Three Star Leadership

Three star leadership is leadership that gets a star rating from your boss,
your peers and your subordinates.

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Two Weeks to a Breakthrough

This book promises that you can generate a breakthrough in your life in two weeks or less. That's a pretty big claim. But, in my case, it was true.

When I was trying to figure out how to review a book like this, I decided that the only way was to see if it did what it promised. I chose a business idea that I wanted to generate a breakthrough for. Then I followed the book's program. It worked.

There are three reasons why it worked. The recommendations in it are based on solid, behavioral science principles. There is a specific, but not too specific program for you to follow. And, both the book and the program are short.

The program works because the recommendations in it are based on solid behavioral science principles and human nature. You're asked to do lots of small things, such as actions, sharing, and requests, and do them every day. .

Doing lots of things gives you an emotional investment in the product itself. Because you're going to get lots of "yes's" and successes doing small things, you generate the kind of emotional momentum that's hard to stop.

There's another benefit to all that asking and talking. You wind up with a lot of people who are interested in your project.

Half way through the two weeks, we went to a dinner party. Among the guests was someone I'd talked to about my project. "Hey," he said, "I've been meaning to call you." He launched into an idea to move things forward.

That started a train of conversation at the table that involved others. People contributed ideas and support.

The program works because there is a specific, but not too specific program for you to follow. The author provides you with things to do every day for fourteen days. It's easy to tell if you're doing them or not.

But the "things to do" list is specific about kinds of actions, not about the details. So the program might call for you to "Tell three people about your project." It will be up to you to figure out who those three people will be and how to go about telling them.

This is the world of simultaneous loose-tight controls. You have lots of control over what you will do, but the program sets the pace and reminds you if you fall behind.

The program works because both the book and the program are short. Yes, you will have to work the tasks of the program into your crowded schedule, but it's only for two weeks.

In the end, I didn't do everything exactly the way the author suggested. The program actually took three weeks for me because it took me a week to work up a good description of the project. The author suggests you do that the day before you start. That just didn't work for me.

I also didn't follow even the loose instructions to the letter some days. But every day I made sure to take some positive actions and to do some sharing or asking.

There is no magic here. The book will not do the work of honing your idea or goal to razor sharpness. The book will not share your idea with others or ask for help. You have to do all that. But if you do it the way Lisa Haneberg suggests you can generate a breakthrough in 14 days or less.

This is a very effective tool. I'll use it again. Why stop at one breakthrough?

To see what other folks thought of this book, or to purchase it from Amazon, click here.

Three Star Leadership is leadership that gets a star rating from three key groups: your boss, your peers and your subordinates.

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