Ch1 DRIVE

Black writes about an employee of hers that had the drive to start up CosmoGirl and I learned that drive comes from having an emotional connection to something. That emotion furnishes enough motivation to succeed at a quest. She says drive is "the act of moving forward on your own initiative." I'll list the little nugget sentences she inserts :

Make like a Boy Scout: Be Prepared

Ask someone who knows

Check and double check (your information. p17 quote: "If your mother says she loves you, check it.")

Pick up the phone

Sell yourself as though you believe in the product. (I would say sell it BECAUSE you believe.)

Go the extra mile and a half

Assume nothing

Make your boss look good (take stress off her/him, anticipate his/her needs by knowing their preferences, never "suprise" your boss.)

I like how on p 28 she says she was determined to "take over responsibilities I had to assume would be mine." That reminds me of a meeting I was in at the TWU nursing department when people were trying to figure out if taking an independant step would be ok with some superiors. One of them said, "If we are given a task, we should assume the authority to carry out that task and not wait for someone to hand it to us." So authority comes when you take the task in hand, maybe?

I remember after I had studied a bit about Branch Davidians and Lois Roden, I had burning questions. I had to know. I booked a room in Waco, called Baylor to make arrangements to see their primary source collection, and took a weekend. As I walked on the Mt. Carmel property, I knew that is where I was supposed to be that day. The makeshift museum I had expected to visit was closed up, a barking dog kept following me. I went house to house until I came to one with blood smeared across the lintel. I knew that the group celebrated traditional Old Testament holy days (like Passover) but still, the blood was a deterrent. But those questions that I had to know, my emotional connection stayed my feet. I was able to have an oral interview (thanks Charles) that not only answered my questions but gave me material for new and better ones (that became my master's thesis). My professors were impressed (albeit a bit concerned for me) that I had gotten there on my own steam. That is one of the few times I have known what it felt like to be truly driven. I carried a bit of this over to travelling with the homeschooler.

Some other stuff I wrote in the margins:

Use your contacts

p20 I thought she was flip when mentioning that her marriage was ending. I would like to know more about this--maybe later in the book?

Believe enough to put it out there

Go to the trouble to make things right

p25 I saw an obvious dig at Iacoca (I think some of this book was written to get back at people from her past?)

p26 use the phrase "seems to make the most sense" when suggesting something.

What did you pick out from the book? When have you felt "Drive." How have you made your boss look good in the past?