#23 Bill Goldsmith: No More Being a Victim by Assuming Positive Intent

It’s easy to confuse our circumstances with our interpretation of those circumstances. In this conversation, Bill Goldsmith shares his own journey from feeling like a victim to loving his life and ending his career “100 times betters than it could have been”. Bill also shares a famous story in The Elegant Pivotwhere assuming positive intent literally changed the direction and outcome of a critical team meeting.  

This conversation took many turns that I did not expect – but the one I DID expect was exceptional. Bill is the first former coaching client I have had on the podcast. It was interesting to hear from Bill what he remembered and used from our sessions 8 years ago. I’ve long since forgotten those things – but he hasn’t. 

What I had NOT forgotten was my experience with him in a team meeting even more years ago. Bill decided to come out from behind the wall of anonymity and directly share the story behind “Joe”, one of the characters in my book The Elegant Pivot. This story is on page 53 of the paperback version of the book – and what I assert in the book is that if I had assumed negative intent, I would have been facing a Fighting Francis rather than a Provocative Peter. So you will get to hear from his side of the story on what could have happened. 

There was so much MORE to this conversation. Our conversation at the beginning talked about his 3600 mile bike ride across the country with 6 other people and what kind of teaming it took to make that happen. It’s a master class in teaming, and he connects it to the dilemmas we face everyday at work on our teams.  

I would love to hear what you like about this conversation. All you have to do is go to the podcast page on my website and click the “send a voicemail button” on the right hand side of the page. Super easy to do and it helps me know what to bring you in future episodes.   

Of course, also share this episode with your colleagues and friends  

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Guest contact information: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-goldsmith-29808b13/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wlgoldsmithCBRealty 

Twitter:  @billgoldsmith7  

Website: www.homepartners.com