Shane Cradock – ‘The INNER CEO – True Success is an Inside Job’

I think when I was given a copy of this ‘The Inner CEO‘ I assumed I would be reading another book about CEOs – how they at first failed and finally succeeded.  But the bye line ‘True success is an inside job’ – was the hint I missed. Having picked up the book at the weekend I pretty much devoured it – and my preferred bye line would be ‘take control‘ rather than ‘true success is an inside job’. The author is very much vested in the book – and starts out with his own very serious life experience. And this sense of commitment to what he puts forward is consistent throughout the book – and lots of examples drawn from his considerable experience working with business and sports people.

 

Timing for me

Perhaps the timing was right for me.  Almost two years ago I came across August Bradley and his ideas around Life Design – tracked through the Notion product. And I used this to put some structure around objective setting, daily planning and review, habit tracking, etc. and somewhere around this time I also began to build meditation into my daily routine. So when I read ‘The Inner CEO’, while I took some comfort from some of the changes I had previously made, I also saw a more holistic model for what I am trying to do – or looking for.  This book rang bells and is full of practical advice and ideas. The purpose of this review is not to summarise ‘The Inner CEO’ but to give you some sense of where it caught my attention and imagination. These days as a business advisor difficult to get away from Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, etc – today that included an excellent MIT lecture on fundamentals of foundation models, recording of Rishi Sunak interviewing Elon Musk and recording of the opening presentation at Gartner three weeks ago – AI, AI and AI.  More information overload.  And, of course, Shane references this under the ‘brains can’t cope’ topic with which we are all too familiar.  But the real point is his reference to  the ‘ability to be present and have clarity‘ as being the key skill for the 21st Centriy – for any of us.

Knowledge and AI

As I have researched AI recently I have spent considerable time thinking about learning, knowledge and ‘wisdom’ – in the context of trying to understand where we may be headed with AI – and the ongoing discussion of whether we are already seeing the first signs of Artificial General Intelligence (‘AGI’). Just reread Simon Winchester’s excellent ‘Knowing what we know – the transmission of knowledge from ancient wisdom to modern magic‘. In many ways it forms an excellent background to many of the challenges we all face in achieving ‘true success is an inside job’. When the author introduced the concept of seeing yourself as an ‘observer’ of your own mind and thoughts I was at first taken aback.  But as he explains the cocept it seemed to make complete sense. And he develops this beautifully in the book – with examples and ideas around why you want to do this and how you go about it. I remember 45 years ago learning Latin: a very smart teacher and his insistence that we did not use a dictionary in working through previously unseen texts.  Learning to sight read for piano exams something similar is required – some ability to relax and go with it (get in the ‘flow’).   Or, although was never a great cricketer, when I did get runs it was like you could not miss – felt like the bat was twice as wide and you could hit the ball anywhere. Good discussion of similar ideas in the book – and explanation of the ‘flow’. The Inner CEO has a number of ideas for assessing and addressing your mood – we all have swings (both directions).  Loved his idea about a ‘slow walk’.  I used to walk the dogs with my headphones on – listening to Audible, Spotify or podcasts.  My daughter told me that when walking the dogs I should listen to them – and be available to them.  So right – and, in many respects, this becomes the ‘slow walk’. On something similar had a discussion last week with an old friend – dumbfounded we spend so much of our ‘travel time’ listening to paodcasts – wanted to know when we listen to music.

Good models and practical advice

The Inner CEO has a number of models which I think explain why so many of us are not in control – when you read the book lookout for Projectors, Missiles and Icebergs. All good ways to explain challenges and opportunities to take control.  Each section finishes with ‘Some things to reflect on‘ and ‘somethings to sit with‘.  I am already sitting with a couple of things referenced and a couple of the ‘things to reflect on’ will be factored into my current daily and weekly reoutines. There are also a number of links to supporting tools and materials – I look forward to checking these out as I look to drive success through the inside job.