success
How Do You Become a Successful Failure?
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison Nobody likes to fail. But if we’re honest, we understand that failure is a part of life. There is no success without some amount of failure. Great inventors like Thomas Edison experience a lot of failures on the way…
Read MoreWhy Losses Hurt So Much
When I adapted Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn for Teens (February 24), I wanted to make it conversational in a way that would appeal to a teen or preteen. And I decided to make it more interactive, with sections for journaling and even Q and A with me. Here is another excerpt from the…
Read MoreWhy you should do more than expected
Have you ever seen the “You had one job!” joke? It’s usually a picture like the one of the sign above, with a crazy error like “Please slow drively.” Or like spelling “STOP” S-O-T-P, or hanging a stair railing upside-down. Google it and you’ll see thousands of examples, because apparently there are a lot of…
Read MoreA Leader’s Bucket List
In 2007, The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman popularized the idea of writing down your life dreams—things you aspire to do before you “kick the bucket”—and finding a way to make them happen. This lesson introduces a different sort of “bucket list,” one that’s intended to help you gain wisdom rather than…
Read MoreMan in the Mirror
I’m starting with the man in the mirrorI’m asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you wanna make the world a better place Take a look at yourself, and then make a change ~ Michael Jackson “Man in the Mirror” In leadership, the first person we must…
Read MoreTraveling to Infinity and Beyond Means Leaving Self-Centeredness Behind
Forty-five years ago, on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin accomplished a feat considered impossible for much of human history. Escaping the gravitational pull of the earth, and soaring beyond its atmosphere, they were the first persons to set foot on the moon. Their successful mission was the crowning achievement of NASA’s…
Read MoreHard-Fought Optimism
You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise. ~ Maya Angelou from Still I Rise As a child, Maya Angelou was the victim of a brutal assault. After she testified against her abuser, an angry mob hunted…
Read MoreStress: The Pathway to Growth, Renewal, and Success
To live stress-free would be to deny our responsibility as leaders. Stress accompanies growth. We have to accept that all worthwhile change, every amazing transformation and renewal, brings about temporary stress. For example, think about an expectant mother. Her pregnancy begins with morning sickness, and queasiness lingers throughout the first trimester. Her nose becomes keenly…
Read MoreClosing the Success Gap, Part 2
In my last post, I wrote about one big misconception that makes people think that success is farther away from them than it really is: the idea that success is really hard to achieve. I defined success differently and gave a game plan for closing the gap between us and our goals. Today, let’s talk…
Read MoreClosing the Success Gap, Part 1
“Hi, my name’s John, and I’m your friend.” That’s something I say during most of my speaking engagements. People laugh when I do. I’m sure it sounds corny at times. But I have a very important reason for saying it. One of my goals whenever I speak is to close the success gap. The success…
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