Eric from New Jersey sent this quote to me today:
"I'm reading a case on FedEx where its founder is quoted as saying its about the early years: "The biggest asset we had going for us was our naivete. God takes care of fools, you know."
My thoughts:
I believe we can learn a lot from one sentence and this is one of them. It seems evident that the greatest success stories in history all share a few salient elements. For one- Naivete. I posted some quotes in a blog titled: "Going from Good to Great" (September 6, 2008), where the CEO of Fannie Mae, David Maxwell, is quoted:
"Look, I don't really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we'll figure out how to take it someplace great." (pg.41, Good to Great, by Jim Collins)
I can't stress this enough. You do not have to know every step of the way. You just have to know where you want to go.
Make Miracles Happen
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Steven Spielberg and one of the Greatest Success Stories Ever...
Steven Spielberg, one of the greatest directors of all time also has one of the greatest success stories of all time. He has been a creative genius from the very start At one point, young Spielberg, was just a guy with a dream, a ton of hope, and would do anything to make it happen.
Universal Studios offered a tour allowing visitors to ride a train having the chance to observe behind the scenes action to how movies are produced, etc. Spielberg saw much more- he saw opportunity.
He would dress-up in a suit and carry a brief case- looking professional. And, then, sneak-off and hide until 5 O'clock, whereby he'd walk on out like every other employee waving to the gate guards, making his presence remembered. He did this for 3 months. Then found an empty spot on the building directory list- soon enough, his name was on it. From here, he began, schmoozing (so to speak) and set his sights on one individual in particular- Sid Sheinberg (at the time, he was the head of production for the studio's television arm).
Spielberg pitched his college film project to Mr. Sheinberg who was utterly impressed. Soon enough he signed a contract with Universal Studios. His first film, although, receiving a best screenplay award at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, did rather poorly in the box office. Do you think this deterred young Spielberg? Of course not. He was on a path and has made and still makes miracles happen.
My thoughts...
Spielberg took a risk. Besides from doing something completely unconventional, I believe it is safe to assume that during the 3 months that he hid from 9-5, he wasn't receiving any income. However, he saw the bigger picture. The picture that displayed income that tied into his dream. In my opinion Spielberg should win an award for his success story.
-Make Miracles Happen
Universal Studios offered a tour allowing visitors to ride a train having the chance to observe behind the scenes action to how movies are produced, etc. Spielberg saw much more- he saw opportunity.
He would dress-up in a suit and carry a brief case- looking professional. And, then, sneak-off and hide until 5 O'clock, whereby he'd walk on out like every other employee waving to the gate guards, making his presence remembered. He did this for 3 months. Then found an empty spot on the building directory list- soon enough, his name was on it. From here, he began, schmoozing (so to speak) and set his sights on one individual in particular- Sid Sheinberg (at the time, he was the head of production for the studio's television arm).
Spielberg pitched his college film project to Mr. Sheinberg who was utterly impressed. Soon enough he signed a contract with Universal Studios. His first film, although, receiving a best screenplay award at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, did rather poorly in the box office. Do you think this deterred young Spielberg? Of course not. He was on a path and has made and still makes miracles happen.
My thoughts...
Spielberg took a risk. Besides from doing something completely unconventional, I believe it is safe to assume that during the 3 months that he hid from 9-5, he wasn't receiving any income. However, he saw the bigger picture. The picture that displayed income that tied into his dream. In my opinion Spielberg should win an award for his success story.
-Make Miracles Happen
This Story and more can be found in Napoleon Hill's Think & Grow Rich.
Copy & Paste this Link into Your Browser to Purchase:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0883910314
Copy & Paste this Link into Your Browser to Purchase:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0883910314
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Anyone Looking to Succeed, I Recommend You See this...
I feel as though many people who are looking to succeed face a constant up hill battle. A battle where results are often not obtained instantly. Family, friends, etc. may often hint at disappointment due to the lack of instant results while such entrepreneurs (business executives or dreamers) are trying to figure out a way to make it happen.
What I am about to share with you is a true story and should help everyone who hasn't seen instant results. Besides from helping your own personal psyche, I hope this provides you with a nice rebuttal when someone asks you "so have you made any money yet?"
"The Stockdale Paradox"
(Good to Great, by Jim Collins)
What I am about to share with you is a true story and should help everyone who hasn't seen instant results. Besides from helping your own personal psyche, I hope this provides you with a nice rebuttal when someone asks you "so have you made any money yet?"
"The Stockdale Paradox"
(Good to Great, by Jim Collins)
"The name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the "Hanoi Hilton" prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over twenty times during his 8-year imprisonment from 1965-1973, Stockdale lived out the war without any prisoner's rights, no set release, and no certainty as to whether he would even survive to see his family again. He shouldered the burden of command, doing everything he could to create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken..." Having no idea when he'd be rescued, he did many things. One in particular, he said, "I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect I would not trade."
Collins was able to interview Stockdale and at the very end of the interview, he asked: "Who didn't make it out?"
Stockdale: "The Optimists."
Collins: "The optimists? I don't understand given what he said a hundred meters earlier."
Stockdale: "The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas. Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."
"This is a very important lesson," Stockdale says, "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end-- which you can never afford to lose-- with the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
Collins says, "To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: "We're not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!"
"Life is unfair- sometimes to our advantage, sometimes to our disadvantage. We will all experience disappointments and crushing events somewhere along the way, setbacks for which there is no "reason," no one to blame. It might be disease: it might be injury; it might be accident; it might be losing a loved one...it might be getting shot down over Vietnam and thrown into a POW camp for eight years. What separates people, is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life." (pgs.85-87)
Copy & Paste this Link into Your Browser to Purchase Good to Great, by Jim Collins.
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Companies-Leap-Others/dp/0066620996/?tag=satisfactiong160-20&gclid=CP3VwNSgypUCFQQrFQodKiSeiQ
Collins was able to interview Stockdale and at the very end of the interview, he asked: "Who didn't make it out?"
Stockdale: "The Optimists."
Collins: "The optimists? I don't understand given what he said a hundred meters earlier."
Stockdale: "The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas. Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."
"This is a very important lesson," Stockdale says, "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end-- which you can never afford to lose-- with the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
Collins says, "To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: "We're not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!"
"Life is unfair- sometimes to our advantage, sometimes to our disadvantage. We will all experience disappointments and crushing events somewhere along the way, setbacks for which there is no "reason," no one to blame. It might be disease: it might be injury; it might be accident; it might be losing a loved one...it might be getting shot down over Vietnam and thrown into a POW camp for eight years. What separates people, is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life." (pgs.85-87)
-Make Miracles Happen
Copy & Paste this Link into Your Browser to Purchase Good to Great, by Jim Collins.
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Companies-Leap-Others/dp/0066620996/?tag=satisfactiong160-20&gclid=CP3VwNSgypUCFQQrFQodKiSeiQ
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Going from Good to Great...
Good to Great, by Jim Collins
"Look, I don't really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we'll figure out how to take it someplace great." (pg.41)-David Maxwell, CEO of Fannie Mae
"When you turn over rocks & look at all the squiggly things underneath, you can either put the rock down, or you can say, 'My job is to turn over rocks & look at the squiggly things,' even if what you can see can scare the hell out of you." (pg. 72)
-Pitney Bowes Executive, Fred Purdue
"There is nothing wrong with pursuing a vision for greatness. After all, the good-to-great companies also set out to create greatness. But, unlike the comparison companies, the good-to-great companies continually refined the path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality." (pg. 71)
"Leading from good-to-great does not mean coming up with the answers and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic vision. It means having the humility to grasp the fact that you do not understand enough to have the answers and then to ask the questions that will lead to the best possible insights." (pg. 75)
Make Miracles Happen
Good to Great can be found by copying & pasting this Link into your Browser:
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Companies-Leap-Others/dp/0066620996/?tag=satisfactiong160-20&gclid=CKW10sOyyJUCFQyxGgodHyDaiw
Good to Great can be found by copying & pasting this Link into your Browser:
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Companies-Leap-Others/dp/0066620996/?tag=satisfactiong160-20&gclid=CKW10sOyyJUCFQyxGgodHyDaiw
Friday, September 5, 2008
Me as an Illustration
I touched on this idea in my previous post. However, I'd like to briefly tell you a deeper reason for me as an illustration. I believe that to succeed, you have to think outside-the-box. You have to forget about what happened yesterday and see only that of the future.
When you come to my site and enter into my World. A World where anything is possible. Limitations; there are none. I want you to leave behind any disappointments, any failures, & any errors; I want you to escape. But, escape into the reality that you want to create for yourself. Thus, I want you to enter into a distorted world. My world, a world with no limitations. I made myself an illustration because I can. You should know that you can do the same. When your making cold calls, etc. transform into something bigger. Find the Charlie Large within.
-Make Miracles Happen.
When you come to my site and enter into my World. A World where anything is possible. Limitations; there are none. I want you to leave behind any disappointments, any failures, & any errors; I want you to escape. But, escape into the reality that you want to create for yourself. Thus, I want you to enter into a distorted world. My world, a world with no limitations. I made myself an illustration because I can. You should know that you can do the same. When your making cold calls, etc. transform into something bigger. Find the Charlie Large within.
-Make Miracles Happen.
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