← Notes

Never Search Alone, Chapter 4

  1. This goes through the Mnookin Two-Pager, the input work Phyl recommends as a precursor to the Listening Tour.
  2. Inversion can be a powerful technique to help you identify what you want by talking about what you don’t want. The talk on how to create a good product, started with the question of what makes a bad product, provides a powerful example. It’s so easy to articulate a bad product, and a good one can arise by avoiding those mistakes.
  3. I appreciated the reassurance that seekers often don’t know exactly what they want at the outset, and that this can be a creative moment in life. Also that what we want changes over time — Mnookin did not want earlier a job where she sat in a room and had deep thoughts, though that is the role that today she enjoys well (presumably).
  4. At a practical level, NSA suggests avoiding informational interviews or “practice interviews” as method testing. Being rejected for a role you don’t want still stings, and taking that role is even worse!
  5. Next steps —
    • Create an internal doc with the following:
      1. What I love and hate, starting with the hate
      2. Must haves and must-not haves for next job
      3. Career aspirations
      4. Strengths and weaknesses
    • Then create an external doc with:
      1. Must haves
      2. Want to haves
      3. Goals
  6. Note: I find it compelling to consider both internal and external versions of this guideline, and to share the external as part of the Listening Tour. Also interesting that Phyl scrubs the negative and the self-assessment from the external doc, focusing on Musts and Wants and Goals instead.