Foreword

Most forewords tell you about the book you’re about to read. I’d rather you just read it for yourself.

Let me tell you a little about why you should be interested in what Micheal and Colby have to say in this book.

Everybody needs a coach. Whether you’re trying to lose weight or build a business, a coach can make all the difference in the world, all the difference between success and failure. Micheal is a coach in the best sense of the word. He challenges, he encourages, he provokes, he supports, he calls you on your “stuff,” he helps you discover strengths that you didn’t even know you had.

Colby is a strategist. Colby helps answer the tough question. First let’s identify the easy question: The easy question is “What should I do?” I think that on some level, almost everybody knows what to do. The tough question is “How do I do it?” That’s strategy, and without a sound strategy the knowledge of what to do is useless.

The combination of a great coach and a great strategist creates a unique perspective for understanding and a powerful force for action.

The metaphors of Zebras and Cheetahs, the Concrete Jungle, the 10,000-pound Gorilla, and more that are used in this book make perfect sense. Micheal and Colby have taken concepts like dominant aspiration and made them useful, and that’s the difference between this book and so many others about success in life, career, and business.

There’s great skill involved in making challenging ideas simple and understandable. Whether in their speaking, their consultative work with clients, on their radio show, or in this book, Micheal and Colby demonstrate that skill in spades, and the beneficiary (in the case of this book) is you. If you’re like me, you’ll find yourself nodding your head in agreement and recognition as you read this book. You’ll have that sense of “Hey, that’s exactly what I’m going through” throughout the text.

But the true payoff isn’t just that Micheal and Colby feel your pain—it’s that they’ve got the cure. It’s not silver bullets. It’s not secrets of success. It’s in ways of looking at, thinking about, and taking action on your challenges and opportunities that make absolute sense. The real payoff is when you find yourself thinking “Hey! I can do this stuff!” It’s the inspiration and the how-to’s that move you to take action that can change your career and your life.

I read a lot of books. Heck, I’ve even written a few myself. My hope is that the books I write have the kind of meaningful, positive impact on people that this book has had on me, and that I’m confident it will have on you.

Welcome to the jungle.

Joe Calloway, author of Becoming a Category of One—How Extraordinary Companies Transcend Commodity and Defy Comparison and Be the Best at what Matters Most: The Only Strategy You Will Ever Need