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VOLUME 3
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Welcome to Volume 3 of the Mark Of A Leader E-zine. It has been a busy month for us. Using the power of great storytelling to build leadership cultures is indeed striking a chord within the corporate world. And that is what we do. If you haven’t seen our new website yet, please have a look at www.themarkofaleader.com. We also hope to have some very exciting news about unique new modules over the next 60 days. Stay tuned. This month we feature one of our favorite success stories of the publishing industry - Chicken Soup for the Soul. A huge global brand that in a decade has built a billion dollar franchise. Its authors, Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, are character individuals, enlightened teachers, and great philanthropists. They are also great lessons in the vision, commitment and courage it takes to be leaders. I hope you enjoy their tremendous story. Here's to your success as leaders.
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FEATURE
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QUOTABLE QUOTES I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done. Henry Ford A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be. Rosalynn Carter |
CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL
When was the last time you had a day when nothing went right? We all have them. One of the pillars of great leaders, and great brands, is commitment. Things go wrong, and great leaders suck it up and keep going. They're clear on their goals, clear on their plan, and stay undeterred by setbacks. For proof of the power of doing this, look at the Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise. Its authors, Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, are referred to as "The Master of Mindset" and "The Dean of Self Esteem" respectively. Today they are the most successful publishing team in the world. But it didn't start out that way. |
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TONY HAWK Tony Hawk almost singlehandedly made skateboarding a world class sport. He has been its most dominant figure since he won his first professional contest in 1983, at age 15. He was ranked the No. 1 vertical skateboarder in the world by the National Skateboard Association every year for 12 years, from 1984 to 1996. No one else has won even one-third as many pro contests as he has. Today it is estimated that over 10 million North Americans skateboard, with at least 1 million taking up the sport every year. Its growth is fueled in no small way by the integrity of Tony Hawk as a spokesperson, and his brilliance as a marketer. His personal brand is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and includes endorsements, product lines, and special events. Many dominant stars like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky or Tiger Woods have built the popularity of their sport and been role models for kids. But none has literally created and totally dominated a sport the way Tony Hawk has. |
Both were successful motivational speakers, authors, and entrepreneurs. Dismayed by the constant barrage of bad news stories in the media, they decided to publish a book of some of the positive stories they had collected over the years in their travels. 
The project began in 1990. It took 3 years to collect and edit their magic number of 101 amazing stories. Their success was no mistake. It was carefully dreamed and plotted. The created a project board with hundreds of Post-It Notes of goals, commitments, and ideas. Both deeply spiritual men, they tapped into the power of their subconscious for help. They struggled for just the right title, until Jack woke up one night at 4AM and the "Chicken Soup" title had come to him in his sleep. Mark repeated the phrase "Mega best selling title" 400 times to himself before going to sleep every night. Despite already being successful authors, they could not find a publisher who was interested. They hired an agent, and were rejected by 78 publishers before the agent fired them, convinced the product was doomed to failure. But they persisted. By Mark's count they were rejected by another 57 publishers before they got a call back from a small company named Health Communications, who was prepared to take a chance on them. 135 rejections after years of work. Would you have kept going? The first Chicken Soup book was published in June 1993. Word of mouth sold the books at first. Then people started coming back to buy additional copies for friends as Christmas gifts. The groundswell started. They reprinted. And reprinted. Then came the "Second Helping", and the phenomenon really took off. Clearly, they had struck a powerful chord with millions of people. Perhaps most surprising to everyone was the phenomenal success of the Teenage Soul edition. Experts said teenagers would not read good news stories. They were wrong. Stores could hardly keep them on the shelves and it remains one of their best selling titles. Today, the Chicken Soup series has sold over 110 million books, with over 70 titles in 40 languages. A Chicken Soup title has been on the best seller lists every year since 1993, and in 1998, seven Chicken Soup books were on the New York Times bestseller list at one time - a Guinness World Record. |
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DID YOU KNOW? Virginia Woolf wrote all her books while standing. If a statue of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. |
Was this success all due to luck? Good timing? Far from it. 
Jack and Mark are two of the most hard working people in business. By their estimates, they have each done an average of 5 press interviews a day for the last decade. Their target is to sell one billion books. No one has ever even tried that before. Based on their track record to date, would you doubt that they'll succeed? But what is the MARK of the Chicken Soup books? Is it just the phenomenal sales success? I don't think so. In a society where the media insists on selling mostly negative news, the Chicken Soup series shows us the majesty of the human spirit, and the power of that spirit to prevail, despite the setbacks life might throw us. For that, the Chicken Soup series will go down in history as one of the most important publishing successes ever. |
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Copyright 2005 Mark of a Leader |
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