David Goldsmith - Paid to Think: A Leaders Toolkit for Redefining Your Future

PRAISE FOR

Paid to THINK

Paid to Think is an invaluable source of step-by-step methodologies and best practice processes illustrated by plenty of stories to make you think or rethink how to better and faster achieve your goals. It certainly has been one of the most precious gifts given to me.

MELANIE ALBARIC, Marketing Manager, Rail Europe, Inc.

If youre tired of leading at 65 mph in a 200 mph world, Paid to Think will give you the Ferrari toolset and mindset to accelerate results and think differently. Its tools are both contrarian and powerfully simple. This is the one book you must readright now!

DAVID NEWMAN, Author, Do It! Marketing

Thanks to David and the tools in Paid to Think, we now prioritize our major projects, think them out more thoroughly in advance, and get most of them done on time and on budget, which has had a huge impact on our business.

JAMES F. VAUDREUIL, CEO, Huebsch Services

Using the tools in Paid to Think has resulted in a complete overhaul of our strategic planning process and a dramatically improved approach to strategy and leadership development. Davids easy-to-use frameworks and models bring pragmatic solutions that drive progress. As a strategist, I anticipate that his book, Paid to Think, will be my go-to guide for years to come.

ELLA CHAN, Head of Group Strategy, City Super Group

Paid to Think shows leaders how to think more and think better to meet their challenges. David Goldsmith brings structure and rigor to how leaders can think more effectively with easy-to-understand principles and practices.

MARK SANBORN, President, Sanborn and Associates, Inc.,
Bestselling Author, The Fred Factor and You Dont Need a Title to Be a Leader

Paid to Think shows leaders how to think and how to lead. This is the book that should be at the top of your reading list.

ERIC CHESTER, President, Reviving Work Ethic, Inc.

Paid to Think enables you to find the root of your challenges, implement solutions, and quickly take your organization to the next level.

JENNIFER SCHRODER, VP Marketing,
Special Market Sales, Galison Publishing LLC

David Goldsmith is unique in that he can see a 50,000-view of business and management and can also deliver the hand-to-hand tools to win.

JEFFREY GITOMER, Author, The Little Red Book of Selling

Paid to Think provides straightforward tools to help you strategically position your organization forward.

JANINE McBEE, CUDE, Southwest CUNA Management School

I thought that Paid to Think was about work. Its not. Its about life, and it has changed my life in many ways. This book is a must-read for anyone who is daring enough to change!

SHEILA FRANCIS JEYATHURAI, Director of Business Development, Rouse

Davids mind works in the most incredibly unique fashion I have ever seen. Read Paid to Think as if your entire strategic life depends on it, because it does!

ADAM BROITMAN
Chief Creative Strategist, Something Massive

Paid to Think will help you make higher-quality decisions and better outcomes. Dont miss this read!

DON HUTSON, #1 New York Times Bestselling Coauthor,
The One Minute Entrepreneur; CEO, U.S. Learning

In an age when so much management flimflam masquerades as new knowledge, David Goldsmiths Paid to Think provides a refreshingly detailed study in the proven mechanics of sound business thinking. Read and re-read this book!

JAMES H. GILMORE, Coauthor, The Experience Economy:
Updated Edition and Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want

Paid to Think bridges the gaps left by management techniques one learns in business schools.

ARUCHA PROMYANON, Former Channel Manager,
Fuji Xerox (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

This book does more than provoke thoughtit creates results!
JOE CALLOWAY, Author of Becoming A Category of One

Paid to Think gives you all the tools you need to focus your organization, be innovative, and achieve targeted results. No guiding guru needed.

SANTIAGO JOHNSON, Branding Director, Leonisa S.A., Colombia

This book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information about business and leadership. Neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services, by publishing this book. If any such assistance is required, the services of a qualified financial professional should be sought. The author and publisher will not be responsible for any liability, loss, or risk incurred as a result of the use and application of any information contained in this book.

Copyright 2012 by David Goldsmith

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

BenBella Books, Inc.

10300 N. Central Expressway, Suite 400

Dallas, TX 75231

www.benbellabooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.

978-1-936661-79-4

Editing by Lorrie Goldsmith

Copyediting by Shannon Kelly

Proofreading by Cape Cod Compositors, Inc. and Rainbow Graphics

Indexing by Barbara Holloway, WordCo Indexing Services, Inc.

Cover design by Jelena Mirkovic

Text design and composition by Maria E. Mendez, Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

Printed by Bang Printing

Distributed by Perseus Distribution

www.perseusdistribution.com

To place orders through Perseus Distribution:

Tel: 800-343-4499

Fax: 800-351-5073

E-mail:

Significant discounts for bulk sales are available. Please contact David Goldsmith at or 315-682-3157.

To my wife, Lorrie, my love of 26 years,

thank you for everything. There are no words to describe

what you mean to me.

DAVID

To my sons, Adam and Jake,

I wish for you love, happiness, and experiences

that will enrich your lives as much as you have mine.

DAD

PAID TO THINK

The Entire Concept of Management Thought (and Action) Just Got Shaken to Its Roots

OKAY, SO WEVE COME A long way, you say, in the field of managing people, leading teams, collaborating productively. Weve figured out everything from how to be great to how to work a four-hour week. Oh yes, and in between, weve had corporate love affairs with disruptive thinking, top-grade thinking, good-to-great thinking. You name it, our management leaders have surely had their fling with it. Well, what Im about to say wont sit well with a lotmaybe, most of you. Certainly I will shake many if not every one of your beliefs and perceptions to their very roots.

But facts are facts. Results speak for themselves and everyone from the CEO of Wipro to the founders of Infosys to the executives and leadership of organizations all over the world agrees: theres a new sheriff in Management Town, and hes cleaning up all the displaced, underperforming, and limited-yielding thinking and actions that drive the majority of corporations and enterprises run by entrepreneurs in the business world today.