How to Grow a Backbone 10 Strategies for Gaining Power and Influence at Work

by Marshall, Susan

• ISBN13: 9780809224944
• ISBN10: 0809224941
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-22
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education

Summary

To succeed in business today, an individual must be smart, competitive, resilient, tenacious, and fearless. In short, he or she needs a good, old-fashioned backbone. InHow to Grow a Backbone, Susan Marshall, a top business consultant and former executive, outlines skills that readers can develop and perfect to become stronger, more confident, and more influential on the job. Using straight talk laced with wry humor, the author draws upon actual business situations from a variety of companies and industries to show how a strong backbone can change not only the outcome of the situation, but also how one is perceived.

Author Biography

Business consultant Susan Marshall has held positions in advertising, marketing, employee development, and general management.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Robert K. Cooper
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction Backbone Basics	1	(2)
What Is Backbone?	3	(1)
Backbone Anatomy	3	(11)
Backbone Function	14	(8)
Why Is Backbone Important?	22	(3)
The Cost of Missing Backbone	25	(2)
Unintended Competencies	27	(4)
Get the Big Picture	31	(12)
Know the Pieces	33	(2)
Color the Pieces	35	(2)
Connect the Pieces	37	(2)
You Are Here	39	(2)
Backbone-Building Exercises	41	(2)
Turn Meetings into Discovery Sessions	43	(18)
Why We Hate Meetings	44	(3)
An Everyday Guide to Discovery	47	(10)
Schedule Your Attendance	57	(1)
One Question You Should Always Ask	57	(1)
Backbone-Building Exercises	58	(3)
Become a Jotter	61	(10)
Study Your Notes	65	(2)
Use Notes to Refine Big-Picture Pieces	67	(1)
Use Notes to Refresh Others' Recollections	67	(1)
Highlight Answers; Use 'Em Again	68	(1)
Backbone-Building Exercises	69	(2)
Get Eyes Wise	71	(12)
What Eyes Show You	72	(2)
How Light Plays	74	(3)
When Curtains Get Drawn	77	(2)
How Eyes Connect and Reject	79	(1)
Using Your Eyes to Advantage	80	(2)
Backbone-Building Exercises	82	(1)
Expand and Contract: Your Thinking Must Change	83	(14)
Mind Mapping as Warm-Up	86	(2)
Big-Picture Pieces Expanded	88	(2)
A Question of Time	90	(1)
Prism Action: How to Train Your Focus	90	(2)
Extraction Techniques	92	(1)
Shucking for Mental Health	93	(1)
Getting to Yes...or No	94	(1)
Backbone-Building Exercises	95	(2)
Associate on Purpose	97	(16)
You Are Who You Hang With	99	(3)
Creeping Meatballs	102	(2)
Why Associations Are Automatic	104	(3)
Why Good Is Better	107	(2)
How to Disconnect from Habit	109	(2)
Backbone-Building Exercises	111	(2)
Play Columbo	113	(20)
The Art of Asking Questions	114	(4)
Why Approach Is Everything	118	(6)
Timing Your Queries	124	(2)
Daring to Be Direct	126	(2)
The Question Bin---Sample Questions for All Occasions	128	(3)
Backbone-Building Exercises	131	(2)
Determine the Power Sources	133	(16)
Study the Shirtsleeves to Figure Out How Things Happen	134	(4)
Intimidation Techniques and Why They're Short-Term	138	(5)
Why Silence Is Golden	143	(1)
When Yes Really Means No...or Maybe	144	(2)
How to Tap Power Sources	146	(1)
Backbone-Building Exercises	147	(2)
Lose the Excuses	149	(16)
Whining: The Ultimate Suicide	151	(5)
Why Betrayal Doesn't Hurt	156	(3)
If You Can't, Someone Else Can	159	(2)
Acts of God and Why You Need Them	161	(2)
Backbone-Building Exercises	163	(2)
Decide What You Think and Say So	165	(22)
Putting It All Together	170	(1)
Your Time in the Sun	171	(8)
Measuring Your Magic	179	(5)
Backbone-Building Exercises	184	(3)
Bibliography	187	(4)
Index	191