Driving career success
Book Review: Remove, Replace, Restart: The Essential Maintenance Manual of Your Engine for Success by Christian Greiser (2023). Gabal Publishing.
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Have you ever felt that your career vehicle is not driving as smoothly as it could? How about pulling over and reading Christian Greiser’s practical Remove, Replace, Restart manual to get your engine running smoothly? Greiser uses the analogy of the ICE (internal combustion engine) car. He helps you get to grips with the practical steps required to get your career started and particularly to keep it going through the rough patches.
Greiser, not surprisingly, started his career as a mechanical engineer. He transitioned to a manager in the engineering business, then to a management consultant, and now works as an executive coach. He is honest about how his apparently glittering career was, at times, not easy. He is particularly good at “looking under the hood” at the patterns of thinking and behaving that have driven his high-achieving performance and also limited his capability as his career moved him into other contexts.
A valuable theme of the book is that career moves (in his own experience, from engineer to manager, from manager to consultant) require recognition of the implications of the new role. It’s not just about doing a new job but also personal change to enable effectiveness and satisfaction.
“Remove, replace, restart” is about practicing adaptability, which means stopping some previously effective behaviour.
As a fan of Peter Drucker I appreciated him being quoted: “we spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop.”
I have only one reservation. Resolute readers of my Newsletter will know I’m somewhat obsessed with the importance of using research-based personality measures, for example, those based on the “Big 5” model of personality. Greiser emphasises the use of personality measures (as well as feedback from others) to provide the outside-in view the driver needs to appreciate how their vehicle is performing. However, he includes many personality tests that I would rate as well past their use-by date.
Greiser uses moving case studies as well as his own experience. He is compelling in describing how beliefs can shape people’s views, feelings and potential for performance. One of his exercises invites the reader to check their “self-limiting beliefs”. He attributes many of these beliefs to learning in early childhood. Importantly, he has practical suggestions for reducing the power of such beliefs (for example, practising alternative beliefs and meditation).
Greiser has great anecdotes. For example stepping away from a demanding consulting assignment in South Korea he spent a weekend in a Buddhist monastery. This was the start of his meditation practice, which enables him to clarify his thinking and understand his personal drivers. Beyond these stories and case studies he cites widely from the research and leadership literature. This depth makes this book a good adjunct to any management development.
In a nutshell Greiser is a well-informed, compassionate guide to developing your career. The competent mechanic you would be comfortable entrusting your car to.