The Ten Commandments for Success

by Mark S. Fulton

One of my favorite scenes in Cecil B. DeMille’s movie “The Ten Commandments” is where Moses, played by Charlton Heston, comes down from Mt. Sinai after his one-on-One with God, carrying the clay tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The music swells as Moses serenely and majestically strides into the Israelites’ camp. He has an otherworldly, beatific expression on his face.

Unfortunately, the Israelites have been busy getting themselves into trouble. Concerned that their leader might not come back from his audience with the Almighty, the Israelites fashioned a golden calf to worship. When Moses sees the Israelites whooping it up with their new idol, he goes ballistic, smashes the tablets and reads his people the riot act. Just another day on the path to the Promised Land.

Perhaps there have been times in your role as a leader when you’ve felt like taking a trip to the mountains and not coming back. Maybe you’ve returned from an inspiring seminar only to find important projects mired in delays, key people sidetracked by non-productive activities or corporate morale deflated by carping staff members.

At times like that, it’s helpful to remind yourself of the things that truly make a difference in your pursuit of excellence. Rather than blow a gasket over a temporary setback or disappointing development, use that moment of aggravation to remind yourself to focus on the fundamentals.

As an aid to your meditation on the things that really matter, here are my “Ten Commandments for Success”:
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• Maintain a positive attitude - Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” How we choose to view setbacks and impediments will determine our success in overcoming them. Try thinking of every obstacle as a stepping stone and look for the advantage the can come from adversity.

• Set and prioritize goals; write them down - “Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible,” wrote St. Francis of Assisi. Goals don’t have to be daunting to be valid. Start with simple, achievable objectives and advance to more demanding ones. Great achievements are build on the bedrock of everyday accomplishments.

• Take action toward your goals - Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels, once said, “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” The moment we stop moving toward our goals, we begin drifting away from them.

• Learn something every day - “In the space age the most important space is between the ears,” says Thomas Barlow, CEO of Anderson, Clayton and Company. Accomplished leaders are active learners. Feed your brain regularly or it will wither.

• Work hard and don’t give up - Upon being asked about his brilliance as an artist, Michelangelo said, “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem wonderful at all.” Football coach Vince Lombardi once warned his players, “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.”

• Serve others’ needs - Among Rotary International’s basic principles is this definition of service: “The basis of all worthy enterprise.” The keystone of success in business is to find a need and fill it. The secret of keeping customers is to meet their needs and exceed their expectations.

• Get all the facts and learn from mistakes - English biologist Thomas Huxley once wrote, “There is no sadder sight in the world than to see a beautiful theory killed by a brutal fact.” Facts are the working tools for making good decisions. Mistakes are among life’s greatest teachers.

• Build your communications skills - Poet Robert Frost once cynically observed: “Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” Clear communication creates credibility.

• Be creative; practice innovation - “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” said Albert Einstein. Take it from someone whose name is synonymous with genius, an open mind is fertile ground for great ideas.

• Value character above all - American humorist Will Rogers once advised, “Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” A corporation cannot blush; it has no conscience. On the other hand, a corporation of conscientious people can achieve greatness if it encourages and preserves a high level integrity in its business dealings.

After 40 years of wandering, the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land. It was a difficult journey fraught with people problems, challenging circumstances and occasional dissention among the group’s leadership. Nevertheless, the Ten Commandments and the other laws that bound the Israelites together ultimately provided the direction they needed to achieve their destiny.

I believe that abiding by the Ten Commandments of Success will make you a more effective leader and enable your business to grow even more prosperous. Just don’t wait 40 years to get started.

Copyright 2001 © Mark S. Fulton