| Dear John, For many years I wondered why Dad has been so successful at motivating people to change, to take action, to try something different or new. Growing up, I thought it was because he was so inspirational, funny, and smart. What Dad says makes sense, and nobody says it better than he does! Yet all of these things only explain why people like him, not why they take action. I know trust has a lot to do with it, yet many people hear him only one time and then are inspired to take action. Sure, the foundation for trust was established, but something more than trust had to move them to action. Digging a little deeper and asking the “why” question (Why do people take action?), I discovered this scarlet thread. Almost every time Dad speaks, and in almost every book, tape, CD, video or DVD he has done, he tells his story. In a nutshell, Dad’s story goes like this: Born in the heart of the Depression, he was the tenth of twelve children. His dad died when he was five. Dad started working at age six, never did well in school, married when he was twenty. He started his sales career and failed miserably for several years. An executive at his company told him he could be a champion if only he believed in himself and went to work on a regular schedule. He had always been honest and worked hard, but with this new information he changed his attitude, and his sales career started to take off. Unfortunately, while he would achieve momentary success over the next twenty years, he was still chasing the worldly definition of success and looking for the “get rich quick” solution. Because of this, he found himself having to start over more than ten times during that twenty-year stretch. Stability was not a word to describe Dad! Then, when Dad was forty-five years old, his life totally changed as he discovered his eternal purpose with his faith in Christ. The rest is history. (The above is from the preface from the book dad and I wrote together, Born to Win) I had so much fun writing this book with dad. It was great to see and hear what he still had left to say. He wasn’t done yet! John, did you know you were Born to Win? In honor of Labor Day and celebrating all of the hard work our country was built on, I have a VERY special surprise! | 