Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge and Build Confidence

by Andy Molinsky

Overview

Do you feel comfortable delivering bad news? Do you look forward to speaking in public? Do you enjoy networking? Is it easy for you to speak your mind and be assertive with friends and colleagues? If you answered no to any of these questions, this book can help!
 
What often sets successful people apart is their willingness to do things most of us fear. What’s more, we have the false notion that successful people like to do these things, when the truth is that successful people have simply found their own way to do them.

According to Andy Molinsky, an expert on behavior in the business world, there are five key challenges underlying our avoidance tendencies: authenticity, competence, resentment, likability, and morality. Does the new behavior you’re attempting feel authentic to you? Is it the right thing to do? Answering these questions will help identify the “gap” in our behavioral style that we can then bridge by using the three C’s: Clarity, Conviction, and Customization. Perhaps most interesting, Molinsky has discovered that many people who confront what they were avoiding come to realize that they actually enjoy it, and can even be good at it.

Short, prescriptive, and based not only on the author’s groundbreaking research but on his own quest to get out of his comfort zone, Reach will help you take the thing you are most afraid of doing and make it a proud part of your personal repertoire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399574023
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/24/2017
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Andy Molinsky is a professor of organizational behavior at Brandeis University’s International Business School, specializing in behavior change and cross-cultural interaction in business settings. He holds a B.A. in international relations, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Brown University; an M.A. in international business from Columbia University; and an M.A. in psychology and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from Harvard University. Molinsky regularly writes for the Harvard Business Review and was named one of LinkedIn's Top Voices of 2016. His work has been featured in The Economist, Fast Company, Fortune, Financial Times, The Boston Globe, NPR, and the Voice of America. His first book, Global Dexterity (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013), received the Axiom Award (Silver Medal) for Best Business Book in International Business & Globalization and has been used widely in organizations around the world, including Boeing, AIG, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the Clinton Foundation, among others. He speaks regularly to a wide range of professional audiences.

Read an Excerpt

“Amanda, you can do this,” Amanda Nickerson said to herself, wiping the sweat off her brow as she entered the building for her first interview in a very long time. She had met this contact on LinkedIn, which she had joined only a week before. It was all happening so quickly—maybe too quickly, but Amanda knew it was time. Her kids could take care of themselves. In fact, her oldest was applying to colleges! If he could take that step in his life, this was something Amanda could do as well.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Reach"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Andy Molinsky.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I The Challenge of Reaching Outside Your Comfort Zone

Chapter 1 Why Reaching Outside Your Comfort Zone is So Hard 23

Chapter 2 Our Amazing Capacity to Avoid 55

Part II How to Successfully Reach Outside Your Comfort Zone

Chapter 3 Conviction: The Critical Importance of Having a Deep Sense of Purpose 75

Chapter 4 Customization: Finding Your Own Personal Way of Performing the Task 89

Chapter 5 Clarity: The Power of Honest Perspective 127

Chapter 6 The Surprising Benefits of Taking a Leap 145

Part III How to Make Your New Behavior Stick

Chapter 7 Building Resilience 177

Chapter 8 The Myths and Realities 213

Part IV Practical Tools: Applying Reach to Your Own Life

Notes 255

Acknowledgments 267

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

10/03/2016
Reaching beyond one’s comfort zone is hard, but the rewards can be well worth it, explains Molinsky (Global Dexterity), a professor of organizational behavior at Brandeis, in this important self-help tome. After managing to overcome his fear of public speaking for the sake of his academic career, Molinsky became fascinated with helping others make similar breakthroughs. He lays out his three-pronged approach: conviction, making sure the gain is worth the discomfort; customization, designing a personalized baby-step plan; and clarity, reflecting on the reasons behind one’s fear of challenges. Readers will find the customization section to be the most useful and interesting: it effectively explains how they can lessen discomfort by designing their own strategies for accomplishing ambitious goals. Having researched and interviewed successful figures from numerous fields, including doctors, executives, and rabbis, Molinsky delivers an informative take on the subject of behavioral change. Readers will be inspired by his bumper crop of well-chosen stories about people overcoming their fear and reaching beyond the familiar. People interested in pursuing new ventures will find Molinsky’s advice invaluable. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Along with books like Grit, Mindset, Originals, and Peak, Reach takes its place on my shelf of favorite books about living more fully and effectively. I was stunned by how original and helpful it is."
—Doug Stone, New York Times Best Selling Co-Author of Difficult Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback

"Molinsky delivers an informative take on the subject of behavioral change. Readers will be inspired by his bumper crop of well-chosen stories about people overcoming their fear and reaching beyond the familiar. People interested in pursuing new ventures will find Molinsky’s advice invaluable."
—Publishers Weekly 

“We all have trouble reaching beyond our comfort zone, but this book shows you how.  So many of our disappointments spring from our own unwillingness to stretch beyond what we feel comfortable doing. Reach will take you to the next level, where you really want to be.”
—Jonah Berger, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Contagious and Invisible Influence
 
 “Molinsky’s understanding of the power of purpose is spot-on, and his writing style is truly a joy to read.  Here is a book that will get you unstuck, help you grow, and ultimately take you to another level.  A true standout!”
—Olivia Fox Cabane, author of The Charisma Myth
 
“When we need the strength to tackle a stressful situation that takes us beyond our comfort zone, most of the advice we get boils down to bumper stickers like ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway.’ Fortunately, Andy Molinsky has brought fresh insights from social science to bear on this problem. Reach provides a practical approach to pushing the boundaries while remaining true to our authentic selves.”
—Matthew Kohut, co-author of Compelling People
 
“We’re often encouraged to step outside our comfort zones, but rarely know where to begin. This book shows us the way. Andy Molinsky is an expert on navigating the challenges of unfamiliar situations, and you can put his advice into action right away.”
—Adam Grant, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take
 
“If you want to rise to the next level in whatever you do, you must read this book. Andy Molinsky gives truly invaluable advice for getting unstuck and out of your comfort zone so that you can reach for the stars. Essential reading!”
 —Tom Doctoroff, CEO of J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, Bestselling Author of What Chinese Want, Billions and Twitter is Not a Strategy
 
"Reach is an exciting contribution to the discussion of why and how to get out of our comfort zones. Molinsky is a great storyteller, has done terrific research, and perhaps most importantly, is an academic who writes/speaks like a real person, making his wisdom accessible and actionable. This smart and compassionate book will guide you to to reach beyond the safety of your own status quo, enabling you to discover and create new possibilities for you in your work and life."
—Cathy Salit, CEO, Performance of a Lifetime and Author of Performance Breakthrough: A Radical Approach to Success at Work

"In this insightful and highly practical book, Andy Molinsky draws on a wealth of research to identify what stops people from stepping outside their comfort zone and the key practices through which they can overcome those obstacles. Packed with compelling examples and presenting a powerful set of tools to help diagnose and tackle the challenges, Reach is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to move past the self-limiting thoughts and feelings that get in the way of achieving important goals." 
—Sally Maitlis, Professor of Organizational Behaviour & Leadership, Said Business School, Oxford University, and Executive Coach

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