Success = Being Driven by Our Insecurities

Everyone has insecurities, but the key to success seems to be to be able to harness boundless energy from your insecurities. Jack Welch, Steve Jobs, and Carly Fiorina are just a few of the many inspirations that used their insecurities to propel them forward to remarkable heights of success.

Jack Welch

In his autobiography, the immortal CEO of GE, Jack Welch, had revealed some of his insecurities that often plagued him through his early life, "Outwardly, I had a pretty good dose of self-confidence, and those who knew me would have described me as self-assured, cocky, decisive, quick, and tough. Inwardly, I still had plenty of insecurities."	"Whenever I had to get up in front of people, I struggled with my speech impediment. I fussed with a comb-over to disguise my receding hairline. And when someone asked me how tall I was, I had myself believing I was at least an inch and a half taller than the five feet eight I really was." But to conquer these insecurities, he learned to develop his greatest strength: Passion.

While at GE, he became passionate about GE's success, and Jack hired only people that felt the same way. He did not care for the bright or the intellectually curious because they often turned out to be unfocused dabblers. He searched for only people with an inner hunger or fire in their bellies.	When Jack was asked what his secret to success was, he replied,"Change doesn't come from a slogan or a speech. It happens because you put the right people in place to make it happen. People first. Strategy and everything else next." His commitment to infuse GE with passionate workers made GE one of the most successful companies in the world.

Steve Jobs

At age 18ish, Steve Jobs backpacked around India with one of his best friend, Dan Kottke. Dan had once said, "I think it's clear that Steve always had a kind of chip on his shoulder. At some deep level, there was an insecurity that Steve had to go out and prove himself. I think that being an orphan drove Steve in ways that most of us can never understand."	In fourth grade, Steve's adoptive father (Paul Jobs) lost his job. In class, his teacher asked, "What is it in the world that you don't understand?" Steve's hand immediately shot up and replied, "I don't understand why all of a sudden we're so broke!" From then on, Jobs was the hustler, the man with the plan, and the man who always knew how to generate income.

At 16 yrs old, he discovered that whistles (which were included in Captain Crunch cereals) could be used to make free long distance phone calls. He started to develop his trademark gift of persuasion and convinced Woz designed a blue box to do the same thing as the whistle, charging as much as $300 for it.	He vowed never to be poor again, which contributed to his fated departure of Reed college during the middle of his freshman year (for which he got a full tuition refund). His insecurities drove him to ultimately form the legendary Apple Computer Corporation, the revolutionary Pixar Animation, the iPod, iTunes, and the iPhone.

Carly Fiorina

Carly was a middle child, who always stood in the shadow of her younger brother (who was tall, strong, and athletic) and her younger sister, who was beautiful, creative, and artistic. Her only goal was to win the approval of her father (who was a Federal judge) and her mother (who was an artist). They both wanted her to go to law school.	So to please them, Carly attended UCLA Law, only to hate it. She started to develop terrible headaches every day and barely slept for months. But to disappoint her parents would be like death to her, so Carly tried to persist longer. But the headaches continued, so much so that she could not properly function though the day.

Eventually, she had no choice but to drop out. She instead became a secretary, which brought even more disappointment and dismay to her parents. She lived on her own for a while, trying to piece together her life. That's when she learned to take joy in every task that she did, whether it was small or large.	Carly credits this passion to get a each task done properly to her success today. She eventually becomes vice-president at AT&T, orchestrates one of the most successful IPOs in history (Lucent), assumes the role of CEO and chairman of the board at Hewlett-Packard, and was named the #1 most powerful woman in business by Fortune in 1998.

Pedicures using Doctor Fish

Creative entrepreneurs in Asia, Turkey, and now the United States have found a unique way to do perform environmentally-friendly pedicures. They are using Doctor Fish (aka. Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus) to feast on the dead, diseased skin of people's feet, leaving behind skin that is as smooth as a baby's butt. Doctor Fish can survive in waters as hot as 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit) -- perfect for a relaxing footbath! The amount of money to start up your own Doctor Fish spa is a very reasonable $40,000.

Doctor Fish only consume the affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the healthy skin to grow. Image from Swee Yih.	Doctor Fish spa resorts are open in Hakone (Japan), Umag (Croatia), Hainan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia. Image from Swee Yih.

Sometimes all the fish will migrate to a single person (usually the one with the most dead skin), and then it can get somewhat embarrassing. Image from Swee Yih.	At 'Yvonne Hair and Nails Salon,' it costs only $35 for 15 minutes and $50 for 30 minutes. It's the only spa in the country to offer the treatment. Image from Swee Yih.

Marvin Bower (McKinsey)

“If you are not willing to take the pain to live by your principles, there is no point in having principles.” Everyone knows that McKinsey is the top management consultanting firm in the world. But few people know that the real brains of the operation was a man named Marvin Bower.

In 1933, he joined McKinsey at age 30 when McKinsey was just an engineering and accounting company made up of only 18 people. He founded the concept of management consulting and transformed McKinsey into a firm of 2,500 consultants by the time of his retirement in 1992. He worked at McKinsey for 59 years before retiring at the age of 89!

He was a creature of extreme intellect, a leader’s leader, and man of integrity and class. When asked how he could stick by such impeccable standards, he replied, “If you are not willing to take the pain to live by your principles, there is no point in having principles.” Here’s some pictures of Marvin:

Marvin Bower holds a Bachelors (Philosophy, Economics) from Brown, a law degree from Harvard Law School, and an MBA from Harvard B-School. His father would always ask him, "What did you learn?" Image from Investor’s Business Daily.	Marvin in his office. Behind him hangs a painting called "Forces at Work," which reminds him of all the chaotic forces each and every day. His goal is to make the forces work for him, rather than against him. Image from Investor’s Business Daily.	Excellent biography of Marvin Bower by a former McKinseyite. After reading it, you'll understand the origin of McKinsey's hiring practices and why you should never wear argyle socks to a McKinsey interview. Image from Amazon.com.