Page 65 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

46 • CEO Material: How to Be a Leader in Any Organization

Invest in yourself, in your own education. You can get opportuni-
ties, even at your local community college, to be a true global
participant.
Without lots of information, you don’t have a chance of being a
leader. You can’t argue your point or even discuss it unless you have tons
of facts and material. You can’t be a change agent, be globally aware, be
innovative and creative, be really good at your job, be decisive, manage
your career well, or develop other people.
No investment is guaranteed in life except the investment you make
in yourself. Continuously learning is to invest in you. (Note: Making an
investment in yourself is not buying an expensive new car—that’s one of
the worst investments you can make in yourself. In case you’re curious,
though, according to an article by Del Jones in USA Today, the favorite
cars of CEOs are in this order: BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, Toyotas, and
Porsches.)
You learn by reading. You learn from mistakes. You learn from lis-
tening and observing. When CEO John Krebbs drives his Mitsubishi
3000 VR4 down Route 28 in northern Nevada, not only does he keep his
hands on the wheel at the most efficient 10 and 2 positions but his index
and middle fingers are also spread an inch apart. Why? When watching
a close-up on television of Emerson Fitipaldi winning the Indianapolis
500, he observed Fitipaldi move his index fingers toward 12 for more
controlled steering.
If you feel that you are too old, think you know it all, want to try to
skate through, or figure that if you don’t know it already, chances are that
you’re not interested in learning it, you’ll limit your advancement.
What you know makes you a lot more than your résumé. You’ll be
the same five years from now except for the things you learn during those
five years.
The best in their field have an attitude of lifelong learning. Warren
Buffett says that if you end your day without knowing more than you
started, you’re not doing something right. Tiger Woods says that he wakes
up every day knowing that he can be a better husband, father, and
person—as well as a better golfer. The artist Goya at age 82 wrote in a
corner of one of his paintings, “I am still learning.” My publisher,