Page 83 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

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

■ Drive results in the economy, the country, and the world.
■ Enjoy a cocktail of sustained passion, energy, and infectious
enthusiasm—and you understand the following story.

On his sixth birthday, Jerry, a CEO friend of mine, found alongside his
birthday cake eight college brochures that his mother had collected
for him. “Here, you need to choose one,” she said. “It’s your choice.”
Jerry picked up and carefully looked at each brochure one at a time. He
could read a lot of the words because his mother had home schooled
him prior to kindergarten. Notre Dame’s brochure had the most eye-
catching photos with lots of trees and a lake (something he didn’t
have in the high-desert part of Utah where he and his mother lived
alone and relatively poor). “This one,” said Jerry.
“Good,” she smiled. “Now make a wish, blow out your candles, and
open your presents.”
Jerry explained to me years later that his mother’s actions were not
to force him into something he didn’t want to do. Rather, discussion
about his education was as much a part of daily life as brushing his
teeth, doing morning chores, and finishing his schoolwork. It was the
world he was brought into, like a golfing parent might introduce golf
to his or her child or the son of a football coach might become a player.
Jerry saw it as a child and later as an adult: His mother’s belief was
that a good education from a name university would give him a better
life. Jerry was on board with that goal even before the age of six.
The summer before going into ninth grade, in between his lawn
maintenance jobs, Jerry sent away for Notre Dame’s student
application form—three years before he would actually use it. When
he received the application, he spent the next few weeks studying the
requirements he would need: course work completed, test scores, a
personal essay, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities
(e.g., sports, clubs, yearbook, newspaper, student government, etc.),
community involvement, and jobs outside of school.
With this blueprint of what would be used three years later to
determine his acceptance into Notre Dame, he began laying out his
plan of activity for high school. Every decision was made with
consideration of how it fit into the total picture of a stellar university
application that he saw as a tested template of what it took to be
successful to get in.