part0007

I n this book I’m going to help you understand what you need to do to achieve the success in life that you desire and deserve. I will do so by providing you with a practical framework that will help you get better results at work, be successful in your career, and enjoy a fulfilling life outside of work.

This may seem like a tall order for one book, but it isn’t. Hundreds of researchers have spent more than three decades studying what the most successful and happiest people do differently than others, and they’ve identified characteristics that set these peoples’ lives apart. The researchers have found answers to the following questions:

Some people will read this book because they are just starting to think about their careers and the kind of lives they want to lead. Others will want to learn how to advance their careers, either to take their careers to the next level or to get back on track after setbacks. Counselors and mentors will read this book because they want to help others achieve their goals. And parents will want to help their children make choices that will lead to happy, healthy, and productive lives. No matter who you are, if you’re interested in achieving the success in life that you desire and deserve, or are interested in helping others do so, then this book is designed for you.

One of the most important lessons you can take from this book is that believing that successful people are born leaders, natural talents, or overnight successes is misleading and ultimately counterproductive. Researchers agree that what looks like innate talent is usually the result of years of dedicated time and effort. Indeed, it typically takes years of mindful, deliberate practice for one to develop what looks like natural ability. Consider the following examples:

Tennis champion Serena Williams, who has won multiple Olympic gold medals, is often portrayed as being a “natural” athlete. Frankly, we do not know whether she was born with any innate athletic advantages. What we do know is that Williams started playing tennis when she was only three years old when her family moved to Compton, California, to begin her and her sister Venus’s (another world class champion) tennis training in earnest. The family moved several times to give Serena and Venus the best coaching available. By the time Serena was seen as an overnight success, she had invested over fifteen years of hard work into becoming one of the most accomplished tennis players in the world, enduring several losses and injuries along the way.

Another example is British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whose impassioned speeches inspired the United Kingdom during the darkest days of World War II, and who is considered to be one of the greatest orators of the twentieth century. Yet for years he worked hard to overcome a speech impediment. He practiced his speeches over and over again until they seemed to flow effortlessly. Churchill sometimes even used his speech impediment to his advantage by deliberately inserting long pauses in his speeches for emphasis. Actor James Earl Jones, the voice of Star Wars’ Darth Vader, also overcame a childhood stutter to become one of media’s most powerful and memorable voices. In an interview, Jones said he believes that his childhood difficulties speaking helped him become a particularly good listener throughout life. He credits a high school teacher’s efforts to help him overcome his stutter by repeatedly encouraging him to recite poetry out loud in class as the first step along his path to becoming an actor.

As a final example, The Beatles, the best-selling rock band in history, was an immediate sensation in the U.S. when it made its debut on The Ed Sullivan show, the longest running variety show on television, on February 9, 1964. An unprecedented 73 million people watched, and that evening’s performance became the highest rated TV show ever at that time. What is not widely known is that the band practiced throughout Europe for several years, including two years in German bars for several hours each day, before it became what seemed to be an overnight success. The band members had played together in over 1,200 concerts by the time they reached the Ed Sullivan Show.

Natural born geniuses and overnight successes may exist, but they are few and far between. Most successful people develop their talents and earn their successes day-by-day, play-by-play, while enduring roadblocks, mistakes, and failures along the way. Certainly some people are born with advantages (e.g., physical size for jockeys, height for basketball players, an “ear” for music for musicians). Yet only dedication to mindful, deliberate practice over many years can turn those advantages into talents and those talents into successes. Through the same kind of dedicated practice, people who are not born with such advantages can develop talents that nature put a little farther from their reach. For example, even though you may feel that you weren't born with a talent for math, you can significantly increase your mathematical abilities through mindful, deliberate practice. Or, if you consider yourself “naturally” shy, putting in the time and effort to develop your social skills can enable you to interact with people at social occasions with energy, grace, and ease.

A common question people ask is, “How much does a person’s IQ predict his or her success?” IQ refers to “intelligence quotient,” which is typically assessed by how well a person scores on conventional standardized intelligence tests that are designed to assess cognitive abilities. Although there are several different “intelligence” tests, most are designed to assess cognitive abilities associated with verbal comprehension (e.g., abstract reasoning, vocabulary, acquisition of general knowledge from one’s culture), perceptual reasoning (e.g., quantitative reasoning, visual spatial processing, inductive reasoning), working memory (e.g., attention, concentration) and processing speed (e.g., how quickly one processes information). In short, they are designed to assess one’s verbal and nonverbal analytic abilities. Before you read any further, please answer this question: How much of a person’s success—let’s say job success in terms of results, salary, and promotions—is predicted by his or her IQ?

The correct answer is d . Psychologist Robert Sternberg, one of the world’s most renowned experts on the link between intelligence and job success, found that IQ, as assessed by conventional standardized tests, predicts only between 4–25% of people’s success, assuming they are somewhere in the normal range of intelligence.[ 1 ] Sternberg explains that people often believe that “being smart is the same thing as being intelligent, and they define intelligence as how well people do on standardized tests and grades in school.”[ 2 ]

Why isn’t IQ a powerful predictor of long-term success? IQ tests tend to focus on analytical skill—also known as “book smarts.” Although book smarts may help us get high grades in school, this kind of intelligence isn’t broad enough to help us succeed in a complex, ambiguous, and ever-changing world in which real problems are often hard to define, the one best answer doesn’t always exist, and we need the support of others to accomplish our goals. In this context, abilities that aren’t assessed by intelligence tests become central to success. These talents include (but are not limited to) creativity, flexibility, judgment, self-discipline, internal motivation, commitment to hard work, willingness to invest in lifelong learning, ability to work well with others, persistence, resilience, and the ability to cope effectively with the inevitable ups and downs of everyday life.

This explains why many people who excel in school stumble after they graduate and why many people who are mediocre students achieve—or even exceed—their goals. A person can be very smart as measured by scores on intelligence tests yet also be unmotivated, undisciplined, and undependable. Someone may get top grades in engineering courses yet be unwilling to work cooperatively in teams. Consequently, they may not get the promotions they believe they deserve and their important ideas may never see the light of day. Certainly there are many factors that affect people’s ability to achieve their goals, some of which are out of their control (e.g., health, unexpected life crises), so this book focuses on helping you make the most of out the choices you can make that are under your control.[ 3 ]

Not only are book smarts insufficient for achieving success in life, they can also backfire when not complemented with other important skills. For example, researcher Willem Verbeke and his colleagues investigated how high general mental ability (GMA, “the ability to think flexibly and reason abstractly,” as assessed by a standardized “Test of Non Verbal Reasoning” that included 40 exercises) and social competence (as assessed by a 10-question “social competence scale” designed to assess “the ability to notice and make sense of social situations and adapt accordingly”) affect salespeople’s performance. They divided salespeople into four groups: high GMA/high social competence, high GMA/low social competence, low GMA/high social competence, and low GMA/low social competence. They found that those who scored the highest in GMA and social competence performed the best. Interestingly, those who scored the highest in GMA and the lowest in social competence achieved the lowest sales performance, even worse than those in the study who had the lowest scores in GMA paired with the lowest social competence.[ 4 ]

The researchers believe that the salespeople with the highest GMA and lowest social competence may have been unable or unwilling to translate their deep knowledge of their products and services into a language that potential customers could understand, and most people don’t want to buy things they don’t understand. Or, it could be that the salespeople who had the highest GMA and the lowest social competence overloaded potential customers with information or made their potential customers feel stupid, and no one likes to feel stupid.

To be fair, many other researchers make the case that IQ is an innate trait that is both stable over time and a significant predictor of success. They claim that the higher your “natural” IQ is, the more likely you’ll get better grades in school, stay in school, and be successful. This research has been challenged by researchers who say that scores on IQ tests and other standardized tests of ability (e.g., college admission tests) are changeable and significantly influenced by the environment in which one grows up. They point out that wealthy and more educated parents are more likely to be able to provide their children with access to enhanced learning opportunities, such as tutors, better schools, experience with computers, understanding of mainstream cultural assumptions, and financial support that enables their children to take standardized tests multiple times, all of which can positively influence test scores.

The most convincing evidence for this comes from studies of adopted children. Adoption typically moves children from lower- to higher-SES [social economic status] homes; and there are marked differences, beginning in infancy, between the environments of higher-SES families and those of lower-SES families in factors that plausibly influence intellectual growth.

He cites research that found that “the impact on IQ is dramatic,” noting that “adopted children typically score 12 or more points higher than comparison children (e.g., siblings left with birth parents or children adopted by lower-SES parents). That’s roughly equivalent to moving from the 50th percentile in IQ to the 79th percentile.”[ 5 ]

As you can imagine, researchers who study the degree to which IQ is innate and stable over time, as well as whether there is a strong link between IQ and success in life (rather than just in school), spend a lot of time debating each other and finding flaws in each other’s research. As a person trying to get the most out of life that you can, you don’t need to worry about which group of researchers is winning because, regardless of their positions in this debate, all researchers who study success agree that IQ is only one factor that predicts success in life .

Jumping into the middle of this debate may be entertaining and interesting, but it won’t aid your quest for success. How do I know? Because Stanford Professor of Psychology Carol Dweck and her colleagues have shown that you’re more likely to achieve your life goals if you believe your intelligence and personality are fluid (changeable with effort) rather than fixed (innate and unchangeable). You’ll learn more about Dweck’s research, what it means for your quest for success, as well as several other beliefs that can hold you back or propel you forward toward your goals, in Chapter 2.

I am not claiming that analytical and technical skills don’t matter when it comes to success. They most certainly do matter because they help you become an expert in an area that is meaningful to you and that adds value for other people. That’s one reason why advanced education pays off. People with college degrees are more likely to earn more, stay employed, and have retirement and health care benefits than people with high school diplomas only. In many cases—such as in the nursing profession—advanced degrees also pay off in the quality of service clients receive. Certainly there are exceptions; but in general, advanced degrees pay off for individuals, organizations, and societies. Yet analytical and technical skills, while important, are also insufficient for achieving long-term success because over-relying on these skills can hold you back from developing other perspectives and skills that are essential to achieving an impact and achieving your goals in life.

Some people think that success is based on common sense. But while common sense is indeed common, it can be wrong. Just because people generally believe something doesn’t make it true. It doesn’t help you to follow the crowd if they’re heading in the wrong direction. For example, people who believe in the myths of natural talent and overnight success may not be willing to dedicate the hard, sometimes painful, time and effort toward developing an expertise that can be a foundation for their success because they believe that talent is fixed. People who believe that analytical intelligence and technical skills are sufficient for achieving success may not invest in other skills that separate the most successful people from the least successful.

Furthermore, common sense—even when it’s true—doesn’t always motivate people to take action. If common sense were all that it’s cracked up to be, no one would talk on their phones while driving and everyone would eat healthy foods and exercise regularly. Knowing isn’t the same as doing, even when doing what you know will help you lead a longer, happier, and more successful life. This book is designed to inspire and enable you to put what you learn about success into action so that you are more likely to turn your dreams into reality.

Success is defined here as getting results that matter at work while at the same time being able to do work that is meaningful to you and that makes a contribution to others. Not surprisingly, researchers have found that we are motivated to get better results when we believe that our work makes a positive difference in the world. We all want to believe that the work we do matters because we spend much of our lives at our jobs. If we assume someone works a 40-hour work week with two weeks off every year over a 40 year career, that adds up to 80,000 hours. I realize that individuals, organizations, and cultures differ in what they believe is a “regular” work week and typical length of a career, but you get the point. The hours we spend at work can make us feel like we’re playing an important part in making a difference in the world, or they can make us feel like we’re wasting our time by playing an insignificant role toward a goal that doesn’t matter.[ 6 ]

When we believe we are engaged in meaningful work, we have greater pride in what we do, feel more responsibility for the outcomes of our work, are more willing to go above and beyond the call of duty, handle stress better, and are more likely to stay motivated during the inevitable ups and downs of everyday work life. When our work is aligned with our values, we feel better about ourselves, are more connected to our colleagues who share the same values and vision, and spend less time and emotional energy trying to reconcile a disconnect between what we do and who we are.

In addition to contributing to the quality of our lives, believing that our work matters has a significant impact on bottom line results. In a Gallup study of over 79,000 employees in 142 countries, researchers found that people who experience meaning in their everyday work are more likely to feel engaged with their jobs. Organizations with engaged employees experience greater productivity, higher profitability, higher customer ratings, and lower turnover. Engaged employees are more committed to their work, take more ownership for advancing their organizations’ goals, and are more likely to go above and beyond the call of duty to achieve and exceed expectations. Unfortunately, the Gallup researchers also found that, on average, only 13% of employees across 142 countries reported feeling engaged with their work (30% of U.S. employees reported that they felt engaged in their work).[ 7 ] This low level of engagement was consistent across pay levels, so those at higher levels of the organization did not feel more engaged than those at lower levels. Almost one quarter of those surveyed worldwide reported themselves to be “actively disengaged.” Workers who feel actively disengaged from their organizations tend to be “unhappy and unproductive at work and liable to spread negativity to coworkers.”

Another global study of 12,000 primarily white-collar workers in a variety of industries revealed that employees who feel their work is meaningful are “more than three times as likely to stay with their organizations,” report “1.7 times higher job satisfaction,” and are “1.4 times more engaged at work.”[ 8 ] Sadly, this same study found that 50% of the employees surveyed did not find their work to be meaningful or significant.

The motivating power of purpose is exemplified in pacifist Mahatma Gandhi’s crusade against social injustice and struggle for the liberation of India from England’s rule. From elementary school through law school, his performance in school was average. One of his school reports describes him as “good at English, fair in Arithmetic and weak in Geography; conduct very good, bad handwriting.”[ 9 ] When he graduated from school, he ranked 404th out of 823 graduating students. He withdrew from the first college he attended after one semester, due in part to recurring headaches and homesickness. Years later, his passionate desire to alleviate social injustice in India gave him the motivation and perseverance to become highly skilled in public speaking, public relations, fundraising, and negotiations in order to build a nonviolent movement of civil disobedience that helped bring about India’s independence from England. Former president of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, as well as the civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., credited Gandhi for inspiring their commitment to peaceful resistance as a powerful weapon against social injustice. Clearly, meaning matters .

What looks like success to one person may not look like success to another person. Some people see career success as climbing the career ladder to the most senior levels of their organization or field; others see it as staying in a position they can enjoy for many years while being respected for their expertise rather than taking on the obligations of more senior levels of leadership. Some people want a career that feels like a calling and makes them feel that they’re fulfilling their purpose in life through their work. Others believe that a successful career is one that gives them the energy, time, and flexibility to fulfill their purpose outside of work. Still others see success as having the choice to ramp up or ramp down their careers at will to be able to engage in other important commitments (e.g., caretaking, travelling, and hobbies) at different times in their lives. For many of us, a successful career involves an eclectic mix of the above, and our definition of career success often changes at different stages of our lives.

Even though career success is in the eye of the beholder, research provides us with insights that can help us achieve our career and broader life goals. Researchers Jeffrey Greenhaus and Ellen Ernst Kossek define a career as a series of work experiences that evolves over the course of one’s life.[ 10 ] They define career success as feeling positive overall with both the career choices one has made and the outcomes of these choices.

Taking a long view of one’s career has several advantages. It helps us recognize the opportunities we have during our careers to explore our options and clarify what is most important to us professionally and personally. Taking the long view also gives us the perspective that enables us to push through temporary challenges in order to gain greater career benefits in the long run. That’s why people are willing to pay their dues doing work they may not necessarily enjoy for a while (especially early in their careers), take on high-risk and stressful projects, or complete a degree while simultaneously working full time and raising a family (as do many of the MBAs I teach). Although some career challenges are freely chosen, other challenges, such as finding oneself working for a difficult boss or being laid off, are not. Taking the long view makes it easier to see unwelcome career events as temporary and as inevitable, if not desirable, learning opportunities that can contribute to our growth.

Kossek and her colleagues encourage us to create what they call a “sustainable career”—a career that fits with one’s values, is flexible enough to evolve as one’s interests and life stages change, provides enough financial security to take care of one’s economic needs, and offers frequent opportunities for “rejuvenation.”[ 11 ] A sustainable career adapts to the demands and unpredictability of a complex, global, and fast-changing environment in which opportunities come and go quickly, jobs and professions can have a short shelf life due to technological advancements, organizations disassemble and reassemble due to mergers and acquisitions, and the political climate can change in the blink of an eye. A sustainable career is also built on the assumption that our personal lives, families, and communities matter to us. People are therefore willing to make career decisions to invest in their health and well-being, take care of the people they love, and adjust their career plans or work schedule to support their partner’s or spouse’s career plans.

People who create sustainable careers know that they need to actively manage their careers in order to stay employable as well as employed. They take steps to ensure they stay relevant by building flexibility and agility into their career planning. They develop a reputation for having an expertise that is in demand, and they make sure they get measurable results in whatever jobs they have so that their efforts and value are more likely to be recognized and rewarded. They are team players who build a diverse network of mutually supportive relationships and invest in the success of others. They continuously scan the environment and invest in lifetime learning. They also keep money in the bank as a cushion for the unexpected changes that may come their way.

People who develop sustainable careers also seek out jobs that help them feel psychologically, not just materially, successful.[ 12 ] Psychological measures of career success include believing that you’re making a contribution through your work, feeling that your work is aligned with your values, taking pleasure in the day-to-day work that you do, appreciating the autonomy that comes with a job, enjoying your colleagues and the people you serve through your work, and being grateful for the opportunity to do what you do. There are plenty of people who seem successful by external measures of success—such as status, job titles, salaries, degrees, awards, owning luxury homes, and driving expensive cars—yet they don’t feel successful or happy with their choices.

When I was in the MBA program at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, management professor George Odiorne advised our class that for every important decision we will face in life, there will be compromises, trade-offs, and sell-outs. He kindly warned us that we would always need to be aware of how our choices affect our lives and the lives of others. My hope is that this book will inspire you to see the many possible ways you can craft a career that fits your life goals, makes a contribution to others, and brings you not only the external measures of success that you may desire, but also satisfaction, pride, and even joy.

A successful life isn’t only about achieving work results or career goals. After all, is it worthwhile to focus so much on your work and career that you don’t take care of your health, die before your time, or never have time to spend with the people you love? Our days are numbered, and we need to use our time wisely. As the old adage goes, no one ever says on their deathbed, “I wish I spent more time at the office” (or spent more time alone on the Internet).

Although loyalty to your work and dedication to achieving your career goals are admirable, several studies have shown that time off from work benefits individuals as well as the organization. Researchers have found that that people who take time off from their jobs have more positive emotions, less stress, lower rates of depression, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (e.g., heart attacks and strokes).[ 13 ] They also tend to feel more satisfied with their work and prioritize their work better. During mental downtime, our brains stay quietly busy making sense of recently acquired information, reinforcing learning, providing us with unexpected flashes of insight, and helping us manage our emotions, all of which can help us use better judgment and make wiser decisions.[ 14 ]

Despite the many personal and organizational benefits of time off from work, several studies have shown that the average U.S. employee takes only about half of their available days off. Many people who do take time away from the job work while on vacation, check their emails, or are contacted about work-related issues. One study found that 44% of working adults check their work emails every day when on vacation and 10% check them every hour.[ 15 ] Another study, of 1,000 workers, found that 50% check their email while in bed and 38% check it during dinner.[ 16 ]

The personal health costs of overwork are significant. In a meta-analysis that reviewed 25 studies that included a total of over 600,000 people, researchers found that people who work on average 55 hours or more per week have a higher incidence of coronary disease and stroke.[ 17 ] Although researchers don’t know why there is a relationship between long work hours and illness, they speculate that people who consistently work long hours are likely to have more stress, less physical activity, and the tendency to ignore symptoms when they feel ill rather than take the time to go to the doctor. Because of the link between excessive work hours and heart disease, some researchers argue that physicians should consider work hours, along with the standard considerations of smoking, blood pressure, weight and diabetes, when evaluating a person’s risk of heart disease.

In another study, researchers found that working 11 or more hours per day was associated with an increased risk of a major episode of depression. Other studies have concluded that people who regularly skip their vacations are significantly more likely to have coronary disease compared to those who don’t. One study of over 12,000 men concluded that men who are already at risk for heart disease were more likely to die over the next nine years if they regularly skipped annual vacations.[ 18 ]

Overwork negatively affects the organization’s health as well. Overwork can lead to higher absenteeism, turnover, poor judgment, more errors, reduced self-control, and increased safety violations, all of which are costly to organizations and can lead to devastating consequences.[ 19 ] Lack of sleep, for example, has been implicated in many tragedies, including accidents at nuclear plants (Chernobyl and Three Mile Island) and plane crashes (American Airlines Flight 1420 in 1999 in which 11 people died and Air France Flight 447 in 2009 in which 228 people died). Overwork can also lead to decreased productivity, in part because working excessive hours makes it harder to prioritize and easier to waste time on details that don’t matter to the bottom line. Sarah Green Carmichael, senior associate editor at the Harvard Business Review, says it best: “In sum, the story of overwork is literally a story of diminishing returns: keep overworking, and you’ll progressively work more stupidly on tasks that are increasingly meaningless.”[ 20 ]

Despite the costs of overwork, jobs can be seductive and lure us away from taking care of our well-being and the people we love. For many people, the status, money, recognition, compliments, and inherent pleasure of their work make it easy to spend increasing time at work and less time on other parts of life. Even when we are not motivated solely by external measures of success, it’s easy to get lost in our work when our jobs are aligned with our interests and we enjoy the people we work with. But overwork, even when we do it willingly, takes its toll on employee health and the organization’s bottom line.

One thing is certain: You’re going to have to figure out how to set boundaries between your work life and home life because organizations are unlikely to do it for you. However, a few things can make setting boundaries easier. Research has shown that people who focus on priorities that are most likely to lead to desired results and who create mutually supportive work relationships at work are more likely to have the flexibility they need to easily shift time spent between work and home.

An interesting study of management consultants who were expected to work long hours and be “always on” found that some of the consultants learned how to “fly under the radar,” work fewer hours than the 60–80 hour norm, and still achieve the same quality of results as those who worked many more hours. They did so by taking on projects that were closer to home, using technology to work effectively remotely, prioritizing their time, and collaborating with other consultants to help each other achieve their work goals more efficiently. Senior leaders couldn’t tell the difference in the results of the consultants who worked 60–80 hours each week and those who worked significantly fewer hours.[ 21 ] The researcher, Erin Reid, also found that the consultants who officially reduced their work hours tended to be penalized (e.g., marginalized), whereas those who “flew under the radar” weren’t.

Throughout the rest of this book, you’ll learn strategies that the most successful people use to get better—and more meaningful—results in less time, to have successful careers, and to create the time to devote to their lives outside of work. You’ll also learn that many of the same things that predict success at work also predict happier, healthier, and longer lives. But before we turn to the strategies for achieving success in work and in life, I want to take time to answer an important question.

The short answer is yes. Ample research demonstrates that the world is not fair and that organizations are not pure meritocracies in which the most competent and deserving people are always rewarded. Every society divides people into groups based on categories such as gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, and more. Every society also grants members of some groups more access to power and advancement opportunities than members of other groups, and organizations tend to reflect these biases in their hiring and promotion practices. If you look at the demographics of the people at the top of most large organizations and nations, you’ll get a good sense of which groups have these advantages.

This is not a very smart way to run organizations and societies because researchers have found that organizations with diversity at their senior levels tend to outperform organizations that lack this diversity. A global study of 22,000 organizations worldwide found that organizations with women in senior leadership positions tend to perform better than organizations without. Based on this study, an increase in the proportion of women from zero to 30 percent would be associated with a 15 percent rise in profitability.[ 22 ] In another study, of 3,400 large companies, analysts at Credit Suisse “found excess compound returns of 3.5% per year since 2005 in companies with women on the board compared to companies where the boardroom is entirely male.”[ 23 ] Yet cultural assumptions are stubborn—even those that are harmful to an organization’s or society’s well-being .

Clearly, some people do start off with more advantages and opportunities than others. These advantages include access to high quality day care, schools, and elite colleges; being able to pay for computers, access to the Internet, tutors, college preparation courses, and dependable cars; and having family connections that can aid the process of finding a job. This doesn’t mean that success is guaranteed for people who have more advantages than others, nor does it mean that none of the people who have these advantages work hard for their successes. Furthermore, many people who lack such advantages use their challenges as fuel to drive their ambitions. Yet people who are not born into privileged groups are more likely to have their behavior scrutinized, have to work even harder to be viewed as competent, and have to be even more strategic in order to achieve their goals.

I wish the world was fair, but it isn’t. You can’t control all organizational and societal level discrimination, but you can at least get out of your own way, and by succeeding you can help others achieve the success that they desire as well. If enough people from all backgrounds become successful and help others of different backgrounds and identity groups to do so as well, then together we can change the world a bit, one successful person at a time. That, too, is a measure of success.

Your decision to read this book demonstrates your commitment to achieving the success that you want. By the time you finish this book, you will know more than most people know about what predicts success. If you implement what you learn, you will be more likely to achieve your life goals, whatever they may be.

The rest of this book is divided into five chapters. The following four chapters focus on the key characteristics that predict success: having beliefs that propel you forward rather than hold you back, developing an expertise that is meaningful to you and that matters to others, being self-motivated, and building mutually supportive relationships. Each of these chapters will provide you with research, examples, practical advice, and tools that will help you assess and develop your skills in each of these areas. In the last chapter, you’ll have the opportunity to develop a personalized action plan that can turn what you learned into action steps that help you achieve your goals.