Marshall Goldsmith Explains Why Even Top Leaders Ask for Help

In a blog post related to leadership and working together, adapted from his new book The Earned Life, the renowned leadership expert and bestselling author Marshall Goldsmith talks about how top leaders who are reluctant to ask for help actually become better leaders when they learn to ask for it.

Goldsmith writes, “Back when I developed my coaching business and I began to acquire more clients at a higher executive level, I learned to create an environment in which a leader did not feel embarrassed to ask for help. It harkened back to a paradox I noticed at IBM: The company’s leaders thought coaching was valuable for employees, but not for themselves. This was nonsense, of course. None of us is perfect. We’re all flawed human beings. We all should be asking for help. My breakthrough was reminding my accomplished clients of this eternal truth.”

French President Emmanuel Macron is not known for asking for help. But he is becoming more likely to think that way before parliamentary elections. After winning a second term, he remade his government. Now it blends high-profile dignitaries with conservatives from his previous administration in a push to rebuild his bipartisan coalition ahead of parliamentary elections. Among the choices are Catherine Colonna, France’s ambassador to the U.K., who became foreign minister and who worked in the administration of late conservative President Jacques Chirac to become the country’s top diplomat. French historian Pap Ndiaye, a left-leaning academic and an expert in Black studies and racial discrimination, was named education minister, one of the largest jobs in the administration. The French president is seeking to broaden his appeal after drifting rightward.

In The Earned Life Goldsmith uncovers the source of today’s existential crises, including regrets that stem from choices that irrevocably alter our lives, reroute destinies, and haunt our memories. These are particularly timely themes today.

With Goldsmith’s book as a guide, readers can close the gap between what they plan to achieve and what they actually get done—even in a world full of inescapable unfairness and curveballs—and live an earned life that is fulfilling in the long run.

You can read Marshall Goldsmith’s blog here.

About MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

Marshall Goldsmith has been recognized for years as the world’s leading executive coach and the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, Mojo, and Triggers. He received his Ph.D. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. In his coaching practice, Goldsmith has advised more than 200 major CEOs and their management teams. He and his wife live in Nashville, Tennessee.

About THE EARNED LIFE

In THE EARNED LIFE (Currency Books), Marshall Goldsmith uncovers the source of today’s existential crisis: regret, the kind stemming from choices that irrevocably alter our lives, reroutes destinies, and haunts our memories—particularly timely themes as the pandemic and Great Resignation inspire people to seek meaning in their lives, get unstuck and make changes. With this book as their guide, readers can close the gap between what they plan to achieve and what they actually get done—even in a world full of inescapable unfairness and curveballs—and live an earned life too fulfilling to dwell on the “what ifs.”

If you’d like more information on Marshall Goldsmith, The Earned Life, and his work, please get in touch with Lyda Goldsmith.