Page 39 - How to Create a Winning Organization

The Pyramid of Success
Let me share those 15 personal qualities I selected and carefully 21
positioned in the Pyramid of Success. The blocks are not made of
red granite or pure limestone but of material much stronger and
more durable—material available to you and your team when you
look hard enough within yourself and ask those with whom you
work to do the same.
A structure is only as strong as its foundation; mine began with
two cornerstones that were chosen early in my search. There is no
success without them.

INDUSTRIOUSNESS
I was raised on a small farm where a healthy mule was considered
a modern convenience. So I discovered quickly that nothing gets
done if you stay in bed. You
must rise early and work “The heights by great men reached and kept,
late. It became one of the Were not attained by sudden flight.
first lessons my brothers But they, while their companions slept,
and I learned: There is no Were toiling upward in the night.”
trick, no easy way to accom- —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
plish the difficult task, no
substitute for old-fashioned work. Without it crops aren’t planted,
corn won’t grow, hay isn’t harvested. You perish.
For the Wooden family, hard work was as common as dirt—and
dirt is common on a farm. Thus, the first block I chose for the
Pyramid of Success—a cornerstone of the foundation—was self-
evident: hard work. I called it Industriousness, because “work” as
performed by most people isn’t real work; rather, it’s going through
the motions, putting in time, enduring boredom.
Many will complain about a hard day at the office when, in fact,
they didn’t lift a finger or think a thought. That’s not work. I had
something else in mind, the kind of work in which you are fully