Page 173 - The Way to the Top

At the beginning of my career, I excelled as a salesman. When a boss
asked me to move and take over a new territory, I was hesitant to make a

change because I had built the best territory in the company. But he
advised me that the only way to grow and succeed was to step out of my
comfort zone. After thinking about this long and hard, I uprooted my
family from Detroit—where I was comfortable and settled—to
Kalamazoo, Michigan. And when I relocated my family again in 1992 to

California to aid a company on the brink of bankruptcy, I strayed from my
comfort zone again. These changes taught me how to take risks and
overcome fear, and I realized that I should never settle. The more you

embrace change and welcome challenges, the more you overcome fear.
And, the more experiences you undergo, the less fear you have.

I try to teach this philosophy to employees every day. I work hard to
foster teamwork and create solid, collaborative relationships between
senior management members and different organizational ranks. I also

strive to build bridges between various departments within the company
and to remain a highly visible leader. My goal is to encourage, engage, and
inspire across all levels of the company.

I have learned firsthand how this cohesive team approach and employee

involvement can change the face of corporate America. By implementing
systems that raise accountability among employees and offer incentives
for good performance, we drastically motivated our team and took them
all for a wild ride down the corporate restructuring path. A few years later,
we all emerged better and stronger from it.

I often reminisce about the specific lessons I learned but welcome the
fact that I am still learning. And teaching. If we can prepare the leaders of
tomorrow today by offering sound, simple advice, then we are sure to have
many great successes on the horizon.

Never stop striving, never stop learning, never stop
teaching