New Business Book Summary Available for Be Bad First

The modern world is defined by constant connection, abundant choices, and rapid change. Information that once took years to travel across the globe now spreads in seconds. As society is propelled forward by new knowledge and the opportunities that knowledge brings, the key to success is the ability to learn quickly and well. In Be Bad First, leadership readiness expert Erika Andersen offers a simple model that professionals can use to develop four mental skills that are crucial to learning. This framework takes advantage of the deeply ingrained human desire for mastery and encourages adults to embrace the novice state that is a necessary part of learning.

Making a Career Satisfying

The ideal career is an enjoyable one that utilizes a person's skills and abilities in a pleasant environment with good co-workers. However, a self-defining career that brings joy is unattainable for most people.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 67 percent of American workers are unhappy on the job because they dislike their boss or co-workers, the duties they must perform, lack of a challenge, and other reasons. To better understand why two thirds of Americans are dissatisfied, interviews were conducted with individuals experiencing both joy and disdain for their careers.

One worker enjoyed her job because of some of the conditions: decent pay, an easy commute, and prior knowledge of what she was expected to do. In addition, despite feeling a little bored about the work itself, she appreciated having the job during a period of high unemployment.

At the other end of the spectrum, another worker cited politics, too many changes, and 60-hour workweeks as reasons for the stress and dread he faced each day. Instead of appreciating what he had, he felt the company owed him more.

The first challenge around the aspect of career is for both employers and employees to ask the hard questions to better understand the roots of any dissatisfaction. Employers should consider whether or not they are respecting their staff by providing fair wages, competitive benefits, clear expectations, the right tools to do their jobs, recognition for their work, and opportunities for them to voice their opinions.

Employees are recommended to explore the following questions:

* Are you giving it your all? In other words, workers need to determine if they are performing to the best of their abilities, doing an honest day's work, and surpassing both their supervisor's expectations and their own.

* Would a different job matter? People who stay in unsatisfying positions are not helping themselves, their bosses, their customers, or the company as a whole, and would be better off making a change. Showing up at any job with the wrong frame of mind contributes to a culture of disengagement.

* Is it time for a change? Some workers fail to realize that what started out as a "job," has turned into a "career," and that it is not the right fit for them. Perhaps they lack the skills to excel and make a contribution, knowledge of their industry, or the motivation to deal with office politics or other challenges. The other challenge is to continually focus on one's own personal growth. By enhancing their own skills, employees not only add value to their company and earn more appreciation and respect from their bosses, but they prepare themselves for more satisfying opportunities that become available.

Here are some good action items:

* Pursue training offered by the company. Employees should take advantage of learning opportunities, especially those that enhance their job performance or teach transferable skills.

* Take advantage of online training opportunities. Instead of wasting their computer leisure time at social media sites, people should look into taking online courses, many of which are free or affordable, and offer more flexibility for people who lack the time and resources to head over to a college campus. Sometimes training is not offered by the company, so employees must take the initiative to learn themselves.

* Read a book a month. Reading is one of the best self-paced methods of personal development. Some self-improvement books can be borrowed from the library or a friend for free. You may also want to sign-up for book summaries available on Business Book Summaries.

Success in the Training Industry

While organizational leaders understand the importance of training, they often wrongly assume that training automatically results in improved performance. The training industry has struggled to demonstrate success in the past because organizations measure the quality of training and not the resulting impact on performance as the indicator of training's effectiveness.

The training industry borrowed its fundamental concepts from higher education. The industry boomed in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of corporations hiring externally to meet their growing training needs.

In response, training companies watered down their models to a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Training models fail when the training does not align with business goals, and misguided measurement processes do not represent return value--the primary benchmark for which training should be measured.

Measurement should focus not on the training itself but on the resulting impact on employee performance. True corporate learning can only occur when employees take ownership for their learning, an internalization that distinguishes learning from training.

In order to reach employees and influence such ownership, corporate trainers must connect with employees through experiential instructional methods, allowing trainers and employees to find a common ground. As a result, employees will feel ownership of their new skills and motivation for continued learning.

Malcolm Knowles, the father of adult learning theory, advocated for learner-centered instruction, where the instructor is a facilitator instead of a lecturer. He believed ownership of the learning process was central to learning, a departure from traditional instructional theories of "leading the learner."

Knowles's theory evolved into the action learning model, resulting in a learning system that begins with a shared experience, engages employees with corporate strategy, and leads to reflection, learning, and new application. The new application, which ends in a new experience for learners to share, completes the action model.

Trainers are called to recognize learning research, realize that adults have different learning styles, and adapt training models to interactively engage and motivate employees. Additionally, they are encouraged to take responsibility for transforming their traditional models of training into learner-centered models to extract a greater ROLI.

This article is based on the book "Corporate Learning Strategies." The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.

Emotional Intelligence: The New Science of Success

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to control and use one’s emotions in a constructive—rather than destructive—manner. This allows an individual to achieve his best performance, while inspiring others.

EI is a composite of many other qualities, such as effective oral communication and an ability to respond well to setbacks, which distinguish the competent from the truly successful. While success has basic threshold requirements—technical skills, for example—the truly crucial characteristics are those that enable people to manage their emotions rather than be derailed by extreme or upsetting circumstances.

Fortunately, there are strategies to improve one’s emotional intelligence. It is important to understand the four domains of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Self-awareness and self-management are related to one’s own personal competence, while social awareness and relationship management have to do with one’s competence in the social arena. One can improve behaviors in each of these domains to develop better overall emotional intelligence.

Ready to increase your emotional intelligence? More resources are available at BusinessSummaries.com. BusinessSummaries.com is a business book summaries service. Every week, it sends out to subscribers a summary of a best-selling business book chosen from among the hundreds of new books released in the United States. Simply go to http://www.bizsum.com for more details.