Over the summer, I spoke to a group of First Tee golf players ranging from 12-17 years old. My talk addressed five principles—my five “keywords” for attaining true success in life.
I was amazed at the insightful questions the kids asked me. Our discussion was compelling and thoughtful. It was clear that all of us, regardless of age and background, were on the same page.
I believe that instilling these five principles into kids early on is crucial for building the self-reliance and esteem they need for real success. As adults, we must continue to further develop these skills. It is never too late to adopt these five principles. And, in my experience, one can never be too good at them.
Support Systems
“The single greatest ‘people skill’ is a highly developed and authentic interest in the other person.”
—Bob Burg
We were not meant to navigate this world on our own. I learned this early in my childhood. My hard-working immigrant parents were my role models. They always supported, promoted, and prioritized my health, education, and confidence building.
- We must have go-to people to rely on, and we must also be that go-to person for someone else. You create a strong support system by supporting people and letting them know you see and value them. We often underestimate how much of an impact our own wisdom and life experience can have on others.
- A support system should include family, friends, mentors, coaches, peers, and colleagues. It’s a living, breathing network you develop throughout your life.
- As a leader, I found that mentoring and coaching have been the greatest source of energy in my life. When you look back, it’s not business growth results, sales accomplishments, or the organizational changes that matters most. It’s the impact we have on people’s lives and careers that leave the strongest legacy.
Focus
“Focus does not mean saying yes, it means saying no.”
— Steve Jobs
I must admit, it’s very challenging to keep focus in today’s world. Our fast-paced world no doubt makes it very difficult to learn how to center our attention. This is a key area to be attentive to. It’s easy to be engulfed in too many goals and lose sight of our top priorities.
- In order to truly learn how to focus, you must prioritize only a few big goals and objectives in your life. What do you most want to accomplish? What is most important to you?
- Don’t try to tackle too many big goals at the same time. Break them down. Achieve a smaller number of goals first, and only then move to other ones. That makes complex goals much more palatable and achievable
- A big part of learning focus is learning to say no. This can be incredibly challenging, especially when we are too involved in a problem. I learned this over many years of Business Plans and Strategic Plans cycles. Limit your big goals to the ones that will really make the difference. That means having 3-4 areas of focus. That’s it.
Discipline
“Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.”
—John C. Maxwell
I don’t believe that only innate talent leads to success. Instead, success comes from a higher dose of discipline. And discipline often comes from learning to focus on your areas of strength, or the areas where a gap if corrected can have the most positive impact —which comes from a lot of practice and discipline.
- My Chinese upbringing emphasized effort over innate talent. This is a common belief in Asian culture. Discipline and practice helped me overcome myriad challenges in my life.
- As the saying goes, in order to master a skill, you must practice it for 10,000 hours. This proves that talent alone cannot lead to success. It’s an intrinsic principle of a more humble mindset that we can always learn and we can always get better.
- Discipline can take many shapes and forms that work best for each one of us. When I first moved to the U.S. in my early 20s, I complemented my English studying by watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune literally every day. Those game shows helped me rapidly accelerate my English vocabulary, writing, and speaking skills.
- The discipline of ongoing learning followed me over the years. I am now beyond those TV programs (thankfully), but I need to continually learn with reading, audiobooks, and connecting with people who know much more than I do.
Resilience
“The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.”
—Japanese Proverb
My parents told me I needed to learn to live like bamboo. Bamboo is flexible, bending in treacherous wind and rain, but never breaking. It is capable of adapting to anything, and so it endures.
- We must develop mental “toughness”—the capacity to recover quickly from adversity. Learning from my parents’ immigrant journey and having grown up in a developing country, I developed a level of resilience that is key to managing adversities.
- Leading people and businesses under a hyperinflation macroeconomic condition, political volatility, exchange currency shifts certainly builds resilience.
- We all have our share of life and career struggles. We must learn from our mistakes and grow stronger from them. .
- In job interviews, I’m most interested in learning about the candidate’s failures and how they overcame them. What did they learn from them? How did they persevere? That’s what helps determine who I want on my team.
Attitude
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
—Maya Angelou
I’m a natural optimist. Even still, I tend to be critical with people because I set high standards for myself and those I care for.
I discovered that a shift in my attitude could change this. I still keep my targets high, but I now also celebrate small accomplishments—a lot. This keeps people motivated. Be personal. Thank people. Appreciate them. Tell them they are valued. Recognize efforts that support the broader purpose we work for.
- Your attitude has an incredible ability to “contaminate” others positively or negatively.
- As a leader, a positive attitude always draws people to you and encourages them to do their best work. Remind them of the purpose behind our work.
- We have a choice in what kind of attitude we embrace every day. There is always a positive lesson to glean from every hardship.
I can help you master these 5 key principles to become a more bold, inspirational MedTech leader. Contact me to learn how.
