What leads to success?

Richard St. John compacts seven years of research on [500] successful people into an unmissable 3-minute slide show on the real secrets of success. This comes to us from TedTalks that Richard delivered it December 14 in three minutes flat (normally takes him two hours).

Here is my summary of his presentation:

  • Passion: "I am driven by passion." Freeman Thomas, car designer, Daimler Chrysler

  • Work: "It's all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have fun." Rupert Murdoch

  • Focus: "I think it all has to do with focusing yourself on one thing." Norman Jewison, filmmaker

  • Persist: "Persistence is the number one reason for our success." Joe Kraus, co-founder, Excite. You have to persist through failure and CRAP which means Criticism, Rejection, Assholes, Pressure.

  • Ideas: "I had an idea – founding the first micro-computer software company…" Bill Gates, software guy. Listen. Observe. Be Curious. Ask Questions. Problem Solve. Make Connections.

  • Good: "To be successful put your nose down in something and get damn good at it." Alex Garden, Game Developer. There's no magic, Practice, Practice, Practice.

  • Push: "Push yourself. Physically, mentally, you gotta push, push, push." David Gallo, marine scientist. Push through shyness and self doubt. "I always had self doubts. I wasn;t good enough, easn;t smart enough. I didn't think I'd make it." Goldie Hawn, actress. It is not always easy to push yourself and that is why they created Motherhood. "My mother pushed me." Frank Gehry, architect

  • Serve: "It was a privilege to serve as a doctor." Sherwin Nuland, professor of surgery, Yale. Millionaires serve others something of value.


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Want more like this? Stop by TEDTalks or my Podcast: Daily Thoughts for Business.