Spring: A Season for Growth

“Goliath and I have met on many occasions during my lifetime. And I suspect we will meet again.” 

I have distilled my story down to several lessons that work for any business or personal endeavor. The lessons serve as a snapshot of the wisdom I have gleaned after years of starting and leading companies, raising a family, setting world cycling records, and serving my community.  

Three of those lessons are:  

1. Take risks early in your career 

You are going to have setbacks at some point in your business or in your life. In the final analysis, though, failure is not about the falling down but the staying down. The ability to get back up over and over again will set you apart from those who doubt your abilities or tell you that your ideas are unsound.

2. Associate only with people of integrity 

To be a person of integrity, speak honestly, directly, and respectfully to everyone in your life and in your business. Maybe Mark Twain said it best: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. 

Know what you don’t know, and surround yourself with people from whom you can learn.  

After making some mistakes building teams early in my career, I learned to hire and empower a diverse group of people at Great American Cookies and Caribou Coffee who possessed exceptional talents and were not shy about challenging me. I marshaled those talents to build the largest cookie company in the nation and later to prepare Caribou to take on the industry giant, Starbucks. 

I share my story to help people face their Goliaths. Starting a new company, changing jobs, going back to school, surviving a divorce, or just trying to get back in shape are all stressful events that require courage and commitment. We all have the ability to battle giants. The challenge is finding courage to step into the valley.