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Special Report Sep 26, 2012

SWIM WITH THE SHARKS | Harvey Mackay

9 Life Lessons for Every Entrepreneur


Here's a set of simple rules to live and work by--from a very unexpected source.

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Gordon Dean circa 1957

Gordon Dean was an American lawyer and prosecutor whose distinguished career was fairly typical for Washington types. He went to work for the Justice Department under President Franklin Roosevelt, and taught in the law schools at Duke University and the University of Southern California. He was appointed one of the original commissioners of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1949 by President Harry Truman, eventually becoming its chairman from 1950 to 1953.

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In short, he's hardly the usual suspect to offer entrepreneurs advice in 2012. Stick with me. When Dean died in a plane crash in 1958, its said that among his personal effects was an envelope with nine life lessons scribbled on the back. These lessons arent about the law, or atomic energy, or foreign relations. Rather, they represent wisdom that should be shared and used by people everywhere. These are his superb lessons: 1. Never lose your capacity for enthusiasm. 2. Never lose your capacity for indignation. 3. Never judge people. Dont type them too quickly. But in a pinch, never first assume that a man is bad; first assume that he is good and that, at worst, he is in the gray area between bad and good. 4. Never be impressed by wealth alone or thrown by poverty. 5. If you cant be generous when its hard to be, you wont be when its easy. 6. The greatest builder of confidence is the ability to do something--almost anything--well.

7. When confidence comes, then strive for humility; you arent as good as all that. 8. The way to become truly useful is to seek the best that other brains have to offer. Use them to supplement your own, and be prepared to give credit to them when they have helped. 9. The greatest tragedies in the world and personal events stem from misunderstandings. So communicate! The reason Im so impressed with Deans lessons is that--besides being written on an envelope--they apply across the board, to all ages in every profession. They are simple yet profound. Perhaps you remember Robert Fulghums runaway best seller, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, which the author says reminds us that the most basic aspects of life bear its most important opportunities. Again, the life lessons contained in Fulghums book are not complicated. It is their simplicity that makes them universal. Y ou may have noticed that I end every column with a moral--a life lesson of sorts. Some of those morals resulted from experiences that taught me I still have plenty to learn. We have all learned some lessons along the way, including plenty from the school of hard knocks. Mackays Moral: We are all students of life--pay attention and take notes! Read more: Find Y our Employees' Hidden Talents 2 Little Words to Close More Sales How Not to Get Burned in a Handshake Deal
Harvey Mackay , author of The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World, is founder of the MackayMitchell Envelope Co. He has w ritten six bestsellers, including Sw im w ith the Sharks Without Being Eaten A live. @HarveyMackay

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Ella Rucker Thursday at 4:59pm


Simple. Brilliant.
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patm Thursday at 1:36pm


Good article. Good rules to live by. The last one is particularly important. Anyone can do anything w hen things go right, but there is no substitution for face-to-face discussions w hen there is a problem. And w hen you do, its crucial to remind yourself of rule #3. Most people are good.
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Ali Almoosawi Thursday at 12:12am


Thank you Mr. Harvey for this great article, i think w e need such lessons in our life to improve our personality and w ork.
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Amber King Wednesday at 9:21pm


The w ay to become truly useful is to seek the best that other brains have to offer. Use them to supplement your ow n, and be prepared to give credit to them w hen they have helped. This is a lesson that businesses need to understand and implement in their company. Nurture smart minds and use it how ever make sure that you give them the credit that they deserve.
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Randy Zeitman Wednesday at 3:24pm

I'm not taking this lightly ... not one bit. My only comment is that there are tragedies, few but significant, that don't come from misunderstandings but instead raw sadism. So, at w orst, there are indeed some people w ho are not in the grey... but those few , perhaps very very few , can cause phenomenal havoc.
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