Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneur’s Pyramid of Success

The following post is from Jake Cho ’17, a Butler Venture Accelerator team member.

On December 2, Brian Kelley ’18 of Kanga Trash & Energy Systems shared his lessons learned from reading Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success at a peer-to-peer session held by the Butler Venture Accelerator.  John Wooden, the head basketball coach of Emeritus UCLA, reveals the structure of the pyramid of success.

“Success is peace of mine which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become he best that you are capable of becoming” – John Wooden

Brian has shared the seven key attributes that he learned from Coach Wooden:

  1. Passion
    The first attribute that is the base of the success pyramid is passion.  You must truly enjoy what you are doing and need to enjoy what you do to be able to work hardest.  Being passionate and enthusiastic when starting a business can majorly influence your teammates and business to succeed.
  2. Initiative
    Having the initiative and courage to take action is the second base of the success pyramid.  It does not matter how much time ad effort has been put into the business model or anything if it is not taken into an action.
    “You will miss 100% of shots you do not take” – Wayne Gretzk
  3. Vision
    You need to have vision and long-term strategies objective that you have in your mind and concentrate strategic actions and resources on achieving that objective.
    “I never missed a put in my mind” – Jack Nicklaus
  4. Industriousness
    There is no substitute for hard work.  With proper planning and hard work, you will be on your way to success.
    “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity. But hasty shortcuts lead to poverty” – Proverbs 21:5
  5. Determination
    You need to really desire to achieve a goal.  If something bad happens, you don’t give up.
    “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination” – Tommy Lasorda
  6. Confidence
    Having a strong self-belief is a key to perfrom well in stressfull ocnditions.
    “I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.” – Warren Buffett
  7. Adaptability
    The last top piece of the success pyramid is adaptability, being able to adjust to any situation at any given time.  We must readily adapt to circumstances they unfold.  If a new co-worker starts in your business, instead of expecting the co-worker to adapt to the business, you should also adapt to new co-worker for his or her strength.

Coach Wooden believes that everyone has equal opportunity to success, Brian believes that not only is this pyramid for sports, but this pyramid can also be used for life and even business.  How about starting to build your own pyramid of success?