Dyan Machan

How did Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes become TV’s most celebrated investigative reporter? How did Mary Higgins Clark become one of the world’s highest-paid writers? How did Diane von Furstenberg come to head a multimillion-dollar fashion empire? Certainly they all have talent, but plenty of talented people never reach the top. Talent leads to extraordinary success only when it is paired with smart decision making. As J.K. Rowling wrote in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Scholastic), “It is our choices… that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

How do successful people make the right choices and manage to see things through? By doing the following…
1. Get more credit for accomplishments. We might get a bonus or a promotion for an idea that makes our employer money, but most of the spoils go to the company. Capturing a significant share of those gains for ourselves can mean the difference between a solid career and a hugely successful one.
Example: Michael Flatley, star of the hit Irish step-dancing show Riverdance, left in 1995 to start his own show, Lord of the Dance. He had seen the money other people were making from his dancing and risked his savings to make those profits his. He gives his net worth now as close to half a billion dollars.
2. Stand out from the pack. Doing what everyone else is doing rarely leads to extraordinary success. Making the leap from talented to spectacularly successful often involves a decision to take the untrodden road.
Example: Shoe designer Kenneth Cole spent his entire advertising budget for 1986 on an ad about AIDS that ran on billboards and in 23 magazines. His advisers warned him that it could kill his company to be associated with the disease. Instead, the ad campaign generated so much buzz that it helped him stand out in the crowded shoe market.
3. Discover what is really important. Sometimes a crisis or tragedy can force us to reevaluate our lives.
Example: In the 1950s and early 1960s, Mike Wallace made a good living reporting the news, hosting game shows and appearing in commercials. Only after his 19-year-old son, Peter, died in 1962 did he devote himself to investigative reporting. The tragedy convinced him to make a change despite the financial risks.
4. Find a role model for facing fear. Diane von Furstenberg, founder of a hugely successful clothing company, reminds herself that her mother survived a Nazi concentration camp. Compared with that, what is there to be afraid of in a career decision?
Successful people tend to understand that it isn’t our failures we’ll regret at the end of our lives — it’s the opportunities we let slip away.
Example: Drew Nieporent, founding chef of famed New York restaurant Nobu, learned to take risks because his parents could not. His father talked for years about buying New York City real estate but was too scared to take the plunge. His indecision cost him millions of dollars in potential profits. Nieporent decided that when he had an idea he believed in, he would act.
5. Know what’s worth the risk for you. Successful people don’t always know that their crucial decisions will work out when they make them, but they are willing to take the risks to pursue their dreams.
Example: Singer Sting had a burning desire to be a musician, so he left a secure job with Inland Revenue (England’s IRS) for a job as a teacher. The shorter hours gave him time to pursue his music.
6. Remember, there are second chances. The old saying about opportunity knocking only once isn’t always correct. If we work hard and interact with a wide circle of people, we might get multiple shots at making life-changing decisions.
Example: Mystery writer Mary Higgins Clark’s first book, a biographical novel about George Washington, was a commercial disaster. She determined that thrillers sold better and got back to work. She now makes more than $12 million per book.