The things that are unique for winning in business in America today
are not outside artificial things like IQ’s,
college board scores, college degrees and stuff like that.
The key to winning in these United States is what's inside a person.
It's your integrity, it's your people abilities, it's your character.
But by far, the most important thing you've got to have
to win in business in these United States today, is a very unique kind of mental toughness.
I believe the difference in winning and losing, in the free enterprise system is so small,
it's almost too scary to talk about. You can do 99 percent of the
things right in business and yet if you don't possess
what I call that winning edge, that mental toughness,
folks, it's impossible to win. I believe the thinking in corporate
America has been screwed up over these last 20, 25 years,
and I believe this screwed up kind of thinking started
in our big liberal universities today. I believe a college degree in business
for most universities today is not worth the paper it's written on.
I just had a son graduate from the University of Georgia a few months ago.
The reason I think that is because most of these professors
and most of these universities today haven't got enough common
sense to get out in the rain. They don't have any idea of what it
takes to win out there in the real world. They deal in a bunch of theory.
These people tried to fill up corporate America with this kind of thinking, these are
the special people, if you're born rich,
if you're born on the right side of the track, they rule you the privileged class in America.
If you're born poor from an average, ordinary background like I came from,
they say you're supposed to give up all your big dreams
and all your big ambitions and all your big hopes. If you have a high IQ, they rule you’re brilliant.
If you have an average IQ like me, they say you ought to drive
a truck or be a janitor. Well, bull… that, ain't away.
That ain't the way it is and that ain't the way it ever was.
There ain't nobody ever designed a test, nor will they design a test,
that can measure the heart of a man or woman. The things that are unique for
winning in business in America today are not outside artificial things like IQ’s,
college board scores, college degrees and stuff like that.
The key to winning in these United States is what's inside a person.
It's your integrity, it's your people abilities, it's your character.
Do you know American people have lost their toughness,
they've lost their ability to make a commitment. See folks, if you trying to win in business,
you're just going to have so many false starts, you think you’ll get it going,
time after time and you just get knocked back to ground zero,
and it's your ability to compete, to pick yourself up off the mat one more time,
to go fight one more time, that's going to determine success or failure.
You know, we've got a divorce rate in America, some 50 percent right now.
You know, it just seems like that people that go in business today,
they have an attitude, “I'm going to stick my toe in it”.
“If I start making all this money, get all these promotions,
then I'll see this thing through”. Well folks that's not the way it works.
The first step to winning in business in America today,
is you've got to make a total commitment. Total commitment gives you that little
extra ounce of courage. You need to fight back through the tough times,
winning in business demands the same kind of commitment
that winning in marriage demands.
Another thing in building this winning attitude in business,
you know I see tall people make it big in business,
and short people, dumb people and smart people, fat people, skinny people,
but if you cut out the winners in business, I see a heart of a champion,
and all these people are competitors and they don't quit.
I believe, desire and will to win is everything. I don't know why I'm like I am,
but my butt's always burning, There's always something,
dadgum you're supposed to go far. All right, dadgum you're supposed to be somebody,
you're supposed to make a difference with your life.
What does a five hundred thousand dollar a year person do,
that the fifty thousand dollar a year person doesn't do?
You look at the outside instead of those two individuals,
everything seems to be the same. They both are the same sex,
they both are the same age, they had the same training,
the same positions, the same contract, the same fringe benefits,
they both are successful, they work hard, they're good family people,
make tough commitments, but what's the difference?
What does the five hundred thousand dollar a year person do,
that the fifty thousand dollar a year person doesn't do?
He pays the price a little bit more, he works hard a little bit more,
he's loyal to the company a little bit more. He believes in a little bit more,
he makes money a little bit more, he saves money a little bit more.
If you want to win in these United States, you got to be tough and you can't quit.