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GCs: Surround Yourself With the Right People to Get Ahead

By William Vogeler, Esq. on December 26, 2018 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Life is not a marathon or a box of chocolates.

But it is kind of like them, especially if you are a fan of Forrest Gump. He ran a lot, and learned that you never know what you are going to get.

Author Leo Bottary says a good marathon runner -- like successful people -- improves through disciplined training. Surround yourself with the right people, he says, and you can win, too.

Lacking in Community

Reviewing Bottary's book "What Anyone Can Do," Roger Trapp calls it "thought-provoking" that anyone can do hard things. He builds on the author's analogy to a marathon runner.

He says daily discipline, like diet and exercise, separates those who succeed from those who do not. This he calls a "beguiling and inspiring idea."

"Most especially because -- at a time when for all the supposed connectedness offered by technology -- we have become very isolated and lacking in community, with perhaps more emphasis on self than on collaboration," he writes.

The key to improvement, the writers say, is learning how to work with others.

A Good Team

Or as every athlete knows, you put together a good team and step up to the competition.

"Even the most disciplined among us can benefit from involving our friends, family members and colleagues in helping us achieve our goals," says Bottary. Get good people to work with you, he says, and you will achieve more.

For general counsel, it's also about sharing the challenges with others. Delegating to colleagues and trusting them will help everybody.

You never know what you are going to get, but there's a good chance it will be sweet.

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