The Five Keys to High Performance

Juggle Your Way to Success

Michael Gelb

• Publisher: G&D Media
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781722521080
• Topic: Desarrollo personal
• Subtopic: Éxito personal

The ability to learn is life's most important skill. Now, Michael Gelb, a pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning, and innovative leadership, and the world's leading authority on the application of genius thinking to personal and organizational development, teaches you the five keys to high performance: Activate Your Brain's Success MechanismTransform Your Attitude about Mistakes and FailurePlay! Your Genius BirthrightCultivate Relaxed Concentration. Coach to LearnThis dynamic, and inspiring book will guide you to improve your learning ability as you age, embrace change, and discover resilience in the face of adversity as you learn how to juggle!

From the Tip of Mick Jagger’s Tongue to the Learning Organization

I’m standing on the tip of Mick Jagger’s tongue juggling a rubber chicken, a turnip and a big, pointy kitchen fork in front of 250,000 people. No, it’s not a “bad trip” or a weird dream, it’s the Knebworth Rock Festival in 1976 and my juggling partner Lloyd “Tim” Timberlake (former science editor for Reuters) and I are performing between Rolling Stones’ sets on a giant stage shaped like Mick Jagger’s mouth. Tim was also juggling a chicken, turnip and fork and our big-finish trick involved tossing the turnip high in the air and then catching it on the tip of the fork, while making chicken noises. In full cluck, the turnips flew high as we raised our forks in unison and…we both missed! We discovered immediately that there’s something liberating about being laughed at by a quarter of a million people. A couple of helpful, or perhaps sadistic, audience members tossed the errant turnips back to us and we tried again. This time it worked. The vast ocean of denim and hair before us exploded in cheers followed by a powerful chant: “Bring on the Stones, bring on the Stones.”

Tim and I were lucky. We knew how to embrace our mistakes and were able to turn our near-disastrous performance on stage into a huge success. But, I had an opportunity, not too long afterwards, to witness how fear of mistakes and of change could sabotage one’s performance, especially in the workplace. The opportunity arose when I was invited to present at a five-day senior management retreat for Digital Equipment Corporation (A friend had recommended me to Digital because of my research into accelerated learning and creative thinking). DEC was growing rapidly and introducing a “matrixed” organizational structure. The vice-presidential team was charged with implementing this new structure and leading the company through dramatic changes. But, even in an organization born at the dawn of the dynamic “information age,” resistance to learning and change was a major problem. People at all levels had trouble acknowledging and taking responsibility for mistakes. Because the company was growing so quickly, most managers felt that they were being asked to accomplish more with inadequate resources. (This also happens when there are cutbacks). Despite the new “matrix,” territoriality and internal competition were often stronger forces than teamwork and cooperation. And, many talented technical people were promoted to senior management positions on the basis of their technical accomplishments rather than their leadership and communication skills.

In one-to-one conversations team members confided that they frequently felt overwhelmed. Some of the representative comments included:

• “I work six 14 hour days a week but never get through my in-box;”

• “Work devours all my time. My life is out of balance. I’m afraid I’m neglecting my family not to mention my health;”

• “As soon as I feel like I’ve got firm footing, somebody pulls the rug out from under me;”

• “I’ve got multiple projects, not enough time to attend to them, but there are serious negative consequences for inattention, both personally and professionally.”

One manager summed it all up by saying:

“I’ve got too much to juggle!”

In the course of that five-day session all of the managers actually learned how to juggle; more importantly, they learned how to use the metaphor of juggling to transform their approach to learning and change. They also gained inspiring, practical insights into teamwork, coaching skills, and the secret of getting more done with fewer resources.

Since that initial session thirty years ago, people have only become more stressed, more pressed for time, and more desperate to find a way to make changes in their lives that will help them find the balance they seek. The metaphor of juggling has never been so apt. A recent edition of Newsweek featured a story on Google founders Larry Page and Sergy Brin that highlighted their ability to balance their company’s growth, in the heyday of the Internet boom, with a sound approach to maintaining profitability and cash flow. The story includes a photograph of Brin standing next to a unicycle while juggling three balls in his office. For many years, the woman’s magazine Redbook aimed it’s advertising to appeal to The Redbook Juggler, the woman struggling to balance concerns about family, health, career, finances and personal growth. The headline of a recent edition of the New York Times Week-in Review section was entitled “Juggler-in-Chief” and featured an illustration of a figure standing behind a presidential podium juggling six balls. The article chronicles the challenge for presidents throughout history to balance multiple crises. Whether managing a country, a company or an individual life, the metaphor of juggling speaks to all of us as a reminder of the importance of balance.

Over the past 30 years, I have refined the metaphor and used juggling to help thousands of people let go of their stress in exchange for a new enthusiasm for learning and change. Companies such British Petroleum, Compaq (which acquired DEC before being acquired by HP) DuPont, IBM, Merck, Microsoft, Nike, and many others have successfully applied the juggling metaphor in their organizational development efforts after attending the “The 5 Keys to High Performance” workshop. This book offers you everything from this workshop and more. In the pages that follow you’ll be guided through the practical application of these ideas to some of your most pressing personal and organizational challenges.

These practical tools are all based on the research-validated assumption that your learning potential is virtually unlimited and that your learning ability can improve with age. Learning how to capitalize on your learning power, and how to help others do the same, are essential components of leadership that can be developed. This book is for people who want to help create a culture that supports and rewards rapid, continuous learning and improvement. In other words, it is for those who wish to create and sustain “Learning Organizations.” As Charles Handy explains in Managing the Dream, “In an uncertain world, where all we know for sure is that nothing is sure, we are going to need organizations that are continually renewing themselves, reinventing themselves, reinvigorating themselves. These are the learning organizations, the ones with the learning habit. Without that habit of learning, they will not dream the dream, let alone have any hope of managing it.”

In addition to the applications in the workplace, you will be delighted to discover that you can apply the 5 Keys to High Performance and the juggling metaphor to live a more balanced and fulfilling life as you take on more responsibility. This approach will help you to raise your confidence and enthusiasm for your ability to learn anything you desire. It can provide the missing link in improving your performance in golf, skiing, tennis or any other sport If you are a parent then you’ll be able to apply what you’ll learn to accelerate your children’s progress in school and at home. And, as a bonus, you may even learn how to juggle.

Attention parents of children with learning challenges

Paul Phariss suffered major brain damage during a swimming accident when he was just 6 years old. Although he managed to graduate from high school, he couldn’t read beyond a fourth grade level. While attending a college program for students with learning disabilities, Paul was introduced to the art of juggling. He was surprised to discover that as his juggling skill developed his ability to read and comprehend slowly began to improve. After six years of intensive juggling practice, Paul’s reading continued to get better; and, in 1990 his 3-man juggling act “Darn, Good and Funny” won first place at the international juggling championship.

Paul and his wife Susan devote themselves to helping children with learning disabilities. They guide the children to learn how to juggle and learn how to learn. Their inspiring book Have a Ball Learning: How Juggling Helps Kids Overcome Their Learning Disabilities is a compelling story of achievement against the odds and a practical manual for helping children with ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and other behavioral problems.

Over the decades many individuals have used this approach to transform their habits of learning, strengthen their leadership skill and balance their lives under increasing pressure. Emily Hickey, Ph.D. leads a team of research scientists at Merck’s Rahway facility. She comments, “The juggling metaphor is a delightful means to awaken awareness of what it takes to maintain balance under pressure. At work, it reminds us to create a more playful environment that makes everyone receptive to learning and better able to thrive with change. And, as a mother of three I have no choice but to master the art of relaxed concentration!”

Ketan Patel is a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and the founder of Greater Pacific Capital. He leads a team of gifted strategists who provide consultation, analysis and advice for clients at high levels in government and industry globally. In the past few years Patel has been able to elevate a number of his people to more significant roles. He comments on what differentiates the people who he’s been able to promote: “All of them are brilliant, top-of-the-class types, but the ones who make it are those who embrace the challenge of learning something new without being shackled by the fear of failure. If they’re already juggling three balls and I toss them a flaming stick they seem to know which ball to toss to another team member in order to catch the stick and keep on juggling.”

Ketan, a father of two children adds, “As a parent my goal is to guide my children to optimize their learning ability. The 5 keys to High Performance offer a simple clear curriculum for nurturing their natural gifts.”

Jim Sutton is the former head of Human Resources for a division of Nike, a company that attracts high-energy, highly competitive people. Jim observes that, “Our company is filled with achievers and winners in sales, manufacturing, marketing and design, but being a great sales person or designer doesn’t necessarily make you a great head of sales or design. The skills of managing, coaching, teaching, listening, facilitating and coordinating (rather than competing with other internal groups) are at a premium. We are always looking for ways to help our leaders keep all these balls in the air!” Sutton adds, “Of course, the same principles apply on a personal level. This approach to lifelong learning helps me maintain a joyful approach to new challenges.”

Emily, Ketan and Jim are all leaders who know that a successful learning organization must be staffed and led by people who know how to learn. Years ago, Peter Drucker wrote that the manager of the future will be a “learning guide.” That future is now.

Lifelong Learning: The Champion’s Spirit

Leadership authorities such as Peter Drucker, Jim Clawson, Peter Senge, Stephen Covey and Warren Bennis all agree that the commitment to rapid, continuous learning is an essential element of individual and organizational high performance. That commitment was alive at a recent World Juggling Championship event. The competitors amazed the audience of over two thousand people by performing mind-boggling variations with up to seven balls. All of the competitors dropped the balls during the course of their acts. Yet each recovered quickly and continued without missing a beat. Why did the world’s best jugglers all make mistakes? Because they were all attempting to push the limits of the possible. The ultimate winner was Tony Duncan, a professional juggler from Brooklyn, N.Y. who thrilled the crowd with an original, astonishing performance. The next day, the sponsoring organization offered a seminar on the principles contained in this book. Who was first in line for the seminar? That’s right, it was Tony Duncan, the world champion. He said, “I’m hoping that I can learn something from this that will help me get just a little bit better.”

The Juggling Metaphor

The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.

Aristotle

In the 1980’s Samurai sword master Miyamoto Musashi’s classic The Book of Five Rings was translated into English and became an instant business bestseller. Musashi’s masterpiece remains a valuable guide for strategists in an increasingly complex world. Musashi emphasized “From one thing, know ten thousand.” In other words, learn to think metaphorically, in his case, to extrapolate the principles of swordsmanship to business and life in general. Today, though life and death combat remains a compelling metaphor for business, economies, supply chains, funding sources and communications have become so interdependent that a new paradigm is emerging which emphasizes cooperation and collaboration in balance with competition. Now juggling provides a marvelous, more appropriate metaphor for this evolving model.

Why? Because, learning anything involves keeping a number of things “up in the air” at the same time; because “dropping the balls” provides an ideal way to communicate the importance of coping with mistakes gracefully, one of life’s most important abilities. Juggling also promotes a sense of inner quiet and resourcefulness in the midst of activity, a special experience of mind and body in harmony. And the essential light-heartedness associated with juggling encourages easy access to the fundamental human learning modality of play.

Juggling is surprisingly easy to learn and offers equal opportunity to both genders and to people of all ages. You can do it on your own or with others, and all you need to begin is more balls than hands. Progress in juggling is easy to measure and you can continue improving throughout your life. And, it’s just plain fun.

Management: It’s a lot like juggling.

Professor James Clawson of the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate Business School notes that the most effective managers are a lot like jugglers. He comments: “Over the years, I’ve observed two dominant ways of trying to work: the Project Finishers and the Time Allocators. Project Finishers ...