Notes from Lead from the Outside

Notes from Lead from the Outside

• embrace my unique perspective
• develop confidence in own style of leadership
• ensure a diverse set of support from outside

Chapter 1: If you’re starting from the outside, the first step on the path to leadership is embracing ambition. Source

• ambition means permitting yourself to stretch beyond what feels safe
• locate your ambition. Ask yourself: What do I want?
• her goals for the next 40 years into a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet helped her to visualize success
• consider why you want it and how you’ll get there
• Organize your plans around why, not what, and be willing to change course
• passion is what helps us go from goal setting to taking action.
• write down five things – and it can be anything – that you would choose to do for the rest of your life.

Chapter 2: Minority fear is complex and insidious – but you can confront it and use it to your advantage. Source

• Minority fear is complex and insidious – but you can confront it and use it to your advantage.
• overcome your fears by naming them
• consider how you can be your authentic self while still reading the room
• Write down your best and worst traits and give examples of them in action. Why do you like or dislike those traits? Now, write down what you think others would say are your best and worst traits and why. 

Chapter 3: Outsiders can navigate their way to power by hacking traditional systems. Source

• look for hidden pathways to entry. Try searching for non-obvious connections
• Get your foot in the door by interning or volunteering
• If you keep saying you’re nothing special, they’ll start to believe you.”

Chapter 4: Figure out what kind of support you need and build a “board of advisors. Source

• Figure out what kind of support you need and build a “board of advisors.”
• Examine your personality, your strengths, your weaknesses. Self-awareness will help you forge authentic connections and process outside advice.
• build a mentorship network by being intentional about what you’re looking for
• a sponsor – someone who knows you well enough to sing your praises to another insider. Or maybe you need an adviser, someone who you have a deeper relationship with, who advocates for you
• As a mentee, it’s your responsibility to set up the mentorship you want.
• ask valuable questions that only they can answer

Chapter 5: Money is one of the biggest obstacles to leadership. Overcome it by gaining financial fluency. Source

• Get support from a personal financial advisor or pick up a copy of Personal Finance for Dummies.

Chapter 6: Prepare for both success and failure, and learn how to be wrong. Source

• Effective leaders also know how to admit they’re wrong. And when they’re unsure, they couple an “I don’t know” with a way to find out.
• in order to lead, they must forgo meekness and dare to be bold.
• writing down three occasions you’ve taken risks. Ask yourself, what were the consequences, and would you do it again?

Chapter 7: Embrace a “Work-Life Jenga” by organizing your time honestly and strategically. Source

• So how can you identify your priorities? They should animate your mind and your heart, and they shouldn’t be based on judgment or fear.
• figure out what matters most to you, write a newspaper headline about the future you, three to five years from now.

Chapter 8: To acquire power and make real change, you must be creative with your resources and challenge yourself. Source

• To acquire power and make real change, you must be creative with your resources and challenge yourself.
• Inventory your assets: perhaps you have information, access, a familiarity with the situation, or the power to withdraw your participation.
• gaining power is often done incrementally, as those in power aren’t going to give it up easily.
• write down what you want, why you want it, what strategies you can use to attain it, what help you need, and who can help you, and finally, when you hope to accomplish it.

Chapter 9: Final summary Source

• master ambition, fear, opportunity, access, money, and failure
• newspaper reporter, and your job is to write ten- to 15-word headlines about your life

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