American Business Leaders I Admire
One thing I’ve learned is that successful people study other successful people. It is relatively easy for me to think of several American business leaders I admire. The list includes Zig Ziglar, Stephen Covey, Michael Gerber, Napoleon Hill and Jim Collins, to name a few.
What do all of these men have in common? Not only did they teach the importance of how you invest your time and its return on investment, but they also created successful businesses with character and integrity. They are all authors, students and teachers. They helped others get what they want and became success stories in the process.
I remember listening to Zig Ziglar’s tapes while driving my old Corvette heading to insurance sales appointments in Northern California. This was obviously many moons ago back when cars still had cassette players. One of my favorite Ziglar quotes from Over the Top is, “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Are you investing your time helping others get what they want? Put another way, are you offering value? I love connecting people and do it simply because I find joy in helping others, but it always seems to come back around to me. I strongly believe the more you give the more you get.
In his E-myth series, Gerber talks a lot about passion. Finding something you’re passionate about is essential to living a successful life. I often ask my clients struggling to find a path to pursue, “What is the one thing that you are so excited about that it would make you jump out of bed at five o’clock in the morning to do it?” When you invest your time in your passion not only do doors open up for you, but you also get to spend your time doing what you love everyday. When you do something you love, you never work a day in your life.
In his bestseller (probably sitting on most of your bookshelves) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey writes about sharpening the saw. It is a lot harder to cut down a tree with a dull saw. When you take the time to sharpen your saw, each swing of that saw makes much more progress, or said another way, yields a much higher return on investment.
Taking the time to sharpen your saw in each area of your life will make you stronger and affect the other areas. For example, if you are struggling with your physical well-being, it will affect your career and social life. It’s hard to be effective and focused when you are not feeling well physically. Sharpening your saw could be a number of activities such as learning a new system, taking time off to recharge, spending quality time with loved ones, or starting a new health regimen. Notice how you spend your time in each of the different areas of your life. Are your activities and efforts giving you the maximum output?
Have you ever gone to the gym as a novice and looked blankly at the machines trying to figure out how to use them? Often these are the people who jump on the elliptical, exert minimum effort while watching television and do not seem to be getting great results. On the other hand, the people who are working with a trainer or are on a specific regimen when they go to the gym are the ones achieving results and the better return on investment. Are you a person who is going through the motions filling time without direction or are you living a life of purpose and passion focussed on goals and a plan to reach those goals?
Time is the one non-renewable resource we have. There are only twenty-four hours in a day. Some of us may have more days left than others, but regardless, we have a finite amount of time on this earth. How are you investing your time?
Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA. He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals. More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Riverside, and Orange Counties.
Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability. Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.
His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.
Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses. He is a networking dynamo. Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started IntegritY.
Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.
Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals? If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information. You can contact Gerry by mail at 1610 Quiet Hills Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056. Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com. For more information, go to www.integritysd.com
