Reading, Leading, & Succeeding

Success leaves clues.  It is very much a matter of following the leader from where you are to where you want to be.  Never take advice from anybody who doesn’t have what you want.  The smartest people who have ever lived are ready, willing, and able to reveal their most valuable secrets to you and me whenever we are ready.  These secrets are revealed within the pages of books.

 As a best-selling author of over 40 books with ten million copies in print, I’m embarrassed to admit that when I could read with my eyes, I don’t know that I ever read an entire book cover to cover.  After losing my sight, I discovered audio books and participated in a pilot test program for compressed digital audio.  High-speed listening has been a part of my daily routine ever since, and for the last quarter century, I have averaged consuming one book each day.  Becoming a reader has brought me everything I ever wanted in my life, and it can do the same for you.

 For more than 20 years, these weekly columns have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and in online publications around the world.  Since Winners’ Wisdom is read by people from every walk of life, I rarely run across a book that I want to recommend to everyone.  Recently, my friend and colleague, Victoria Labalme, wrote a book entitled, Risk Forward.  I wish I could make it required reading for everyone on the planet. 

 I have known Victoria for 20 years.  We met through the National Speakers’ Association. Victoria is from New York and introduced herself to me as a stage coach.  I am from Oklahoma and a stage coach is what our ancestors rode in as they crossed the prairie.  In spite of our different backgrounds, Victoria and I became friends, and I became a huge fan of her performance skills and the training she provides speakers on how to relate and communicate with their audiences. 

 For those who consume books via an audio format, you will enjoy hearing Victoria read her own book.  For those who prefer the print version, Victoria’s book is a real work of art that you will want to keep as a constant reference for years to come.  Regardless of whether you read or listen to Risk Forward, you will learn that in a world where we are constantly told to pursue our passion, it’s okay to be someone who doesn’t yet know what they want to do and who they want to be.  If, as Shakespeare told us, the whole world’s a stage and we are all players, there may be no one better to learn from than my friend Victoria Labalme in her book Risk Forward. 

 As you go through your day today, read and apply all that you learn.

 Today’s the day!