Six Lessons Learned

We invited our summer interns to the Food Network Kitchens this past Monday. I was asked to speak to them about the company and my experiences.

I started by telling them that I too was a summer intern in New York City back in 1985.

I tried to boil what I've learned during 22 years in the media and entertainment business down to six key lesssons. Six lessons that I wish someone had shared with me all those years ago. I also included some of my favorite quotes related to the lessons.

Work for love, not for money.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."- George Eliot

Emotional intelligence is the most important intelligence of all.

EI is:

Self-awareness - the ability to read one's emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions.

Self-management - involves controlling one's emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.

Social awareness - the ability to sense, understand, and react to other's emotions while comprehending social networks.

Relationship management - the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict.

Leadership is the most important skill to master.

Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. – Vince Lombardi

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because
he wants to do it. – Dwight Eisenhower

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. – George S. Patton

A leader is best when people barely know he exists; Not so good when people obey and acclaim him; worst when they despise him. but a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say "We did it our selves!" - Sun-Tsu

Servant Leadership is the most effective leadership style.

The greatest leader forgets himself
And attends to the development of others.
Good leaders support excellent workers.
Great leaders support the bottom ten percent.
Great leaders know that
The diamond in the rough
Is always found “in the rough.”
- Lao Tzu

He who wished to secure the good of others, has already secured his own. - Confucius

Success depends on making the right choices during a handful of defining moments and building relationships with a handful of key people.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. - Dr. Martin Luther King

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend. - Abraham Lincoln

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou

Never stop learning.

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. - Eartha Kitt

I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. - Abraham Lincoln

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. - Alvin Toffler