Dorie Clark: The Long Game
Dorie Clark is a consultant and keynote speaker who teaches executive education at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. She has been named one of the top fifty business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50 and the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards. Clark is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and is the author of Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out. Her books have been translated into eleven languages. Highlights:“Really what I focus my work on is helping people and helping companies, figure out in the very crowded marketplace, how they can get their best ideas heard.” [7:20] Dorie Clark introduces the inspiration behind her work and her book, The Long Game.“During COVID, it’s almost like forget the long term game, everybody’s all of a sudden in reactionary mode. How do we pivot!?” [10:05] Marcel comments on the broad shift in short term versus long term thinking due to COVID-19 and changes necessary from the pandemic shutdown.“We’re forced into doing long term thinking, if there are specific goals we want to attain.” [14:10] Why is long term thinking so hard? Dorie shares a quote she included in her book as she explains the motivation and pain points surrounding long term thinking. “Why is it that we can’t stop this relentless, short term, crazy busy, ‘FOMO’. ‘I can’t measure myself up to the standards of these celebrities’ that causes a lot of anxiety for me, and unrealistic expectations. We just get busier, and busier, and busier. So how do we stop this pursuit?” [16:00] Marcel questions why we as a culture feel the need to be unrealistically busy.“I threw myself into work, as a way of just distracting myself. The way that I think about it is like how they put patients into a medically induced coma so that their body can heal, because if they were awake they just couldn’t take it. So work can be like your medically induced coma.” [21:12] Dorie shares a personal experience in her reasoning for throwing herself into work and staying busy. Making the comparison to overworking as a “medically induced coma”.“All the forces are going to be mitigating against it. Because it's always more convenient for other people if you say yes to them. So nobody is going to help you with this.” [23:48] It’s easy and sometimes the right thing to say yes often when you’re early on in your career. But Dorie stresses that at a pivotal point in your business you have to start farming the things that are already working and no longer hoping that every small opportunity might turn into something. “So one of the ways that we can really focus on the long term, is having a clear, defining...North Star.” [26:51] Marcel asks Dorie to elaborate on what it means to find your North Star, the idea of reinventing yourself or instead remaining stagnant.“The strength that we have as professionals, and the thing that actually makes us valuable, is understanding that different things, different skills, are called for at different times. And you have to be smart enough to understand when and how to apply those skills. ”[31:20] Dorie explains the 4 career waves in her book: Learning, Creating, Connecting and Reaping.Resources:Download the free Long Game Strategic Thinking Self-AssessmentDorie Clark Dorie Clark - Top 50 Business Thinker in the World - Thinkers50 | LinkedIn