Creating Progress in a World of Change
Dean Lindsay
World Gumbo Publishing (November 2019)

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re probably right.” Henry Ford

Change and growth are frequently viewed as synonymous with progress. In  fact, more often than not, they are anything but. The term “double-edge sword”  is eminently appropriate. Especially in the business world, change and growth have resulted in failure more often than success.

This is what Dean Lindsay has in mind when suggesting that progress is achieved by those who have a mindset — and are perceived by others to have a mindset — that is associated with progress. In the sports world, that was true of the New York Yankees relief pitcher, Mariano Rivera when he walked out of the bullpen and of John Wooden’s basketball teams at U.C.L.A. when they came out on the court. They were almost always winners. Game over.

Winners in business think like winners. That attitude attracts and retains customers. It also intimidates and discourages competitors. Lindsay makes a key point when stressing that success is hard-earned.  Years of research conducted by Anders Ericsson and his associates at Florida State University confirms that peak performance depends on thousands of hours of “deep and deliberate practice,” almost always under expert supervision and/or in competition with other peak performers.

Another of Lindsay’s key points is that winners are not so much driven by success as they are by purpose and meaning.  According to Viktor Frankl, “the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.”

In this context, I am again reminded of an observation by Theodore  Roosevelt: “People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

In the business world, winners measure their own success by the nature and extent of their customers’ success. Stated another way, they measure their own progress by how much progress they help their customers to achieve.

If you are in need of practical advice to increase your personal growth and professional development, look no further.