Back Page Notes – The 3rd Alternative by Stephen Covey
Every month I try and read 2-3 books with a focus on leadership, professional development, and philosophy. The problem is five or six months down the line I’d often forget what book I read and also forget the main points from the book. Writing notes in the margin worked for a while but it was quite a pain to go through all my books and look for notes. Writing notes on the back page of the book worked great but if I gave the book away I lost the notes. I finally started writing all my notes in a moleskin journal, snapping a picture or typing them on a 1-page PDF to share on DODReads.
This process morphed into the creation of professional Executive Summaries which I’m happy to share below. If you would like to join me and share your own executive summary please follow the guidance here.
“maybe we can come up with a better solution than either of us has in mind, care to try?
Covey
The Third Alternative – Stephen Covey
“maybe we can come up with a better solution than either of us has in mind, care to try?
Scarcity Mind Set: There are only two alternatives and one is wrong.
Abundance Mind Set: There are infinite rewarding exciting and creative alternatives that we have not thought of yet.
One of our most important powers is the power to choose the sense which we view reality.
Four Steps to Synergy
- Realize that a 3rd alternative exists
- Have an empathic understanding of the others situation
- Ask “what would better look like” and “do you want to go for better”
- We have reached synergy when excitement fills the room
Build trust by:
- Making and keeping commitments to yourself and others
- Talk straight and confront reality
- Listen first and get better
(Strategy X Execution)*Trust = Results
If you are a reader or author and would like to publish a high quality executive summary from your personal reading list or military reading list that you would like published on DODReads.com please use this template. I will be happy to include your notes, a short bio, picture, and links to your website or socials.
