Posted on 08/01/2014 4:51:10 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In 1980, Morley Safer traveled to Dallas to uncover the multimillion-dollar industry that was making people richer, better, and happier
This week, Morley Safer reported on a job-training boot camp that places disadvantaged youth in positions at some of the country's most competitive companies.
Nearly 35 years ago, Safer reported on another tool job-hunters were using to gain an edge in the workforce.
The year was 1980 and Safer found himself in Dallas at a $900, three-day seminar where average Joes were being taught the secret to success: enthusiasm.
The man behind the seminar, Ed Foreman, claimed he could make individuals richer, better and happier just by changing their mindset from "a frightened little church mouse" to that of a "super mouse."
Some advice was as simple as answering, "Terrific!" when asked, "How are you?" Other advice included filling out goal planners and a creative ideas manual.
Foreman's gospel and that of his competitor, Zig Ziglar (referred to as the "most fantastic man outside of God" by a loyal follower), earned both men millions.
Puzzled by the simplicity of the seminars, Safer asked whether Foreman was stating the obvious when he preached "life is for laughing, loving, and living."
"Well, it might be the obvious, but very few people, in fact, in life practice it," Foreman told Safer. "A positive mental attitude and action plus a specific, identifiable, written goal equals supper on the table, equals health, wealth and happiness."
His Wiki entry makes no bones about his Republican/conservative views, that he wove those values into his motivational works.
Tragedy was no stranger to this gentleman:
In 1931, when Ziglar was five years old, his father took a management position at a Mississippi farm, and his family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, where he spent most of his early childhood. The next year, his father died of a stroke, and his younger sister died two days later.
I also recall hearing of his incredible Christian faith as he walked down the aisle to view the casket of his deceased daughter. Wiki says she died in 1995 so she could not have been that old (his YOB 1926)
Neither was failure - in the early years - and poor health at times. All added to the richness of his messages.
I had a friend who applied for a top management job and the only qualification she met was that she was enthusiastic. She got the job.
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I had a friend who applied for a top management job and the only qualification she met was that she was enthusiastic. She got the job.
There's a lot to be said for enthusiasm. But just as important are hard work, skill, and moral decency.
Even given that, you can still lose out to a butt-kisser.
We're not promised worldly success in this life.
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