Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours

by Robert C. Pozen

Overview

A road-tested formula for improving your performance, from one of the business world's most successful—and productive—executives.

Robert C. Pozen taught a full course load at Harvard Business School while serving as the full-time chairman of a global financial-services firm. He's written six books and hundreds of articles, raised a family with his wife of more than four decades, and served on many boards of local charities and public companies. Pozen is a prince of productivity, a man who has worked smarter and faster than almost everyone around him for more than forty years.

In Extreme Productivity, Pozen reveals the secrets to workplace productivity and high performance. His book is for anyone feeling overwhelmed by an existing workload—facing myriad competing demands and multiple time-sensitive projects. Offering antidotes to a calendar full of boring meetings and a backlog of e-mails, Extreme Productivity explains how to determine your highest priorities and match them with how you actually spend your time.

Pozen shows that in order to be truly productive, professionals must make a critical shift in their mind-set: from hours worked to results produced. He helps people at all stages of their careers read, write, and make presentations quicker and more effectively. He provides professionals with practical tips on how to efficiently use their time in the office—while leading full and productive personal lives as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062188533
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/02/2012
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

ROBERT C. POZEN is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He was chairman of MFS Investment Management and vice chairman of Fidelity Investments. He served on President Bush's Commission to Strengthen Social Security and was also secretary of economic affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was associate general counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Caplin & Drysdale. The author of six books, Pozen lives with his wife in Boston, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Part I Three Big Ideas 1

1 Set and Prioritize Your Goals 3

2 Focus on the Final Product 21

3 Don't Sweat the Small Stuff 35

Part II Productivity Every Day 49

4 Your Daily Routine 51

5 Traveling Lightly 69

6 Efficient Meetings 85

Part III Developing Personal Skills 101

7 Reading Effectively 103

8 Writing Effectively 119

9 Speaking Effectively 139

Part IV Managing Up and Down 157

10 Managing Your Team 159

11 Managing Your Boss 177

Part V Pursuing a Productive Life 193

12 Maximizing Your Career Options over a Lifetime 195

13 Embrace Change but Stay the Same 211

14 Balancing Home and Work 227

Epilogue 241

Appendix 1 The Big Idea: The Case for Professional Boards 245

Appendix 2 Speech by Robert Pozen to the Boston Bar Foundation (2000) 255

Notes 259

What People are Saying About This

J. Michael Cook

“Read this book if you want to learn how to run efficient and effective meetings-or how to avoid them altogether. Bob really knows how to lead a discussion, get the group engaged, and drive to a consensus on what to do.”

Charlene Barshefsky

“This book is a must read for overwhelmed professionals. It gives you tips and tools to accomplish more on a daily basis and to make better choices about your career.”

David Calhoun

“Personal productivity requires you to focus on the most important tasks rather than spending your time on busy work or small wins. If you want to learn how to raise your game, look no further than Extreme Productivity.”

Martin Feldstein

“Bob Pozen’s prodigious output is extraordinary. Read this book to learn how he does it all in a 24-hour day.”

Shirley Ann Jackson

“It’s impossible to get ahead in today’s knowledge economy without knowing how to read, write, and speak effectively. Pozen’s tips on these three subjects alone are enough to make Extreme Productivity required reading for professionals-and aspiring professionals-of all levels.”

Editorial Reviews

One thing working people can agree upon today is that time is an increasingly scarce commodity: there is always too much to do and not enough hours to do it. Enter Pozen, an uber-productive executive who manages two full-time jobs and numerous writing projects while maintaining a healthy relationship with his family. Like many other how-to books on increasing personal and organizational productivity, Pozen emphasizes three factors: "set and prioritize your goals," "focus on the final product," and "don't sweat the small stuff." He provides worthwhile guidance on everything from developing writing and public-speaking skills to managing institutional chains of command. Of particular value are chapters on common but mundane aspects of corporate life like office meetings—and why they should be avoided—and maintaining productive travel habits. Constant pressure and conflicting deadlines and priorities can derail even the most diligent worker, so Pozen's methods for retaining focus are invaluable. These tactics arm workers and managers alike with the means to handle distractions with minimal disruption. Filled with useful recommendations on a wide variety of topics, this book will find adherents at every level of the company org chart. Agent: Jim Levine, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

[Pozen’s] insights on traveling effectively, embracing change, and balancing home and work are particularly valuable…An excellent how-to on personal productivity.

Booklist

It’s impossible to get ahead in today’s knowledge economy without knowing how to read, write, and speak effectively. Pozen’s tips on these three subjects alone are enough to make Extreme Productivity required reading for professionals-and aspiring professionals-of all levels.

Shirley Ann Jackson

"This book is a must read for overwhelmed professionals. It gives you tips and tools to accomplish more on a daily basis and to make better choices about your career."

Ambassador - Charlene Barshefsky

Bob Pozen’s prodigious output is extraordinary. Read this book to learn how he does it all in a 24-hour day.

Martin Feldstein

Read this book if you want to learn how to run efficient and effective meetings-or how to avoid them altogether. Bob really knows how to lead a discussion, get the group engaged, and drive to a consensus on what to do.

J. Michael Cook

Personal productivity requires you to focus on the most important tasks rather than spending your time on busy work or small wins. If you want to learn how to raise your game, look no further than Extreme Productivity.

David Calhoun

This book is a must read for overwhelmed professionals. It gives you tips and tools to accomplish more on a daily basis and to make better choices about your career.

Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky

Extreme Productivity is filled with such sage advice and pragmatism… The book is populated with practical, real world anecdotes....For companies’ to have more effective boards, they will need to change with the times. A good place to start is to read Extreme Productivity.

Huffington Post

I believe that everyone will find at least one section of the book that will resonate with them. Extreme Productivity is the essential guide to investing our time wisely.

Newsweek