When the Going Gets Tough

professional speaker Harry K. Jones

When the Going Gets Tough
Part 2

As the year 2001 drew to a close, we introduced a column offering a number of short anecdotes describing various well-known people, past and present, who have overcome obstacles and barriers to reach great heights of success and achievement. It is our hope that these short stories might offer a little inspiration and motivation at a time when most of our country continues to struggle with the emotional upheaval confronting us daily in the media. Experts in most every field agree that our way of life has changed since September 11. Challenges with homeland security, the economy, politics, unemployment, education, travel, etc. can certainly take a toll when you must deal with these issues day after day. Dr. Robert Schuller reminds us that "Tough times never last, but tough people do!" These stories will certainly remind us of many people who have proven this theory to be true. As promised, here is the second of many installments of "When The Going Gets Tough."

	Walt Disney’s first cartoon production company, Laugh-O-Gram, went bankrupt. He later created Mickey Mouse and became the most famous name in film animation. He produced numerous classics such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, and Cinderella and founded Disneyland.
	A corporate buyout of Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers forced two executives to lose their jobs in 1978. A year later, Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus joined another co-worker, Ronald Brill, to start their own do-it-yourself home improvement warehouse store called Home Depot, now North America’s largest home improvement retailer.
	Beethoven composed many of his symphonies as he was losing his hearing and some of his most famous after he became deaf.
	The President of CNN banned Katie Couric from reading the news on the air because he felt she had an irritating, high-pitched, squeaky voice. Today Katie is one of the highest paid, most recognizable news anchors on television and very few people know the name of that critical President.
	Helen Keller, one of the most famous women of all times, was blind, mute, and deaf. One of her goals was to help the less fortunate.
	Having never painted until she was in her 70s, Grandma Moses created more than 500 celebrated works of art.
	John F. Kennedy failed to make the football team at the Canterbury School, his Connecticut prep school and failed Latin at Choate Academy. He lost the election for President of his freshman class at Harvard University, failed to win a post on the student council as a sophomore, and dropped out of Stanford University business school. Kennedy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1946, the U.S. Senate in 1952, and the office of the 35^th President of the United States in 1960.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax^®, Inc., a firm specializing in custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. He can be reached at 800-886-2MAX or by visiting http://www.AchieveMax.com.

Publication Date: Winter 2002

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