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The question is, do you want to move up? If someone wants to move up within the organization, this is a quick reading list. Getting to Yes -- If you only have
by ebiester 15y ago
The question is, do you want to move up?
If someone wants to move up within the organization, this is a quick reading list.
Getting to Yes -- If you only have a chance to read one, read this. It is about how to effectively collaborate toward a solution, and it works in functional work environments. It will be around in a big enough used bookstore.
How to Win Friends and Influence People -- Another oldie but goodie. It's a quick skim, and it's in every used bookstore. It has influenced interpersonal communication in the corporate world for nearly a century, and most people are taking their cues from this book.
The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business -- It's a condensation of many of the terms in business, and a reflection of the current corporate zeitgeist.
Then, read two top selling business books a year. They're usually quick reads, and you want to speak the same language as the people reading these books.
How does this help? By speaking the same language as the people making decisions, you are perceived as "one of them." This gives a common bond, and they perceive you as more likely to "understand business." By participating in collaborative conflict management, you are perceived to be a "team player." You can make the same good decisions without a confrontational work environment if all parties are speaking the same language.
And all of these will help you run your own company, because you will be talking to other businessmen who are reading these books. They will trust you more if they perceive you as "one of them," and you will be able to describe how your product produces a return on investment in their language.
- jrockway 15y agoWhat's funny about these books is that none of them tell you how to act like you didn't just read these books. Personally, I find the tells so obvious that I can't even interact with people that are following this advice. It's like talking to Eliza. Anyway, if you want to win friends and influence windbags with no technical knowledge, read these books. If you want to win friends and influence people that know how to program, try programming more.
- ebiester 15y agoMany of those windbags are your potential customers. :) When you are doing customer development in a B2B startup, for example, you should speak the client's language. In a consultancy role, you should be able to speak to both programmers and management. It is not duplicitous to speak a different language and use different cultural cues when speaking to programmers than when speaking to non-programmers. Learning the basic customs and language of business is a start, when we speak of the original poster's position that others were promoted above him despite technical skill. "What's funny about these books is that none of them tell you how to act like you didn't just read these books. Personally, I find the tells so obvious that I can't even interact with people that are following this advice. It's like talking to Eliza." It takes time and practice to develop fluency. Perhaps it is unfair to speak of a couple of books as a "magic bullet," but it's a decent start. That said, I do not suggest that these strategies should be used with other programmers necessarily. But strategies of facilitation (if I may delve into organizational communication for a bit) can help in many situations. I've seen inferior ideas pushed through because someone was more aggressive in argumentation, not because the idea was superior technically. I've seen developers ignored because they had a softer voice. (I've seen developers ignored because they were women, tangentally.) Collaborative conflict management models have their place, particularly in larger organizations where departments have cross-purposes.
- pnathan 15y agoIf you want to win friends and influence people that know how to program, try programming more. But you have to deal with & influence people that aren't programmers.
- jrockway 15y agoWhy?
- pnathan 15y agoWell. This seems kind of self-obvious to me. But I don't live in a programmer-heavy culture. Statistically speaking, most people are not programmers. So to have a broader influence and communication ability beyond our particular subculture of geeks and techies, we have to be able to ably communicate our ideas and concepts in ways that relate to them and make sense to them. The engineering world is full of brilliant people who do not have the people skills to communicate ideas (aka influence) to others. People like purchasers, salespeople, teachers of your children (if you have any), your family, your managers and executives, the plumber who fixes your toilet, your stockbroker: the list runs on and on. People who really matter to your existence, but don't live in the same technical space you do. I consider it a grave strategical error in one's career to shut out non-programmers. But, I am (relatively) young. Time will tell if I am incorrect or not.