Own Your Success E-Book

Ben Newman

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 171

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

A proven system for transforming challenges into triumphs What if you could make each and every day victorious by focusing on daily activities rather than obsessing over results that you can't control? Based on author Ben Newman's popular program, Own YOUR Success gives you the power to make each day a triumph. The most successful people find great success when they focus on having a passion for the process. The key: make today victorious regardless of the obstacles that come your way. Figure out what fires YOU up without exception and ignite that passion so that you can routinely create your prizefighter day. * Told through the eyes of an executive at the top of his game, yet the bottom of his existence * Offers original, practical, and proven exercises to transform challenges into maximum performance * Includes real-world advice and proven strategies to help individuals in the business world achieve even greater success Own YOUR Success will lead you to uncover your true potential and create a life that belongs to YOU.

Leseprobe

Praise forOwn YOUR Success

“Own YOUR Success is a wonderful book with a great message. Any reader will come away with a greater passion for life and a better sense of how to grow during the journey that we’re all on.”

—John Schlifske

Chief Executive Officer, Northwestern Mutual

“I firmly believe that the choices we make shape our lives. Being great is also a choice, and now there is a resource available to help all of us understand the journey to greatness. Own YOUR Success is that resource. Read it and it will help you release your potential.”

—Aeneas Williams

Future NFL Hall of Fame cornerback, 14-year NFL veteran, and eight-time Pro Bowl player

“From the battlefield to the boardroom, I have always strived for excellence through the power of teamwork. Own YOUR Success will provide you with bulletproof tools to make a difference in your life and business.”

—Lieutenant Bob Gassoff

United States Navy SEAL

“Ben Newman hits the ball out of the park again with Own YOUR Success. Against the backdrop of a captivating story, I found myself in several of the characters in the book and realized the changes that would allow me to achieve maximum, measurable success in ways that will produce greater satisfaction and happiness in life.”

—Rudy Telscher

Managing Partner, Harness Dickey & Pierce; Lead Counsel in CBC vs. Major League Baseball

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

A Note from the Author

Chapter 1: Meet Pierce Edwards

Chapter 2: The Journey Begins

Chapter 3: Attaining Belief in Yourself

Chapter 4: Acting with Courage and Integrity

Chapter 5: Doing Truly Great Things

Chapter 6: Creating a Living Legacy

Chapter 7: Pierce Returns

Appendix: Exercises for YOUR Path to Greatness

YOUR Prizefighter Day Exercise

About the Author

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Cover Image: Harbour Bridge and Sydney Skyline © Sara Winter/ iStockphoto

Jacket Design: C. Wallace

Copyright © 2012 by Ben Newman. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750–8400, fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748–6011, fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Newman, Ben, 1978– author.

Own your success : the power to choose greatness and make every day victorious / Ben Newman.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-37016-2 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-42080-5 (ebk);

ISBN 978-1-118-41719-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-43185-6 (ebk)

1. Success. I. Title

BF637.S8N447 2012

650.1—dc23

2012020175

Dedicated to the three people who clearly help me realize

what I am fighting for every day, and for whom I am willing

to sacrifice anything: my wife, Ami, my son,

J. Isaac, and my daughter, Kennedy Rose.

In loving memory of

Janet Fishman Newman

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties, and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

—Patanjali

Acknowledgments

This book has been a special project in the making. Along the journey, many people have been tremendously supportive advocates. Special gratitude goes out to my greatest team who make all of this possible, my family: Ami, J. Isaac, and Kennedy Rose.

I would also like to acknowledge my team of Kimberly Raasch and Dusty Meehan, whose commitment to greatness every day helps me continue to fight and impact the thousands of lives we touch each year. And to Lisa Lukies, my esteemed editor, whose eagle eye on the manuscript and contribution helped to make this book the best it could be.

Additionally, the opportunity to inspire and empower others through my writing would not be possible without the stories or impact made by Dr. Jason Selk, Jon Gordon, John O’Leary, Scott Underwood, Joey Davenport, Shep Hyken, Tom Dankenbring, Todd Basler, Dr. Edward M. Johnson Jr., Bob Gassoff, Dr. Martha Skinner, John Doty, Mark Daly, Andy Kaiser, Josh Qualy, Brian Cohen, Jeff Rose, Eddie Caldwell, Josh Goodman, Heath Beam, Paul Foster, Ben Beshear, Laura Pierz, Michael Amann, Michael Kennedy Jr., and my father, Burt Newman, along with countless other family and friends who inspire me to keep fighting.

To my late mother, Janet Fishman Newman, who continues to inspire me every day to be the best I can be. You taught me life’s greatest lesson, to cherish every day—because it is not how long you live, but how you choose to live your life!

Foreword

Ben Newman has written a masterpiece. This is a book that will take you on a journey to change your life. What I love most about the book is that it speaks to the head, the heart, and the gut of the business professional in today’s fast-moving world. Ben Newman has written a story through his main character, Pierce Edwards, that can relate to anybody in any facet of business today. What is so incredible about the story is that even if you are not in the business world, this book is one that will also touch your heart and change the way that you feel about your life and your legacy.

Thank you, Ben, for touching my heart with this inspirational story of getting lost on life’s journey and getting yourself back on a track to greatness. I certainly believe in living life with relentless accountability to achieve greatness by using all of your capacity.

Own YOUR Success will give you the tools and the beliefs in order to make a difference in your life moving forward and to leave a dynamic legacy on the world.

—Dr. Jason Selk, Best-Selling Author of 10-Minute Toughness and Executive Toughness and Director of Sport Psychology for the 2006 and 2011 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals

Introduction

Own YOUR Success is a powerful, modern-day fable illuminating our quest for personal and professional greatness. It’s an inspiring and compassionate tale that tells the story of a 40-year-old, self-made multimillionaire, Pierce Edwards, an executive at the top of his game yet the bottom of his existence.

Though he exemplifies the “work harder and faster” mindset that he believes to be the key to success, Pierce is aware deep down that he has become disillusioned on his journey through life, and he has reluctantly begun to admit that he is adrift.

One day, his concerned wife and his best friend confront him and demand that he embark on a journey to identify his true meaning and purpose in life.

Over the next couple of weeks, Pierce meets a cast of colorful and influential characters: a CEO once trapped in the same challenges of life balance; a retired Navy SEAL; a talented high school basketball coach who himself used to play for legendary coach John Wooden; and one of the most influential doctors in the United States for the study of rare diseases.

Through this profound and life-altering journey, Pierce learns the four essential keys to great wisdom and discovers his true passion for life. He realizes with a fresh perspective that his ability to embrace change will allow him to further his success; that success itself can be measured in extraordinary ways; and that, ultimately, trusting in the greatness of others is essential to experiencing personal and professional growth.

Own YOUR Success offers the reader practical and proven exercises to transform challenges and maximize performance. The book is jam-packed with real-world advice, compelling tales, and proven strategies, and readers will uncover their true potential to create the life they were meant to fight for and enjoy personally and professionally. Providing inspiration and guidance, Own YOUR Success encourages individuals to embark on their own relentless pursuit of greatness.

A Note from the Author

While success comes in many guises, I firmly believe that it is bred from a single attribute: true greatness. Greatness comes in many forms; however, upon scratching the surface, one will always find elements of sacrifice.

My mentor and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Energy Bus, Jon Gordon, recently shared the following profound thoughts with me regarding the topic of greatness and sacrifice.

We can find greatness in every corner of the earth, in classrooms, locker rooms, kitchens, farms, laboratories, hospitals, nonprofit meeting rooms, factories, and in the hearts and actions of those who serve and sacrifice for a cause greater than themselves.

Great scientists invest their lives finding cures for cancer and other diseases.

Great teammates sacrifice for one another.

Great leaders selflessly serve their teams and organizations.

Great managers give everything they have to bring out the best in others.

Great marriages often sacrifice what each person wants for what the marriage needs.

Great parents give of themselves to their children.

Great social activists and entrepreneurs sacrifice money, brainpower, and resources to find new ways to improve health and economic support for people in developing countries.

Great ministers sacrifice themselves to love and care for others.

Great teachers sacrifice their time and energy to improve their students’ lives.

Great athletes, actors, and musicians sacrifice thousands of hours, training and developing their talents that ultimately entertain and inspire audiences.

Whether we are talking about the ultimate sacrifice our heroes make for their country, or those that people make each and every day for the good of others, the same thing always remains true: Sacrificing oneself leads to greatness, and true greatness leads to success.

So, I hope you realize that if you want to be great, you cannot simply focus on what you can accumulate for yourself. Rather, it’s about how much of yourself—your time, energy, and talents—you can give to others. You may not give your life for your country, but you can give your life to a cause greater than yourself. You can give selflessly to others and become great in their eyes.

Don’t think you have to be great to serve; you merely need to be willing to serve with great desire. Wishing you great inspiration and impact on YOUR success journey!

Go Do Great Things!

Ben Newman

Chapter 1

Meet Pierce Edwards

Most people live life on a path that was set for them, too afraid to live on any other. But once in a while people will break down barriers and obstacles to fight to be the person they were destined to be.

—Anonymous

Meet Pierce Edwards, founder and CEO of Blackbird Technologies, a large supplier of flight technology to the United States aerospace and defense industries. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he continues to make his home with his wife, Sarah, and their two children, Lila and Max, Pierce successfully turned a boyhood obsession for planes and flying into a multimillion-dollar, privately held company that employs more than 600 people—all before he reached the ripe old age of 40.

Pierce’s meteoric rise to success came as no surprise to those who knew him well. Always mature beyond his years, Pierce demonstrated a relentless, unwavering drive from an extremely young age. There was never a doubt in anybody’s mind that this young man would end up at the top.

A successful company in a booming industry, capped off with a beautiful family, and a stately home with all of the bells, whistles, and toys that typically accompany wealth—it seemed that Pierce really did have it all.

Or so people thought.

Recently, however, deep cracks had begun to appear in the façade of Pierce’s ostensibly perfect life. He could no longer access the cool, calm demeanor he had always possessed—that he had, in fact, taken for granted—as easily. Quite simply, Pierce was losing control. Lashing out at Sarah without provocation, drinking excessively, and working later and later each evening, he was disconnecting and disengaging from human contact. He was well aware of the changes occurring within, but for the first time in his life, Pierce had no idea what to do about it.

Was this a typical case of not stopping to smell the roses, or had Pierce literally derailed somewhere along his rapid journey to the top? He couldn’t be sure.

While he was navigating his black Escalade through uptown Charlotte, heading home one evening, a light mist settled over the city. Flicking the wipers to the ON position, Pierce noticed that the green clock staring out from his mahogany dashboard read 8:40 pm. Bold LED numbers crudely taunted him as he wondered when he had last made it home in time for the 6:00 news. Had he ever? He honestly could not recall.

Switching lanes, he caught his image in the rearview mirror, and was surprised to notice tufts of gray hair sprouting at the temples. When did this happen? On closer inspection, he noted that his pasty skin could use a week in the Caribbean, or at the very least, a Sunday stroll in the park. “When did you stop caring about yourself?” Pierce asked his reflection.

Were these early physical signs of aging a fair and just ransom for his rapid rise in business and, well, life? Had he really matured too fast? When he was growing up, neighbors and friends had criticized his father’s efforts in raising him solo. It was a father-and-son team, with one leader and one hard and fast set of rules. Naysayers abounded when Pierce was a young schoolboy, barely whispering behind cupped hands, lamenting how terrible it was what had happened to this poor young boy. A boy needed his mother and deserved the chance to be a child; and that shameful, domineering father (providing the juiciest fodder for gossips) hadn’t allowed his young son the opportunity to grieve. Onwards and Upwards was always his father’s motto; there was no time to stop and think too much about anything.

Retreating from his reverie, Pierce watched as the city faded behind him. Only the Bank of America building remained in view, proudly and powerfully thrusting itself toward the heavens—the Bank of America Corporation, currently number nine on the Fortune 500 list.

Shrugging off pesky, nagging concerns that had been haunting him for months, Pierce refocused his attention on future plans for Blackbird Tech. After all, he made sacrifices all the time. So what if he had been a little stressed out? It came with the terrain, and was the only way to reach the top. Singular focus was certainly a trait Pierce had inherited from his father. One goal and one path, no matter who or what stood in the way. Sacrifice. How else would he grow the company from the largest of its kind in the United States to the largest in the world? How else would he get himself on that Fortune 500 list?

As Pierced turned the car into his suburban home’s long, winding driveway, the gravel protested beneath his wet tires with a loud crunch. Tall poplars lined the property, cloaking the massive 30,000-square-foot home in privacy. Turning off the engine, he sat for a moment, taking it all in. He had built this home for Sarah less than five years earlier. Sacrifice, he thought smugly to himself; it’s all about sacrifice.

Retrieving his sports coat and a bag of files from the back seat, Pierce made his way, as he did most nights, toward the back of the house, where he would dutifully remove his shoes before entering via the kitchen. It had become part of Pierce’s routine to pass through the large, open kitchen, drop a few rocks in a glass and top it off with liquid gold, his favorite smoky, single malt, Oban, before retreating to his office—usually reemerging around 11 pm to pick at leftovers from the fridge before retiring to bed.

Tonight, however, was different.

Rounding the corner near the hothouse where Sarah tended her beloved orchids, the gentle humming of the swimming pool filter across the yard failed to conceal voices coming from inside the house. One was Sarah’s and the other, which he didn’t recognize immediately, was definitely male. Pierce did not recall any cars parked out front when he drove onto the property. Who was in there with Sarah? Through the window he spotted her, leaning on the granite island, her honey-blonde hair loosely cascading down her shoulders, standing in such a way that made it impossible to tell whether or not she was crying. A tall, dark-haired figure moved across the room, placing his hand on her back. He appeared to be consoling her. Pierce’s mouth suddenly went dry. Josh Andrews. He tried to swallow as he picked up his pace. What the heck was Josh doing here? Had something happened to one of the kids? Why had Sarah called Josh and not Pierce? A fire burned in the pit of his gut as he burst through the kitchen door ready to confront his wife and his best friend.

Immediately hit with the thick, heavy atmosphere lingering in the kitchen, a wave of nausea washed over him. Once again, he tried to swallow, but his swollen tongue and dry mouth would not allow such freedom. He turned to Sarah, “Everything okay? Where are the kids?”

“Daddy!” Max charged across the living room, literally flying into his father’s arms. Pierce scooped him up. Little Max. Thank God he was okay. Glancing across the cream-carpeted living room, he spotted Lila neatly stacking the books she’d been reading with Max on a table next to the sofa. Lila. Sweet, shy Lila. Pierce reminded himself he had less than eight years to go before his heart would be broken when she commenced dating some pimply-faced, junior-high schmuck. Max clung harder to his father—or was it Pierce doing the clinging? It was impossible to tell. Pierce desperately wanted to freeze this moment in time; his daughter young and innocent, his son loving and sweet . . . and his wife and best friend not about to tell him whatever it was they were planning. Perhaps it wasn’t eight years before his heart was to break after all. Perhaps it was merely eight minutes, or seconds, away.

“Daddy, I missed you!” Max mumbled into Pierce’s neck, digging his little hands further into Pierce’s shoulders, an action filled as much with love as it was with longing.

“I missed you too, buddy.” Holding Max close, the sweet scent of Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo wafted up from his freshly washed hair. Was it really Johnson’s? His heart sank when he realized he did not know the answer to this. Pierce had not been a part of the kids’ bath time ritual for several years now. Sarah could be using engine oil on their hair and he’d be none the wiser.