Part 2 of Gardening with Erika Andersen

Erika Andersen and I started out with a bit of an overview of her amazing book Growing Great Employees, a book for ANYBODY hungry to improve. That's most of you folks reading this interview.

So what else can we talk about? A lot...How about 7 more questions full of mentoring insights, advice, what else Erika is working on, and so much more!

Read all the way to the end of our interview to find out how you can win a free copy of Growing Great Employees.

Technorati Tags: growing great employees, erika andersen

Phil: Who was your mentor to become a great "gardener?" Do you still talk to him or her?
Erika: I’ve had lots of influences, both positive and negative.  The two best bosses I ever worked for were Prentiss Uchida and Peter Block.  Both of them really cared about my development as a professional and I found that enormously helpful.  I learned a lot from both of them, and though we’re not in touch much (we’re talking more than 20 years ago!), they have a special place in my memory, and I acknowledged both of them in my book.  I’ve had other bosses from whom I learned how NOT to manage — and that lesson was just as valuable in some ways.  I found it very clarifying to be able to say “I will never treat someone as I’ve just been treated” or “I will never run a company the way this one is being run,” and then to think through the alternative I wanted to create for myself.

Phil: What's the best advice you ever received?
Erika: Oh my gosh – so much good advice!  Certainly one of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from my original business partner, Marty Seldman, who told me, “people believe what they say more than they believe what you say – even if it’s the same thing.”  That was a huge eye-opener for me, and helped me focus on helping people come to their own conclusions, vs. always trying to share my conclusions with them.  Really, it was simply another powerful support for my evolving focus on listening.

Phil: Please tell us about Erika the person. Share some hobbies, things you do for fun, anything about you that shows you're not just an amazing author, you're also a really cool person :)
Erika: Well, I’ve been married for almost 25 years to a wonderful, smart, funny, creative, handsome guy named Scott Cronin.  Scott is a coach and trainer for my company, Proteus International, and he’s also a gifted artist, and has just started working on a book of his own with his writing partner, Barbara, tentatively titled “The Pocket Coach: Support for Navigating the World of Work.”  We have two kids, a son who’s 19 and a 23-year-old daughter.  Our daughter just graduated from college, is studying to be a realtor, and is engaged to be married next fall.  Our son just finished his first year of college and is passionately interested in music, acting, social justice and world politics.

One thing I do when I’m not writing, or building Proteus with my business partner Jeff, or hanging out with my family, is pretend to be an architect.  <g>  I’ve taught myself quite a bit over the years, and have designed various additions and remodels for houses we’ve lived in.  About 18 months ago, we bought a piece of land overlooking the Hudson River, and I designed our dream house — and we found an architect who was happy to just make sure my design was buildable, offer some additional design ideas, and create construction drawings from my floor plans and elevations, vs. wanting to design it himself.  We’re set to break ground in the next few months.

You might conclude that I like to design and build things!  In fact, my daughter and I also designed her wedding dress together, and selected the fabric, and I’ve just about finished making it.

What else...I also love to read, and go through 3 or 4 paperbacks a week – mysteries and historical fiction mostly, but also some business books and literary fiction.  And I like to exercise, and have been lifting weights for about five years.  When I turned 50, I decided that if I was going to get old, I might as well be buff.  ;-)

I could go on, but I’m sure this is more than enough!

Phil: What have you read recently that has inspired you to do great things?
Erika: I read my brother Kurt Andersen’s wonderful historical novel “Heyday,” which was just published by Random House in March (and is a NYT best seller!), and it motivated me to become an even better writer — he’s such an excellent writer, on so many levels, that I find it truly inspiring.

Phil: If you were writing your book again today, would there be anything you would add or subtract, or do you love your book just the way it is?
Erika: I do love my book just the way it is.  In fact, Portfolio is putting out a paperback edition in January, and asked me if I wanted to change anything, and I said no.  There may be more to say in years to come (the aforementioned Social Style book, for instance), but for now, I think Growing Great Employees is serving its purpose really well.

Phil: How does your book make it great by taking what's already good and making it much better?
Erika: I think a lot of people become reasonably good managers just by sheer force of will — they’re smart, they want to do it right, and they observe some other people who are good managers and try to learn from them.  I hope that reading Growing Great Employees provides these folks with the skills and the impetus to become great managers, and, in doing so, support greatness in their people, their enterprises and themselves.

Phil: Are you working on anything new you want to share?
Erika: I am!  I’m about 85 pages into writing my next book, which is called “Being Strategic: Skills for Mastering the Future.”  I should be finished by the end of this year, and hope to have it published in the fall of 2008.  The premise is this:  everyone talks about “being strategic” and “thinking strategically” -- but hardly anyone talks about what that means or how to do it.  In the same way Growing Great Employees provides practical support for the “what, why and how” of people management, this book provides practical support for the what, why and how of being strategic.  I talk about it both as a life skill and as a business skill: I believe it’s the key (as I say in the subtitle) to creating the future you want for yourself or your business.

Phil: This is a great start, but how we can get more Erika Andersen?
Erika: You can read my blog The Simplest Thing That Works, or you can go to the book website, where there are clips of me being interviewed and speaking to groups.  You can also check out the Proteus website, to find out more about the work we do.  Oh, and people can also invite me to come and speak to any large group on a variety of topics!  They can either call or email my assistant Anne at Proteus 845-334-8838 or anne@proteus-international.com, or talk to the good folks at the Penguin Speakers Bureau – 212-366-2271 or jacqueline.fischetti@us.penguingroup.com.

Phil: Last question: If you were a fish, what kind of fish would you be and why?
Erika: Hmmm. I think I’d be a flying fish.  I love how they exist in two different environments with equal fluency...and a lot of panache.

Awesome interview with Erika Andersen!

Thanks Erika! So now for the contest. First, you can download Erika's AWESOME ChangeThis Manifesto free, even if you don't win.

How can you win? Tell me about your best gardening story? Who was your mentor, and how did they help you grow and become a great <insert job title here>. I have 4 autographed copies to send out for the best entries. You can win if you live in the US, though I'd love to hear from you if you're from anywhere!