Billionaire Shares Three Keys to Success-The shoulders we are standing own

TBTNEWS REPORT by Carl West

Billionaire Shares Three Keys to Success

This is an easy one. In 2003, Oprah Winfrey became the first African American female to make the Forbes list of billionaires, and she is still the only African American female billionaire on the list. She is considered by VH1 to be the No. 1 Pop Culture Icon in history -- more popular than Superman or Elvis! So, what is it about Oprah that makes her so popular, and successful?

Key to her success: If you read enough about Oprah, you'll find the keys to her success. This is one tough cookie who not only doesn't give up but also does not forget those who helped her along the way. Here are three of the basic keys to her success:

1). Know what you want and go for it: Oprah was only 16 and still in high school when she began her broadcasting career at WVOL radio in Nashville. By the time she was 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at WTVF-TV in Nashville. Her advice to others is to know what you want and go after it.

2). Work hard: you just can't ignore this one. Oprah certainly didn't. She went from radio to television to news and talk shows. She didn't stop when The Oprah Winfrey Show became the number one rated talk show in history in 1986. She was the third woman in America to create her own entertainment studio, Harpo Studios, in 1988. She created the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2008, created her own magazine, The Oprah Magazine, has appeared in films, and the list goes on. Her advice to other women is to be willing to work as hard as you can to get where you want to go.

3). Be generous: Oprah's generosity was apparent as early as 1986 when she gave $10,000 of her own money for staff bonuses because management refused to do it. Since then, she has given millions in grants, charities, schools, scholarships, women's shelters and more. As Oprah once stated, "I gave to someone else what had been given to me." "Every gift is your way of expressing how you feel about another person." Although Oprah just turned 60 last year, she shows no signs of slowing down.

The Wisdom of Sharing

As I sat in Morocco, among the Berber People and listened!
One day long ago a Sufi Master was near death, and wanted to make sure his three disciples would come under the guidance of another Sufi Master after he passed away.  He had accumulated 17 camels during his life, so he laid down the following instructions for his disciples:

“On my death, the three of you shall divide my 17 camels in the following proportions: the eldest disciple shall have half of them, the middle in age disciple shall have one-third, and the youngest shall have one-ninth.” 

He died soon after writing this bequest, leaving the disciples in a dilemma, so they sought out advice from learned men for how to interpret these instructions.  Someone told them just to make the nearest possible division, while another told them to own the camels communally until they reproduced.  A clever trader said they should just sell the camels and divide the proceeds among themselves, and a wizened old judge advised them that the bequest was null and void because it couldn’t be executed.

The three disciples weren’t happy with any of these suggestions, sensing that their master must have had some deeper and more helpful lesson in mind for them.  But what exactly was that lesson?

Lesson 1: Remain Open-Minded

One obvious lesson the disciples learned from their master’s instructions was that seeking advice and wisdom from others will always broaden their perspectives.  No one ever has a monopoly on the truth, no matter how quick or smart they are.  Genuine wisdom requires humility in the face of life’s many complexities, so a wise person not only knows how to tolerate and learn from different points of view but actually seeks them out.

This is as true in life.  Very few decisions ever involve Absolute Truth.  A decision almost always boils down to a matter of opinion.  Not only that, but the actual outcome of any decision will have just as much to do with the random and unforeseen events that surround it as with the intellectual prowess of the decision-maker, so always be prepared for the unexpected. 

Something else the disciples learned was patience.  Their dilemma was significant, and they certainly wanted to resolve it, but there was no urgency to the issue.  And for today, learning how to be patient is perhaps more important than ever before, given the fast pace of life and the proliferation of information and techology.  Every time your mind is refreshed it produces a new batch of issues commanding your immediate attention.  Figuring out not just how to prioritize, but how to “let go” of the unimportant issues while showing patience for the truly important ones is a skill that will always comes in handy for most bottom-line obsessed, goal-oriented, time-stressed up-and-comers today.

The Dilemma Resolved

In the end, our three disciples did find the answer to their Master’s challenge.  After much searching, a wise old man solved the riddle for them:

“Although I only have one camel myself, I will lend it to you so you now have 18.  The eldest disciple should then be given one-half of these, which is 9. The middle disciple should get one-third, or 6, and the youngest disciple should get one-ninth, or 2.  That will leave just one camel, which is mine, and you can return it to me.”

This was how the three disciples found their new Sufi Master.  It also taught them one final lesson.

Lesson 3: Share

Sharing with others is a natural human urge, and it is becoming an increasingly vital idea as the cost of interacting continues to plummet. The urge to share comes largely from the human instinct for empathy, and  empathy and trust are becoming ever more important to people as we become more and more technologically connected.  It is the human instinct for sharing that drives our willingness to create  So think carefully about how your own  family’ and your friends’urge for you  share might be used to benefit your life in the e-social age.  How can you do a better job empathizing with your family and friends?  

Sharing comes from empathy, and for a family/friend,empathy is the ultimate form of love and insight.   

Ancient lessons can often be very useful even in modern situations.  Technology may gallop along, but wisdom is timeless.