Becoming an effective leader to run a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

This is a story of what success looks like as one reaches for a better life. I sincerely hope you enjoy the trip. It is time to reinvent yourself so let's get creating!

Invention and curiosity intermingle with perception and reality and have always been my favorite subjects. What animal were you as a kid? Perhaps that is the best place to start, at the beginning. Molding perception and reality are two concepts that have always been exciting challenges for me. Think about when you were a child. Perhaps you have asked yourself, what do you wish to accomplish in life? When you are a kid, creativity, and invention mix with fantasy to set us on a path in life. For some, this pattern of inventive thinking is never-ending. However, a great majority of people are confined to a life sentence of complacency and habit which overwhelms the mind. The good news is if you have focus, you can undo the 'complacency habit' to create a new and better life. Complacency can be bad and is defined as an unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. Examples range from unsafe acts such as a driver that speeds up who has become complacent with their driving habit. Or it can be overconfidence or smugness derived from too much success which creates an unawareness of potential dangers or threats.

Making a breakthrough to visualize and evaluate where you are now in life is key to moving to a higher level in life. This concept is also applied to organizations when a false sense of security or well-being puts a damper on creativity and problem-solving.

Developing a creative mindset is one of the most important tasks on your plate to have the vision in your life to create a reality of success. You can learn the technical aspects of your career in college or university, but there is something much more important, and that is focusing on who you are. That is a lifelong challenge.

If you are 20-something or 60-something, it does not matter. You can teach an old dog new tricks as well as a puppy. I have met and spoken with many people who to me are unbelievably interesting. It doesn't take long to get people to talk about themselves. When this happens, magic occurs when people start to share about themselves. Focus to become a better listener to allow people to open their lives up to you. It is time to open the blocks in your mind that limit your life!

In speaking with people I have found, most believe they are ordinary and not so special, including myself. However, I have realized that this could not be further from the truth. People have stories that novels are made of. Conversations can be so interesting, and developing the skill to converse with people to uncover who they are is possibly the most interesting and lucrative skill you can attain beyond any technical skill you have.

Case 1. Discover your curiosity.

Some say curiosity killed the cat. For me, curiosity feeds this cat! My curiosity has always been never-ending and tries to dive into the reasoning of why someone latches on to one subject and follows that path to develop a future. We all have a 'feeling' about what we do in our job or business. When you have a job working for someone else you either love, hate, are excited to come and do your job, or want to be somewhere else.

I would like to share some of my experiences with you to open your mind to the possible.

When I was a kid, my dad bought a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. I remember sitting on the floor for hours pulling out the heavy leather-bound books from the shelf and randomly opening them up and turning each tissue-thin paper page that explained what was in the world. I believe that is where I caught the curiosity virus that still courses through my veins and my brain!

Honestly, I never had a mentor in my young life. I believe most do not and for those who do count your blessings! That set of encyclopedia books truly became my teacher in my young life, that is until I latched on to a TV show. My dad worked hard and made money to support our family. As is the fate of most dads, he was not home much. However, we would not lack for things in life, he bought one of the first color TV in our neighborhood! For me, switching from the Muntz black and white TV to a brand new color TV was the most amazing experience. It woke up my mind to reach for thinking in new ways.

My favorite show as a child was The Wonderful World of Color hosted by Mr creativity himself, Walt Disney! I thought it was so amazing that we had a color TV watching the Wonderful World of Color! That show ran for 27 seasons and 200 episodes. I watched his show every Sunday night as a young child. Glued in wonder and holding on to every word he said. This man Disney had dreams that all seemed to come true. This man opened my mind to dreaming too. Here is a quote from the man himself.

"Hello, I'm Walt Disney. Thanks to some old-fashioned magic we call imagination right now we are leaving the world of today behind. So if your imagination is ready, here we go."

- Walt Disney

Walt was taking his listeners on a Disney ride through the mind before there was a physical Disney ride! He used imagination and fantasy to instill dreams and then built Disney parks to live out those dreams in the form of entertainment. Listening to Mr. Disney, I as a young boy who built cranes and toy buildings with old-fashioned erector sets of the day was able to connect with the brilliant diamonds Walt Disney exposed to me each Sunday night. It sparked my young imagination to dream. As an innocent young boy, I had no idea what my dreams would be in store for me. Disney's gift was the ability to connect with his audience. I was one child in the immense crowd of his television audience.

Now I loved my dad very much, he was practical, strict, and old school in my growing-up years. He fought in WW2 with the Navy in the Pacific Battle Theater. My Dad never talked much about his time during the war except for one story that has always stuck with me. He was on a naval destroyer in the Pacific Fleet steaming to Tokyo bay to invade Japan at the end of the war after Germany surrendered. He remembers that the entire fleet did a 180-degree turn to head back to America. Everyone wondered why. Then they heard that the first atomic bomb, named Little Boy, was released in Japan.

The government of Japan was given a chance to surrender, however, the military leaders of the time refused, willing to fight to the death. I must note here that this decision was an ultimate display of conceit and an unwillingness to surrender.

Then the second bomb was named Fat Man released in Nagasaki, Japan. As a result of these terrible events, the war finally came to an end. It is difficult to think about, but you must realize it was a moment in history when we as citizens had no control. I was not born yet but my Father was alive and his destroyer was steaming back to America.

I have always felt this is why I can write this today. I am grateful for my life and my father who volunteered to protect his family and country. He volunteered without the knowledge that many ancestors in our family were military men who have been laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. This is a part of the DNA of who I am.

Later in my parent's life, I was the kid who always came up with ideas and fanciful thoughts. Did that happen to you too? But sadly, my dad's reaction to me would say, 'Son, that's a lead pipe dream. You will never amount to much.' Now I loved my dad, but when he said that, I always got discouraged. I believe it was his way of preparing me for life, in his way.

Then along came Sunday night, and Walt to brighten my spirits! All was well again and I forgot about the negative. Sunday night reset my head to reinforce my dream habit. Being encouraged and then slapped down like a crazy roller coaster. However, somehow I knew everything would be alright. It was not the fact that I knew that my dreams would come true. It was a fact that I visualized the possible and went with the flow of life.

Disney's foray into television media built an empire of the world's most recognizable brands. His sphere of influence is immense. Much has evolved for the Disney brand over the years and to be honest, the leaders and influencers of that company since Walt's death have never equaled this man. To be sure, they have done a tremendous job to advance the company, but it is difficult to compare the original genius of Disney with the current leadership.

The fabric of society has evolved into a radically different animal from the beginning days when Walt Disney was alive. It is complex to be sure. Walt had a calm hand of leadership to influence the creation and imagination of his talented teams. The art of discovery and blending the tools of technology broke through a new level in the art of telling the story. He certainly captured my heart and mind to invent a future in my own life as a young boy and what I would eventually become.

How did this experience influence my life?

This story evolved when I was a young boy 10 years old. Skip 8 years later, I chose architecture and went to Boston. I finished my education and came back to Orlando to work for a prestigious Architectural firm and was placed on the marketing team to bid for an opportunity to build EPCOT Center at Disney when I was 24 years old. Our Architectural firm won the day and we began work immediately.

I have been preparing for this since I was 10! It still felt like a dream. It then became reality and I went to work over the next 4 years building a project I dreamed about when I was a kid! The dream turned into reality driven by passion and hard work. I witnessed firsthand a billion-dollar construction project rise out of the virgin land from a muddy bay head into a beautiful finished product called EPCOT Center. I used technical expertise gained in college and put my design skills as an Architect to work.

This was eclipsed by only one thing. That one thing was working with my design team and coordinating with the Disney team, the engineering team, and the contractor team. It required that calm hand of leadership I saw in Walt Disney.

This was an experience I have never forgotten.

This is how a dream evolved from sitting on the floor watching a master at work became a reality to me. It takes focus which can make hard work easier and even fun.

Discover the first key to Massive Success...

To create 'Massive Success' in your own life is to strive to capture the hearts and minds of the people you meet in your everyday life and do so with honesty. As I reflect on this experience my focus was doing the work necessary to complete the project. After the design phase, I was at the site 3 times a week working with the various teams and workmen in the field. I was 24 and working with engineers twice my age. Yet I never gave it a second thought. Our teams had professional and mutual respect and we experienced structures designed with art, form, color, and engineering rise out of the mud to a finished product. EPCOT Center, completed in 1982 is but one theme park of many on the Disney property which draw millions of guests every year providing jobs for thousands and adding to the Central Florida economy, 40 years later.

For me, this is the prize.

You have just read a story firsthand of how a simple dream became reality. What is your dream? Do you believe you can make your dream a reality?

Life brings the unexpected. You have your ups then something comes along you perceive as negative.

How do you manage it?

Case 2. Was it a Reaction or Correction?

"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."

-Elon Musk

Let's stop right here to examine your first knee-jerk reaction which might be negative. An off-handed comment or critic slaps you down. You must ask yourself, how does a negative action change the perception of your reality? One needs to take a breath at this intersection of reality and perception. One must take a neutral stand to deal with a potentially negative situation. Then calmly review the problem to calculate all of the possible scenarios.

Let us take a closer look at this fork in the road of life, the intersection of reality and perception. Take a moment to think about this. How many times in your life have you come to these crossroads? It could be a small thing or an incredibly big thing. The problem is to manage it.

The 'intersection of reality and perception' presents itself when divergent conditions arise in life. Here is an example from my own life.

I was working for Lockheed Martin Aerospace and doing well there. One day just two weeks before Christmas, the management called me to a meeting in another building. When I arrived, a very long line of my fellow workmates was also called to the meeting. We met in a large theater that held 2,000 people.

Wow, I said this is great! We get to hear what a great job we have done this year. All of us will be thanked for our hard work. This was my perception upon walking in and taking a seat in the theater.

As they began to speak, my anticipation of anything positive began to evaporate like alcohol. Then the alcohol caught fire! The speaker addressing the crowd of 2,000 started using terms like, 'Due to this,' and 'The Government Contract was canceled' sending a pail of cold water on the entire audience to quench the fire in all of our eyes.

You already guessed it, we were all being let go. Our last day would be December 31st. Losing your job is a deeply emotional and shocking experience. It comes complete with fear and that queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. Everyone was taking this in and most, including myself, were taken by surprise by this action. Being let go was not for poor performance, instead, it is the corporate way of dealing with the bottom line of the company. Then the instructions on what to do next began to fade as did my attention to whatever they were saying after this shock.

This was an emotional and shocking event that occurred for me and is a fork in the road of life. This is where the intersection of reality and perception is slammed in front of our life.

To understand it more closely, understand that perception is the lens of reality. When a surprise or a shocking experience confronts us, the brain sends a signal to the amygdala which is the most primitive part of the brain. It is the fight-or-flight response. It is important to know that you have no control over this action! It is your brain communicating with the pit of your stomach and you feel that you have no control over an initial response when a negative event hits your life. Your eyes begin to twitch to and fro looking around you, looking for a way out. Your brain's frontal cortex chimes in to mitigate the response to fight, freeze or run away. There are 2000 of your workmates sitting around you in a crowded theater. Then fear sets foot in your emotional response. The walls of the large room begin to close making your perception of the room smaller. Perhaps at this point, you freeze in shock and disbelief. Think of it, most of your workmates might be feeling the same way. However, in this strange moment, the feelings of others might not occur to you.

For me, it goes back to my experience as a child. That some happy occurrence may be countered at any time by a slap from Dad. Then Sunday came along as it always did and life becomes lighter. This in effect was what happened to me after I had learned along with 2,000 of my co-workers that we would be losing employment in a few weeks. Not to mention the added stress of the Christmas holiday being a few short weeks away and a one-earner family with kids to care for.

Big corporations will do that to you. This is why I feel so grateful to now have my own business. To be sure, any business comes with the complete package of success, failure, and the occasional surprise. But this time it is all on my terms.

A Better Outcome Than Expected

As it turned out, all of the emotional feelings and stress of losing a well-paying job were wasted energy. My initial perception of losing a job seemed like an impossible situation at the moment. At that time in my life, I was not strong enough to sort out the problem. In a few weeks of searching, I found myself starting a new position on January 10th of the next year and double the salary! It was a relief to be sure but it taught me a lesson. Stay steady and calm through any storms that come your way in life. What doesn't kill you makes to stronger, it is true!

I hope these cases have widened your perception. It is easy to let emotion and fear control how you run your life. Having a better understanding of how your mind works can allow you to deal with life and prepare for your future success.