How History’s Awesome Twentysomethings Got It Together

Prepare to be enlightened, fascinated and inspired by the stories of some of history’s iconic men and women that show where they were at near the age of 25. And how they overcame obstacles, defied their critics and forged ahead to attain success.

Author Robert L. Dilenschneider tells these stories of 25 men and women from around the globe who shaped the world in his new book, Nailing It.

You’ll learn how these individuals:

Came from modest means and went on to help change the world.
Went on to do what put them in the history books.
Used their unique personal traits to enable them to beat all odds and persevere.

The stories offer some perspective on what young people are experience now. The pandemic has turned young adulthood upside-down. For millions of millennials, what should be a key transformation period, full of adventure, freedom, and self-exploration, has been temporarily halted. Key life events have been put on hold, delayed, or outright cancelled. Now they have even more challenges ahead of them in figuring out their life paths.

Fortunately, history shows, and Nailing It reveals, inspiring examples of successful people who experienced delayed progress in their 20s, forced to take circuitous paths to their life callings, even overcoming tragic starts.

Nailing It includes the stories of:

Maya Angelou
Albert Einstein
Steve Jobs
Sally Ride
Mary Shelley
Jackie Robinson
…and 19 more

Robert L. Dilenschneider

Today, Dilenschneider shares these added insights with us:

Question: How many of the 25 people you profiled in your book were on your original list of landmark figures you planned to profile? If your original list changed, why did it change?

Dilenschneider: We had well over 100 people on the original list. We whittled it down to get to those who were cited based on what they had to offer to readers.

The idea is to inspire young people and help them recognize that they can make a difference. For the more mature this book offers a snapshot of history in the making.

Question: Who might have been the few additional people you would have profiled in your book if you had gone beyond 25?

Dilenschneider: There are dozens of individuals from the world of politics, business and social services that could be profiled, including Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair and Mao Tse Tung. There are many who fit into this category.

Question: Among the 25 iconic individuals profiled, what were the couple common themes that made them all awesome?

Dilenschneider: They had a determination and a focus for what they did. And they had a plan, and they worked the plan. They kept their head down and they did not deviate from their plan.

In almost every case these men and women took prudent risks, were oblivious to criticism, and exercised a laser-like focus on their objectives.

My hope is that knowing where these people were in their lives at that age—whether their acts were together, or not— will be informative and encouraging. Their stories offer some perspective on what young people are experiencing now.

Question: Of the 25, which one has impressed you the most and why?

Dilenschneider: I like Honoré Daumier because he not only offered criticisms of the art establishment in France, but provided on a regular basis serious look into the politics of what was taking place – almost as good as a newspaper. He immediately grasped the implication of combining the relatively new art form of lithography with political satire.

There was another aspect to Daumier’s long career. He eventually developed into a prolific portrait, landscape, and genre painter. He produced around five hundred oils and watercolors that garnered little or no attention from the public during his lifetime, to his disappointment. Posthumously, though, critics saw in this work a foretaste of impressionism, the art movement that had just appeared on the horizon, and appreciation rose.

Every era in history has needed artists, writers, comedians, graphic designers, commentators, pundits, and others to pull the curtain aside, à la Dorothy’s dog Toto in The Wizard of Oz, and show us what’s really going on. Every era has had such people, and Daumier occupies a notable place in the long line of political and social satirists.

Dilenschneider is founder of The Dilenschneider Group. Headquartered in New York and Chicago, the Firm provides strategic advice and counsel to Fortune 500 companies and leading families and individuals around the world, with experience in fields ranging from mergers and acquisitions and crisis communications to marketing, government affairs and international media.

Dilenschneider has authored 14 books, including Decisions: Practical Advice from 23 Men and Women Who Shaped the World; A Briefing for Leaders; On Power, The Critical 14 Years of Your Professional Life; 50 Plus!—Critical Career Decisions for the Rest of Your Life, and Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me a copy of the book.

Comments

Six-pillar Roadmap For How To Move From Merely Surviving To Truly Mattering

In the new book, The Mattering Effect: Creating A Life Of Meaning And Worth , podcaster and author John R. Miles reframes today’s most common struggles and empowers individuals and institutions alike to break bad habits and reclaim a sense of worth and belonging. “Organizations have spent the last decade chasing 'engagement' and 'psychological safety,' yet global productivity is stalling and 60% of employees report they do not feel valued in the places where they spend their days,” shares Miles. He calls this “The Great Erasure”—a condition where high-achievers become highly visible to the organization while becoming invisible to themselves. In addition, Miles argues that many of today’s most common struggles—burnout, anxiety, loneliness, and disengagement—are not personal failures or mindset problems. They are the result of unmattering: the gradual erosion of felt significance within modern systems that reward performance while overlooking presence. Fortu...

Seven Ways To Be A Collaborative Leader

Edward M. Marshall 's book, Transforming The Way We Work -- The Power Of The Collaborative Workplace , remains relevant today, more than a decade after Marshall wrote it. Particularly useful is the book's section that teaches readers how to be a collaborative leader. Marshall says that there are seven different, important roles and responsibilities of collaborative leaders when leading teams , and those leaders should select the appropriate style to meet the team's needs. The seven roles are : The leader as sponsor -- You provide strategic direction, boundaries and coaching for the team. You also monitor progress and ensure integrity in the team's operating processes. The leader as facilitator -- You ensure that meetings, team dynamics, and interpersonal relationships function effectively. You also ensure internal coordination of activities among team members. The leader as coach -- You provide support and guidance and you serve as a sounding board. The lea...

Questions You'll Likely Be Asked At Your Next Job Interview

Many Human Resource (HR) managers have moved away from questions like "What's your weakness?" and prefer behavior-based questions , which ask you to: describe how you handled specific situations at your former jobs If you are about to interview for your next leadership position, be prepared for questions like these (from an article in Reader's Digest ): Tell me about a time when your integrity was challenged . What was the situation, and what did you do? Tell me about a time you had to work with someone you did not personally like . If you could come to work with only three tools to get your job done, what would they be ? What personal and professional development have you been engaged in outside the workplace over the past year? Describe your Outlook calendar on a typical day

More Leadership Quotes From John C. Maxwell

The real gems in John C. Maxwell's book, Everyone Communicates Few Connect , book are the abundant leadership and communication quotes, such as these: To add value to others, one must first value others. People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude. All good communicators get to the point before their listeners start asking, "What's the point?" The first time you say something, it's heard. The second time, it's recognized, and the third time it's learned. In the end, people are persuaded not by what we say, but by what they understand. People pay attention when something that is said connects with something they greatly desire. Maxwell also says that: Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could . The book covers five principles and five practices to help readers so they can connect one-on-one, in a group, or...

High-Performing Teams Are Made Of This

According to Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese, authors of the book, The Collaboration Imperative , high-performing teams have the following characteristics: People have solid and deep trust in each other and in the team's purpose--they feel free to express feelings and ideas. Everybody is working toward the same goals. Team members are clear on how to work together and how to accomplish tasks. Everyone understands both team and individual performance goals and knows what is expected. Team members actively diffuse tension and friction in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. The team engages in extensive discussion, and everyone gets a chance to contribute--even the introverts. Disagreement is viewed as a good thing and conflicts are managed. Criticism is constructive and is oriented toward problem solving and removing obstacles. The team makes decisions when there is natural agreement--in the cases where agreement is elusive, a decision is made by the team lead or executiv...

Decide

Many years ago, I worked with a person who could not make decisions. Neither big nor small decisions. That indecisiveness paralyzed our business in many ways. Unfortunately, the book, Decide: Work Smarter, Reduce Your Stress, and Lead by Example , had not been published. Had it, I would have shared it with my co-worker. Decide , published this past February, teaches readers how to make better decisions based on the real results they want to experience. The author, Steve McClatchy, explains how to use the two forms of human motivation -- Gain, or Prevent Pain , to make more effective decisions. For example, he demonstrates how inserting a Gain task in the middle of a Prevent Pain day can give you the energy you need to move forward and make the Prevent Pain tasks take less time through motivation. Deeper into the book, you'll be reminded about not only the problems with procrastination, but also about the benefits of procrastination, and, if you are ...

5 Compelling Benefits Of Having An Ethical Culture

In Andrew Leigh's book, Ethical Leadership , he provides these compelling and important benefits of having an ethical culture in your business/organization: Customers prefer dealing with companies who put ethics at the center of their culture. Most employees would prefer to earn less working for an ethical company than being paid more and working for an unethical company. More than one in three people at work say they've left a job because they've disagreed with the company's ethical standards ( Trevino, L and Nelson, K - 2011 ) If you adopt an early warning system against misconduct it reduces the risk of you facing expensive litigation. An ethical culture helps you make your company a strong affirming place to work in. "The foundations of an ethical culture include values, attitudes, meaning, behaviors, purpose, and management practices," explains Leigh.

Make It Easy For Your Employees To Volunteer

Start planning now for this year's National Volunteer Week, April 15-21 . That's the week when nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S. will celebrate and honor their volunteers. If you are not already volunteering, what a great time to start. Make a commitment to yourself to start volunteering before that week starts! And, if you are a workplace leader who supports a volunteer program at your business, you already know that by encouraging employees to give back to your community you are: building teamwork motivating employees attracting new hires In fact, job seekers much prefer companies that have a strong volunteer program. And, a growing number of businesses are rewarding employees who volunteer by giving them extra vacation time and other incentives. Fortunately, throughout the U.S. there are hundreds of volunteer opportunities where employees can contribute individually, or where leaders can organize teams of employees to volunteer together on a routin...

Good Coach Versus Bad Coach

Former Verizon Wireless CEO, Denny F. Strigl offers these tips for how to be a good coach to an employee. He explains that good coaches help performers by : Keeping them focused. Giving them objective, helpful feedback. Acting as a sounding board for new approaches. Identifying blind spots that may be holding the performer back. Reinforcing key values, principles, and behaviors that improve performance. Recognizing positive behavior and performance. Providing encouragement after setbacks and failures Setting "stretch" goals. Acting as an accountability partner. Strigl believes that some managers fail in their coaching roles because they : View coaching as babysitting. See coaching as only correcting performance. Don't spend enough time with their employees. Are reluctant to criticize. Have social relationships with their employees. Have a "sink-or-swim" philosophy. Believe coaching is not helpful or meaningful. "Coaching may...

How Will The Value Of Your Days Be Measured?

I recommend that all leaders every so often read the What Will Matter poem by Michael Josephson . It serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of unselfishly serving and leading with character. I've highlighted in bold and in color my favorite parts of the poem: Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brillian...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog