Acton Guides
What it took top entrepreneurs and business educators years to learn is now available to you. Concise. Engaging. Question-evoking. These six Acton guides provide a framework for discussions about calling, career-planning, and true success. As an executive offering guidance to a Rising Star, you can send one or all of the documents to help him or her prepare for a productive conversation with you. As a Rising Star, you can get a head start on tackling the real issues that most entrepreneurs ignore for years.
A Tolerance for Ambiguity
Is the life of a principled entrepreneur for you? The answer to this question may come down to your courage and willingness to learn through trial and error – your ability to tolerate ambiguity.
So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur?
Very few would-be entrepreneurs will get their dream job straight out of school. The secret is to work step by step to gain industry, operational, and fundraising skills, as well as take notice of people who might be complementary partners. Prepare yourself for the challenge and eventually an irresistible opportunity will appear.
Stars & Steppingstones
Don't settle for the wrong career, as so many before you have. Stars and Steppingstones are about finding a purpose in your life: understanding what is fundamentally important, setting lifelong goals, arranging steppingstones to reach those goals, and making course corrections when reality intervenes.
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Wisdom literature, the latest neuroscience and common sense all agree - money won’t buy you happiness. "How can I be happy?" is the wrong question. "How can I create something meaningful for others?" is the right question because it helps others and will change you in a profound way. You can begin a journey to a life of meaning.
Everyone Needs a Little RLC
More than any set of skills, the practice of "Rat-Like Cunning" separates the natural entrepreneurs from the rest of us. If you were lucky, you learned these abilities at the knee of a parent or a mentor. If not, it isn't too late. Just set aside your pride long enough to gather the experiences you need and practice the exercises in this Note.
A Message to Garcia
The ability to execute is more valuable than education or talent, because it is far rarer. If you long to hear your name called when time is short and the stakes are high, people must know you can be trusted with important tasks and missions. By learning how to "get the job done" extraordinary opportunities almost surely will come your way.