Success in Business Takes Generosity

PC World — I just finished listening to the audio CD of Outliers, the new book by Malcolm Gladwell. He makes a point that success takes more than just being ambitious, extremely smart, or working hard. We all know plenty of ambitious people who don't make it very far in life, or the hard-working person who makes just $10 an hour.

Gladwell's main point is that success doesn't just happen with the individual. For the person to achieve extraordinary results and to be considered an Outlier, you must also look at their culture and community and family and what's happening in their generation.

Gladwell uses Bill Gates in a particular example. He writes that Bill Gates became the world's richest man not just through his smarts but had extraordinary circumstances happen to him-for instance, he had extraordinary access to computers in high school in the 60s, when professors at leading universities had limited access to computers. And also, Bill Gates had connections to the right people because of the right family circumstances.

So if we don't have the lucky gene pool that Bill Gates has, does this mean we're doomed to fail? Absolutely not! Start looking around and start counting your blessings. I believe that "once in a lifetime opportunities" happen every day.

Here are my three lessons for achieving success:

Success Does Not Happen Alone

In order for you to achieve success, you need others in on your plan. No one who has achieved tremendous has done it on their own. It doesn't matter if you are talking about financial assistance or contributing positively to a big cause. Entrepreneurial companies need loyal and smart employees to build and achieve the entrepreneur's vision. You need to involve others in on your plan.

Make a Clear Distinction Whether You Are a Practitioner or an Entrepreneur

There is nothing wrong with being practitioners in your business. There are many successful practitioners out there making a great living helping many clients and enjoying and living a highly effective life.

However, if your goal is change an industry or change the world, then you need to move from being a practitioner to an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur works on their business, not in it. I heard a great example recently where dentists are practitioners because they are so deep in their businesses that they are still working in your mouth. You need to get outside of the mouth to move from practicing dentistry to being in the dental industry. At what level are you playing in your business?

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