Most leadership books end up as expensive paperweights. You read them, nod along with the wisdom, then struggle to apply anything meaningful to your actual work. Marshall Goldsmith's "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" breaks this pattern. After 25 years of watching technical professionals stumble through leadership transitions, I've seen this book's concepts change behaviour in ways that matter.
Goldsmith brings serious credentials to the table. He's coached over 150 CEOs and worked with organisations like Goldman Sachs and GE. But what sets this book apart isn't his impressive client list—it's his laser focus on the specific behaviours that derail successful people when they move into senior roles. The premise is deceptively simple: the skills that make you successful in your current role can become obstacles to success in your next one.
This isn't another feel-good leadership manifesto. It's a practical examination of why smart, capable people often fail when they step into bigger roles, and what they can do about it. This review examines what works, what doesn't, and whether the book deserves your time as a technical professional navigating leadership challenges.
Understanding the Success Delusion
Why Successful People Resist Change
Goldsmith's central thesis cuts through the usual leadership fluff: successful people resist behavioural change more than anyone else. They've built their careers on being right, being smart, and adding value wherever they go. The problem emerges when these strengths become leadership liabilities.
The "success delusion" concept explains why this happens. When you've achieved success through specific behaviours, you naturally assume those same behaviours will drive future success. You don't see the connection between your interpersonal shortcomings and any problems you might have. After all, you're successful—clearly you're doing something right.
The Technical Excellence Trap
I've watched this play out countless times in engineering organisations. The brilliant architect who built the company's core platform struggles as a team lead because they can't resist solving every problem themselves. The senior engineer who catches every bug in code review becomes a bottleneck when promoted to manager because they won't delegate technical decisions. Their technical excellence isn't the problem—it's their inability to adapt their behaviour to their new role.
Subtraction, Not Addition
What makes Goldsmith's approach valuable is his focus on behavioural change rather than skill acquisition. Most leadership development assumes you need to learn new capabilities. This book recognises that senior roles often require you to stop doing things that made you successful, not start doing new things. It's about subtraction, not addition.
The framework approach works because it gives you specific, observable behaviours to examine. Rather than vague advice about "being a better leader," you get concrete patterns to recognise and change. The evidence-based examples from Goldsmith's executive coaching practice provide credibility that pure theory can't match.
The Four Habits That Derail Technical Leaders
Goldsmith identifies twenty workplace habits that limit leadership effectiveness. Not all carry equal weight, but several stand out as particularly relevant for anyone transitioning from individual contributor to leadership roles.
Adding Too Much Value
"Adding too much value" tops the list for good reason. This is the compulsive need to improve every idea that comes your way, even when your suggestions aren't necessary. You're in a meeting, someone presents a decent solution, and you can't help but jump in with "That's good, but what if we also..." The original idea gets buried under your improvements, and the person who suggested it feels diminished.
I've seen this destroy team dynamics repeatedly. A newly promoted engineering manager couldn't resist optimising every solution their team proposed. Technically, their suggestions were better. Practically, they were killing initiative and ownership across the team. The improvements weren't worth the cost in morale and engagement.
Winning Too Much
"Winning too much" captures another common trap. This is the need to be right in every situation, regardless of the stakes. You turn routine discussions into competitions and debates into battles. In technical environments, this often manifests as the senior person who must have the final word on every architectural decision or technical approach.
The problem isn't being right—it's the cost of always needing to win. Team members stop contributing ideas because they know you'll find flaws or suggest alternatives. Collaboration becomes impossible when every interaction turns into a test of technical knowledge.
Demonstrating Superior Intelligence
"Telling the world how smart we are" hits close to home for technical professionals. This isn't about legitimate expertise sharing—it's about the compulsive need to demonstrate your intelligence in every conversation. The senior engineer who turns every standup into a technical lecture, or the architect who can't explain a simple concept without showcasing their deep knowledge.
Technical expertise is valuable, but using it to establish dominance rather than solve problems undermines your leadership effectiveness. People stop asking questions or raising concerns because they don't want to trigger another demonstration of your superior knowledge.
The Solution Assumption
"Not listening" might seem obvious, but Goldsmith's definition is more nuanced. It's not about hearing the words—it's about the assumption that you already understand the problem and know the solution. In technical roles, this often shows up as immediately jumping to solutions without fully understanding the context or constraints.
I've watched technical leaders miss critical information because they assumed they knew what the problem was before the other person finished explaining it. They were solving the wrong problem efficiently rather than taking time to understand the right problem.
The Common Thread
These behaviours share a common thread: they're all about maintaining your status and demonstrating your value rather than enabling others to be successful. They worked when you were an individual contributor because your personal output was the primary measure of success. In leadership roles, your success depends on other people's performance, making these habits actively counterproductive.
Making Behavioural Change Stick
The Feedforward Approach
Goldsmith's approach to behavioural change centres on "feedforward"—getting suggestions for future improvement rather than feedback on past performance. The concept is straightforward: ask colleagues for specific suggestions about how you can improve in a particular area, listen without defending or explaining, thank them for their input, and follow up on your progress.
This works better than traditional feedback because it's forward-looking and collaborative rather than evaluative and threatening. People are more willing to offer suggestions for improvement than criticisms of past behaviour. The process feels constructive rather than judgmental.
Systematic Progress Tracking
The systematic approach involves regular check-ins with colleagues about your behavioural changes. You're not asking for performance reviews—you're asking for coaching on specific improvements. This creates accountability without the defensiveness that often accompanies feedback conversations.
In engineering environments, this translates well to retrospectives and one-on-one meetings. Instead of asking "How did I do in that technical discussion?" you ask "What could I do differently in future architecture meetings to encourage more input from the team?" The focus shifts from evaluation to improvement.
Measuring Behavioural Change
The measurement component is crucial. Goldsmith emphasises tracking your progress through regular follow-up conversations. Are people noticing changes in your behaviour? Are the improvements having the intended effect on team dynamics? This data-driven approach appeals to technical professionals who want concrete evidence of progress.
I've seen this work particularly well when adapted to engineering culture. One technical lead I worked with struggled with interrupting team members during design discussions. Rather than general feedback about communication style, they asked specific colleagues for suggestions about how to encourage more participation in technical conversations. The concrete suggestions and regular check-ins helped them develop new habits that significantly improved team engagement.
The time commitment is real—meaningful behavioural change requires consistent effort over months, not weeks. But the systematic approach makes the process manageable and the progress measurable in ways that resonate with technically minded leaders.
Where the Book Misses the Mark
Limited Industry Context
Despite its practical value, the book shows its limitations in several areas. The examples lean heavily toward senior executive scenarios that don't always translate to mid-level leadership roles. When Goldsmith talks about changing behaviour, he's often addressing people with significant organisational influence and resources. The advice assumes you have substantial control over your environment and relationships.
For technical leaders, this creates some gaps. The book doesn't address the unique challenge of managing people who may be more technically skilled than you are. It assumes your authority comes from your position rather than your expertise, which isn't always true in engineering environments.
Cultural and Contextual Assumptions
The cultural assumptions also show. Goldsmith's approach works well in environments where direct feedback is welcomed and hierarchical relationships are clear. In some technical cultures, particularly those with strong individual contributor cultures, the feedback mechanisms he suggests may feel forced or artificial.
The book's age becomes apparent in some examples and references. While the core behavioural insights remain relevant, some of the organisational contexts feel dated. Modern remote work, distributed teams, and changing workplace expectations aren't reflected in the examples.
Missing Elements for Technical Professionals
Most significantly for technical professionals, the book doesn't tackle the balance between maintaining technical credibility and developing leadership skills. Technical leaders often face pressure to stay current with technology while developing people management capabilities. Goldsmith's framework doesn't address this dual challenge directly.
There's also limited discussion of imposter syndrome, which commonly affects technical professionals moving into leadership roles. The assumption that successful people are confident about their abilities doesn't always match the reality of technical professionals who feel uncertain about their leadership capabilities even as they excel technically.
Despite these limitations, the core framework remains valuable. The behavioural insights translate across industries and roles, even if the specific examples don't always fit. The systematic approach to change can be adapted to different contexts and organisational cultures.
The Bottom Line for Technical Leaders
Who Should Read This Book
Yes, with realistic expectations. This isn't a comprehensive leadership guide—it's a focused examination of specific behavioural patterns that limit leadership effectiveness. If you recognise yourself in the habits around adding too much value or needing to win every discussion, the book will provide practical tools for change.
The book works best for people who are already successful in their current roles but struggling with the transition to greater leadership responsibility. If you're an individual contributor wondering whether you want to move into management, this book won't help you make that decision. But if you've already made the transition and find yourself struggling with team dynamics despite your technical competence, Goldsmith's insights will be immediately relevant.
Practical Application for Technical Leaders
For technical professionals specifically, focus on the behavioural patterns rather than the specific examples. The tendency to add too much value, the need to demonstrate expertise, and the assumption that technical problems have purely technical solutions are particularly common in engineering environments.
The one behaviour change that would have the biggest impact for most technical leaders is learning to ask questions before providing solutions. This simple shift—from "Here's how to fix that" to "Tell me more about the problem"—addresses several of Goldsmith's habits simultaneously and creates space for others to contribute and grow.
Setting Realistic Expectations
Don't expect quick results. Behavioural change takes time, and the habits Goldsmith describes are often deeply ingrained. Plan for months of conscious effort, not weeks of good intentions. The systematic approach helps, but there's no shortcut to developing new leadership behaviours.
Overall, this book earns its place on the leadership bookshelf. It's practical, specific, and focused on changes you can actually implement. In a field crowded with abstract theories and inspirational stories, Goldsmith delivers concrete tools for becoming more effective in senior roles. That's worth the investment of time and effort required to put the concepts into practice.