It's very easy to find yourself overwhelmed and
frustrated with a simple glance at your newspaper or a sampling of the
evening news. We're bombarded with news of terrorism, inflation, political
unrest, Katrina, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, oil prices, trade deficit,
al-Qaeda, education, unemployment, and apathy day in and day out.
We sometimes need to pause to realize that there have always been "tough
times," and inspired individuals have always managed to cope and overcome
obstacles. Reflecting on those people may inspire us to seek the same
determination and inspiration to deal with our personal challenges. Please
enjoy each of the following anecdotes and pass them on to others in that
same spirit.
In 1944,
Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, told
modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work
or else get married." She went on to become Marilyn Monroe.
In 1954,
Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry fired a singer after one
performance. He told him, "You ain't goin' nowhere son. You ought to go
back to drivin' a truck." He went on to become the most popular singer
in America, named Elvis Presley.
When
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring
off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a
demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said, "That's an amazing
invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?"
When
Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2,000 experiments
before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail
so many times. He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb.
It just happened to be a 2,000-step process."
In the
1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to
20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They
all turned him down. In 1947 – after seven long years of rejections – he
finally got a tiny company in Rochester, New York, the Haloid Company,
to purchase the rights to his invention, an electrostatic paper-copying
process. Haloid became the Xerox Corporation we know today.
Wilma
Rudolph was the twentieth of 22 children. She was born prematurely, and
her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted
double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with a paralyzed left
leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on
and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed rhythmic walk,
which doctors said was a miracle. That same year she decided to become a
runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years
every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but
she kept on running. One day she actually won a race. And then another.
From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little
girl, who was told she would never walk again, went on to win three
Olympic gold medals.
H. Ross
Perot, a proud Texan, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1953.
After serving his tour of duty, he became a salesperson for IBM .
Wanting his own business, he borrowed money from his father-in-law to
establish Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in Dallas in 1962. The
company, employing 70,000 people, made Perot a multimillionaire, then a
billionaire when he took the company public in 1968.
He began a crusade to lobby for the release of American POWs in Vietnam
in 1969. In 1979, two EDS employees were taken hostage by the
Iranian government. When U.S. government efforts to rescue the employees
slowed to a crawl due to "red tape" and politics, Perot financed and
arranged for a commando raid of EDS employees led by retired Green Beret
Colonel Arthur "Bull" Simons. Perot himself went to Iran and entered the
prison where his men were held. Ken Follett wrote a best selling novel,
On Wings of Eagles, about the rescue. An NBC TV miniseries was
later made from the book.
Perot sold EDS in 1984 to General Motors for $2.5 billion. He retained
ownership in the company, which made him GM's largest individual
stockholder and a member of the board of directors. From the start,
Perot and GM head Roger Smith quarreled, and Perot criticized the
quality of GM automobiles and made many "radical" suggestions such as
moving the CEO's office from high atop the golden towers of the GM
building to a local plant location where he could get a better feel for
the business and communicate with his employees. Perot also suggested
that Smith actually drive to work in a GM vehicle rather than being
chauffeured to work every day in a corporate limousine, thus getting an
actual feel for his product. GM employees soon had more respect for and
rapport with Perot than they did the majority of the corporate
leadership team.
In 1986, GM bought out Perot's stock for $700 million. Two years later,
he started a new computer service company, Perot Systems, which operates
in the United States and Europe.
Lee
Iacocca, a proud Italian born in Allentown, PA, in 1924, was hired by the
Ford Motor Company as an engineer in 1946. He soon proved that he was
better suited as a manager. Dubbed "Father of the Mustang" in
1964, Iacocca accumulated a long list of accomplishments leading to his
appointment of president from 1970-78.
Working for 21 years at Ford Motor Company, he was fired in July of 1978
because of the personal differences and a power struggle with Henry Ford
II.
Financially, Iacocca was in a position to easily retire after a very
successful career. However, mad, discouraged, but not beaten, Iacocca
demonstrated his urge to fight back by joining a failing competitor,
Chrysler, as the president and CEO in November of that same year, 1978.
Chrysler had just reported its worst earnings in its history and was on
the road to bankruptcy. He quickly rallied frustrated employees and the
American public. He restored Chrysler through shrewd financial policies,
a $1.2 billion government loan, and tax concessions granted by Congress.
Like most governmental bail-outs, no one expected the loan to be repaid.
Not only did Chrysler repay the loan but did so well ahead of schedule.
He also engineered Chrysler's $1.5 billion acquisition of American
Motors and became a television icon, becoming one of the few Corporate
CEOs to appear in commercials urging viewers to test the new Chrysler
quality. Lee Iacocca made history announcing a $2,400,000,000 profit in
1984, became a national hero pulling Chrysler out of bankruptcy in less
than three years, and becoming the leading seller in the industry. He
also became a very competitive "pain-in-the-armpit" to his previous
employee at GM. He also served as chairman of the Statue of
Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.
The moral of the above stories: Character cannot be developed in ease and
quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be
strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. You
gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you
really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you cannot do.
And remember, the finest steel gets sent through the hottest furnace. A
winner is not one who never fails but one who NEVER QUITS! In LIFE, remember
that you pass this way only once! Let's live life to the fullest and give it
our best.
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: Fall 2006
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