Chanel’s former global CEO’s first work on career advancement! Uncover the master’s way of thinking for success in all fields! In the current fragmented information explosion, in the highly competitive field, the key to winning lies not only in the amount of knowledge and diligence, but also in whether you have the ability to think deeply. By Maureen Schiquet, former global CEO of Chanel, who looks back at her rise from the ranks to the top of the corporate ladder, she reveals the common secrets to success in all fields: Peel complex problems layer by layer like an onion; From passive acceptance to active learning, from low growth area to high growth area; When you calm yourself down, it’s easier to see the nature of the problem. Tactical diligence and strategic optimization advance simultaneously; Deliberately practice the ability to think deeply and make it a habit; … Connecting everything with deep thinking is the most valuable mode of cognitive upgrading and self-improvement in the next 10 years, and it is the most competitive advantage.
Perhaps it has something to do with the author’s personality and childhood experience. He was exposed to “deconstruction” when he was a student (the general meaning is that the meaning of anything will change with different backgrounds, for example, different people will have different understandings of the same thing). The concept has greatly helped and encouraged her later life and career development. That kind of theory and character happens to coincide with the formation of power is huge, it can guide a person to turn pain into strength, frustration into motivation, so as to stick to their original intention to go on without looking back. This quality is so precious today.
In general, group effects, or social consensus, often provide us with the “basis” for actions and decisions, but few people have re-examined these labels considered as “truth” and reflected on their rationality. But the author tells us with her experience that it can bring extraordinary power to doubt everything boldly, to express oneself authentically, to break the shackles of tradition and convention, and to think about the nature of things.
It reminds me of high school, when we were rebellious, full of unique perspectives, like cynical teenagers. But out of the campus, into the society, all kinds of edges and corners are gradually worn flat. Seems to be the so-called reality of the training more and more to abide by the rules, accustomed to the eyes of others to define themselves, learn to deeply hide the true thoughts of the heart, dare not express, because people fear.
I saw the direction of the light between the lines of the author’s words! The law of the world is “survival of the fittest”, how to survive? Not go with the flow, not follow the crowd, but innovation! When you emerge with a new look, the old stereotypes are instantly thrown away. Whether in the workplace or in business, where there is innovation, there is a blue ocean, and there is a great way forward. Throughout history, from the primitive society to the present, the progress of human leap is derived from continuous innovation, from the subversion of the former.
What is innovation? Why innovate? First, innovation is an “obligatory” process, in which each person or company can be treated as a small unit. In all units, innovation is going on all the time, and every new thing promoted by human beings is gradually amplified from a tiny flash point at the beginning. So you can imagine, what’s the point? I think they symbolize the direction of the future. They are the small trends behind the general trend. Therefore, they constitute the complexity and variability of the external environment, which is also something that you and I cannot control.
What is the nature of innovation? Return to reality. How to understand the real? You can pick up the glass next to you and hold it tight, and that is reality, but it is not the ultimate, because the innovator may keep taking it apart (material, composition, element, function…). And this process is an infinite loop! Because any progress will only become more and more close to the “truth”, never really reach the “truth” palace.
This is similar to the path of breakthroughs in science, where new scientific theories often dominate mankind for a while, only to be overthrown by newer theories. The “real” therefore exists in motion, as an infinite suspended step, and with each step forward, a step down.
In the book, the author mentions a key element of innovation: observation. Keep a sharp eye on everything you come into contact with and learn to understand it from all angles. Only with an active mind can you discover the value behind things and open yourself up to new opportunities.
Not only innovation, but observation also plays an important role in social activities, so that we can learn how biases arise from other people’s concerns and inspire our own thinking. If you’re a social person or people person, you know that less than 50% of what you say in a conversation is “bullshit.” So face to face evaluation is not enough to say anything, how to talk about you behind your back, can better reflect your opinion of you.
We are very good at expressing ourselves, but it is difficult to feel the feelings of others, of course, this is normal, selfish is human nature, it is also because of this nature, it is easy to make us lose the opportunity to learn, because expression will only strengthen the self-thought, every word you spit out is called “selfish”, listening, is input, learning process. If nothing is learned in communication, it is not only a waste of time, but also meaningless. Ineffective social after all or blame yourself “talk too much”!
When I read this book, I felt very intimate. Although the author is a woman, I could vaguely see my shadow in her, including personality (sensibility, freedom), thinking are very similar, but not as powerful as her “truth” gushing out, but even so, she really transferred some energy to me. She seems to be beside me, inspire me, must be brave to chase their own really want to the future! At the same time, I also know that success can not be duplicated, because the mind is straight, but the road is crooked. But it is enough to enlighten the soul.
Intriguing. It seems that the author takes “deconstruction” as her first principle and applies “innovative thinking” to business, creativity, management, social interaction, life and other fields. And completed a breakthrough and made extraordinary achievements, her sentence “follow the feeling”, rather impressive. It may be her “feeling” that she chooses a life defined by herself without restrictions.
