sensation. If it pans out, great; if not, try something else.

CARROT ACTION: Take a minute to review a few “failures” in your past. Note any positive outcomes from what seemed, at the time, like a disaster.

6 JANUARY

Who Am I?

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow.

The shadow is what we think of it;
the tree is the real thing.

—Abraham Lincoln

You probably have a hero or two. But do you think anybody wants to be like you?

You might be surprised.

Who we are and who other people assume we are can be quite distinct. You didn’t get to choose many of your characteristics. That’s where genetics comes in. But to a great extent you do get to choose the characteristics of your reputation.

From the moment you’re hired, you begin to create your business reputation. The decisions you make, the things you say, the way you carry yourself, and an infinite number of tiny gestures all combine into a perception-version of yourself. It’s a little intimidating to think of it...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• 1 JANUARY
• 1 FEBRUARY
• 1 MARCH
• 1 APRIL
• 1 MAY
• 1 JUNE
• 1 JULY
• 1 AUGUST
• 1 SEPTEMBER
• 1 OCTOBER
• 1 NOVEMBER
• 1 DECEMBER