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Alan Jones, What Makes Success


Alan Jones

We know Alan Jones the high-profile broadcaster who tops the ratings, but what about Alan Jones the rugby coach? Or Alan Jones the public speaker who won a Golden Gavel award, or the philanthropist, or the teacher?

Alan Jones, the man with many strings to his bow, spoke at AREC in May about what makes someone a success. The first example he cited to illustrate success was racing car driver Stirling Moss, who had offered his thoughts on the difference between leaders and the rest of the pack: “Look, there’s a stack of people out there driving racing cars who go through the corner a fifth of a second slower than their maximum. They’ll win a few races; they’ll make a few bob. But they’re not racing car drivers.”

The Road to success

“That’s the most important lesson to learn in all of this,” Mr Jones said. “There are no shortcuts. There is no royal road to success. You just have to roll up your sleeves and give up a bit of sweat and you keep going, even when the odds are against you,” he added. Ernest Hemingway spent years trying to achieve recognition for his writing before he penned the highly successful The Old Man and the Sea. When he was asked what was next he said, “I’m trying to knock Shakespeare off his ass.” You’re never at the top, Mr Jones explained. “Once one goal is achieved, there is another one yet to be achieved,” he said. Film director and producer John Huston was asked the formula for a successful movie, and his response was, “I’m always trying to make the next scene the best scene in the movie.” Mr Jones explained to the gathered real estate agents that they should always be thinking about how to make the next sale better.

“We can never afford to settle with what we’ve got if we’re travelling the road to success,” he said. Rodney Laver won the tennis Grand Slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open) in 1962 and then again 1969 after five years out of the playing circuit. The following year Tom Gorman beat him in the quarter finals at Wimbledon on a rainy day. Of course he was asked about his performance and he said, “The conditions out there today were dreadful, but they were the same for both of us. It might be disappointing for me, but it’s good for the game. No one can go on winning forever, but I’ll be back.” Even in his disappointment, Mr Laver was able to see beyond what had just happened. “In the wake of profound disappointment, you don’t let that overwhelm you. You keep pushing on,” Mr Jones said. And his final example was Nadia Comaneci who, in 1972, was the first gymnast to receive 10 out of 10. When the 13-year-old Romanian girl was questioned about how she achieved such success, her answer was simple: “My mind is full of getting it exactly right.”

Dealing with adversity

The Gucci brand had very humble beginnings as a product made by the son of an Italian farmer. He simply wanted to make shirts, suits and dresses. When the 17-year-old’s father asked him how he was going to do something so many others already did - and make a success of it, he said, “I’ll just take the best material and the best design, and I’ll have the best gear.” And when questioned further by his father about how he would compete against others who sold their clothing at half the price he said, “I’ll just tell them that long after their stuff’s worn out, they’ll still be wearing mine.” This anecdote illustrates Mr Jones’ point that if you want a quality outcome, first you have to put in the hard work. “There is a tendency for people to think that there are shortcuts. And, as I’ve already said, there aren’t,” he said. Sometimes, even with the hard work, you still fail, which leads to disappointment. This is a hard, but essential, lesson. And the final price in this equation is envy. A result of success is professional envy. There are people who build, and those who tear the buildings down and put roadblocks in the way of success. “Some people want to contain your ambition. There are knockers out there, but don’t ever let them get in the way of the builder,” Mr Jones advised. Citing a thesis by author Doris McCoy about people working through adversity, Mr Jones said she discovered many traits about successful people. Some of these include enjoying their work, having a positive attitude and plenty of confidence, using negative experiences to discover their strengths, having conviction, integrity and persistence, helping others succeed and being willing to take risks. “Successful people, she said, are decisive and disciplined goal-setters. Most achievers have a clear idea of what they want out of life, and they take the shortest route to get there,” he explained. “The final point she made about successful people: ‘they have a sense of purpose and a desire to contribute to society.’ No matter how busy they are, fair dinkum successful people are always willing to give of themselves to their colleagues in need, to the underprivileged, or to become involved in political, cultural or artistic causes,” Mr Jones explained. In summing up his AREC presentation, Mr Jones told attendees not to forget the Gucci factor, where if you want quality, you’ve got to pay a price; Nadia Comaneci, where she said, “Well, my mind is full of getting it exactly right”; and the points that Doris McCoy found about loving what you do, being positive, having people who you trust around, communicating well, taking risks, being persistent and giving.

 


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Alan Jones