Mastering the Art of Success(^)
WRIGHT^
So how do you define success as a business owner?
JOHNSON^
As a business owner, I define success as being in a state of joy and
ha ppiness. It means feeling good. Success is r elat ed to how I think, and
it is having a heart of gratitude, being available f or myself and o ther s,
and being able to love and trust.
Life has taught me that success is intimately ti ed to being grateful,
being able to forgive, and being able to learn lessons from very tough
moments. It may or may not mean the achievement of a goal. I have
come to enjoy working on a goal and growing in the process. Being able
to make a difference in the lives of my customers (helping them a chieve
th eir goals), my community (helping non-profits achieve their
missi on), and my family (being available, loving, and trusting) are
important ingredients to being successful. As a business owner, there is
usually greater flexibility, which means I can take time to take care of
myself—that is s uccess.
As I think about succes s, I am reminded of lessons learned from my
family and from AT&T where I spent more than twenty years as a
leader in sales and customer service. I cherish the discipline, hard work,
and love of learning that came from my family. I now also cherish some
of the tough customers who were very demanding. From them I
learned to listen attentively to my current customers and to always stay in
communicati on with them. From them I learned communication is a key
to succes s. From work and family I learned what it takes to be
successful.
WRIGHT^
So what does s uccess look like for your customers?
JOHNSON^
Many of my customers have told me that success is achieving their
goals, building world-class organizations, developing high-performance
employees who love their jobs, and creating an experience for their