Hey, Howie Jacobson here, from Plant Yourself, Sick to Fit, and Proteinaholic.
I wanted to let you know that tomorrow is the last chance to preorder my newest book, You CAN Change Other People.
After tomorrow, access to the bonus coaching calls disappear (but you’ll still be able to buy the book, wherever books are sold :-) ).
We did four demo calls - two each - to entice you to preorder, because preorders do something wonderful to our bestseller ranking and can help launch the book into the world with a bang.
I worked with Dan on stopping his binge behavior, and with Ina on getting unstuck in her career.
And Peter used the Four Steps with his demo clients on professional challenges in the workplace.
One of the people my coauthor Peter coached in the recorded demos was Sven. Sven's challenge: he couldn't stop interrupting his team during meetings. In his mind, he was trying to get clarity on important terms and details. But the feedback he'd received was clear enough: Sven was slowing down the process and the team wasn't achieving their outcomes.
Several days after our coaching session, Peter received an email from Sven, letting me know the impact of their hour together. Sven and his colleagues came to the conclusion that he shouldn't try to "take on" topics and problems in meetings that weren't his. He would instead delegate this to his team and focus on supporting the other contributors.
I'll let Sven tell you in his own words how our conversation impacted him:
[The meeting] started and I handed over to Evan* to start by introducing the current state of conception to the new participants. Evan began and totally missed the audience by diving right into the details. But instead of interrupting directly, I gave the new participants the chance to do it themselves. But minutes passed. After 5 minutes, I interrupted Evan by pointing out my concern and that I could see question mark in the faces of the others. They confirmed. Short silence... Evan took over by taking a step back and trying to introduce the problem and current state, first. Excellent!
And so the conversation continued with me only asking questions when I feared misunderstandings between the participants. And then it happened. I got impatient with the progress...
…I held back my impulse to interrupt and summarize the currently used terms in order to structure and take notes. And then something surprising occurred: A totally new aspect came up, that I didn't thought about. Later, I had the insight, that the "old Sven" not only holds back his employees but their peers as well. Because of me taking a lot of problem solving time, I suppressed the creative energy and different perspective of the whole group. "Why should I think, if he's already doing it for us."
Additionally, I don't see the risk of losing contact to the business anymore. That is not to understand the business or technologies in my responsibility area. Instead, I gain more knowledge as I listen than while talking (and making things complicated). As I write, this sounds ridiculously clear and simple, but I needed the insight in order to really get it. There's a French saying, that "the light of knowledge shines only on its bearer."
...I came up with the conclusion, that in those situations, I was so focused on the goal or rather the next scheduled milestone, that I forgot to "be in the moment." I failed to enjoy the path and the people accompanying me, instead of seeing it only as a means to get to the next hut – always concerned with thoughts like: "Oh, we need to be there on time, because if not, the queue will be long and we won't make it to our next milestone then..." So maybe, this attempt to change will help me enjoy those moments more, too!
That's a pretty profound shift! And because Sven has set up his meetings to reinforce it, it will almost certainly stick, and grow. All from one conversation structured on the Four Steps.
That's why we wrote You CAN Change Other People: to give you a straightforward and simple process to help the people you care about get unstuck, and move powerfully in the direction of their dreams.
You can listen to the entire conversation when you preorder You Can Change Other People before September 22. All you have to do to receive the recorded coaching calls plus the one-page cheat sheet is:
- Preorder You CAN Change Other People from your favorite bookstore or online retailer, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Books-a-Million.
- Forward the receipt (or take a picture and email it to) preorder@bregmanpartners.com.
- Within about twenty minutes, you’ll receive an email with access to the bonus content. Yes, you get the coaching calls immediately – you don’t have to wait for the book to release to start learning.
That’s it!
Wishing you health, happiness, and the joy that comes from helping others share their gifts,
Howie
PS: Preorder You CAN Change Other People to access the recorded coaching call with Sven - along with three others - but only until September 22. Learn more.
*Name changed for privacy.