Mastering the Art of Successto be desired. What c an they do to keep from paving their road to
failure with good intentions?FORD
To me that means they must elevate their PQ. I have previously
defined that as the Persistency Quotient. As IQ is the measurement of
intelligence, it is considered by many as the leading indicator of future
success. PQ probably comes much closer to being an accurate yardstick.
It synthesizes down to that unyielding continuation of effort, to the
fulfillment of one’s goal. I measure persistency in “did-its” similar to
de grees centigrade. At one hundred degrees, water expands sixteen
hundred times and becomes steam. Now we have the power to catapult
F- 18s from carrier decks, power the grid and invest in electric vehicles.
Fr om one to ninety-nine “did-its” you show no apparent results but on
the one-hundredth “did-it” you get it!
When instructing a sales or marketing class, I call that the “close.”
When sales managers, supervisors, or trainers ask, “ How many times
do I ask the customer to buy?” the correct reply should b e, “One more
close than they have nos.”
Whenever I feel like the goal will never be attained, I think about my
fr iend James Jeffrey and his son, Neal. Neal had a congenital speech
impediment which caused him to stutter uncontrollably. When he was
in the fifth grade he stuttered so badly that he could not even say grac e.
Yet with a laborious effort, he w ould s ay, “I will be a great quarterback.”
James thought. “No chance.” Even though Neal had all the talent, it
broke his dad’s heart to think about the rejection he would face.
Neal h ad faith and that PQ of which I preach. By seventh grade, he
was throwing the ball eighty or a hundred times a day. (In the winter he
threw at a mattress hung on the basement wall). He then led Shawnee
Mission West High School in some of their greatest seasons and went
on to Baylor University. The University’s team hadn’t won a
championship since 1924.
All this time he was taking speech therapy, lear ning that if he sang
the words came rolling out. Can you see this big strapping man,
st anding in the huddle singing the cadence? He made his c oach the
happiest man on the planet in 1 974. That was the year he led the