INSIDE OUTunderstand just what such a risk is and you can devise your own
in line with your life-style and needs.AN ABILITY FOR FLEXIBILITY
Flexibility in a person projects an image of being accommodating.
It indicates someone who is willing to make things work in a
way that is not threatening to others. A flexible person's subtext
says "I'll work with you."
One of the people I talked to in gathering material for this
book was a self-made millionaire. He had built a small grocery
store in Chicago into a huge, multinational chain of supermarkets.
When I asked for one "key" to the secret of his success, he
laughed. "It's not as simple as that. Maybe hard work, determina-
tion ..." He shook his head. "No, actually, if I had to pin it down
to one thing I'd say it was because I was never afraid to change
horses in midstream."
At my blank look, he explained himself. "If I started something,
a store in what I soon realized was a bad location, and I saw
that it wasn't working out, I'd give it up right away and find
some other location. And it wasn't only location. That's just an
example. When anything didn't work out, I wouldn't hold on.
I'd take a close, hard look to see if it was as good as I thought,
and if it wasn't, I'd give up on it and try something else. You
have to know when to persist, but you also have to know when
to quit."
"Did that apply to people, too?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Maybe I was ruthless, but I think I was just
realistic. If employees didn't work out, I dropped them. I never
let myself be locked into anything, nor was I too rigid. You know,
if I had to sum up my success in one word, I'd say flexibility."