Doing What Matters: Why It Is So Damn Hard and So Darn Rewarding

Product Author Bios

Jerry Porras coauthored (with Jim Collins) Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, which has been translated into 25 languages and sold more than one million copies. He is Stanford Graduate School of Business Lane Professor of Organizational Behavior and Change, Emeritus, and directed Stanford’s Executive Program on Leading and Managing Change for 16 years. Stewart Emery, considered one of the fathers of the Human Potential Movement, served as the first CEO of est, cofounded Actualizations, led seminars in dozens of countries, and has coached over 12,000 people in the last three decades. His bestselling books include The Owner’s Manual For Your Life. As a consultant, he asked the questions that led MasterCard to its legendary “Priceless” campaign. Mark Thompson is an executive coach, advisor to senior management teams, award-winning audio book producer, and former executive producer of Schwab.com. Forbes listed him as one of America’s top venture investors.

This Element is an excerpt from Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters (ISBN: 9780132287517) by Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson. Available in print and digital formats.

Learn the four biggest obstacles to following your dream: then expose them, get past them, and liberate yourself!

There are at least four reasons to feel sidetracked from creating the life you want. Whether you let them get you down, or move ahead boldly, there will be suffering. It’s worth the fight. “When you go after what’s meaningful to you,” says Ogilvy & Mather CEO Shelly Lazarus, “you have happier endings.”