We often think the key to success and satisfaction is to get more:
• more money,
• time, and possessions;
• bigger budgets, job titles, and teams; and
• additional resources for our professional and personal goals.
It turns out we’re wrong.
Some people and businesses succeed with so little, while others fail with so much in a recently released book, by Scott Sonenshein, ‘STRETCH: Unlock the Power of Less’. Using captivating stories to illustrate research in psychology and management, Rice University professor Scott Sonenshein examines why some people and organisations succeed with so little, while others fail with so much.
Many of us are focused on the wrong approach to reaching our goals and improve our lives. We don't need to get more than what we already have. We just need to learn to use what we have.
There are four basic actions that people can take to ‘strengthen their stretch’:
1. Broaden experiences: When we get exposure to a variety of experiences, we learn about using resources in different ways and give ourselves permission to break convention.
2. Act without planning: Get going, impose constraints -- it fosters spontaneity and creativity.
3. Expectations: If we can learn to be more generous and expect the best, we create positive prophecies, which research has shown can make children higher achievers and employees more productive.
4. Unthinkable combinations: Mix things up to find previously unknown synergies. Many of the best inventions came about this way.
Two mindsets drive how we work and lead businesses: "stretching" and "chasing." When chasing, we exhaust ourselves in the pursuit of more. When stretching, we embrace the resources we already have. This frees us to find creative and productive ways to solve problems, innovate, and engage our work and lives more fully.
‘Stretch’ shows why everyone - from executives to entrepreneurs, professionals to parents, athletes to artists - performs better with constraints; why seeking too many resources undermines our work and well-being; and why even those with a lot benefit from making the most out of a little.
Drawing from examples in business, education, sports, medicine, and history, Scott Sonenshein advocates a powerful framework of resourcefulness that allows anybody to work and live better.
Reference: Scott Sonenshein: ‘Stretch: Unlock the Power of Less -and Achieve More Than You Ever Imagined’
