The methods of attaining great heights are frequently discussed, with many postulations propounded by pundits and individuals of phenomenal accomplishments, yet reaching the pinnacle of such heights remains ever so elusive to the masses; hence, only a select few are able to make these extraordinary strides. In Drive to Passion, Ted Obomanu chronicles the lives of a few highly accomplished individuals: • Harland Sanders, a perfectionist, who was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC); • Winston Churchill, the vivacious and popular prime minister of Britain, who led his country to victory during the Second World War; • Joseph Kennedy, patriarch of the Kennedy clan, business mogul, and kingmaker; • Sidney Poitier, acclaimed actor and the first African-American movie star to receive an Oscar in a leading role; • Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents of the United States, responsible for the abolition of slavery; • Suze Orman, financial guru and popular TV host who epitomizes passion; • Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, who accomplished this unprecedented feat despite its improbability; • Oprah Winfrey, owner of a TV network, one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, and was the host and producer of one of the most popular TV shows ever. Obomanu does this to explore firsthand how these individuals were able to reach the summit of their vocations. He also turns the chronicling of these great individuals’ lives into an intriguing narrative, without compromising the lessons. Obomanu makes significant findings in this book: Passion more than anything else is responsible for success and greatness, which is self-evident in the lives of the great individuals he chronicles; to attain distinction, the quest for passion should always be centered around a niche; passion is fueled by drive, and a shift in focus from passion to the rewards of accomplishments, such as wealth, may potentially derail the attainment of success and greatness; mentors play a huge role in the accomplishment of our goals. At the conclusion of this great reading, Obomanu delves into how spirituality and personal development can greatly enhance the quest for passion and how the pursuit of passion can trigger happiness and longevity. He sums up by asserting that the aspiration of success and greatness should be driven by all the components of passion to ensure its sustainability and potential value to society.

Drive to Passion

By Ted Obomanu

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Ted Obomanu
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4670-4106-5

Contents

INTRODUCTION........................................................................1CHAPTER 1 "Colonel" Harland sanders: Greatness After sixty-Five.....................7CHAPTER 2 Winston Churchill: A Glow-Worm............................................13CHAPTER 3 Joseph Kennedy: Craved Recognition and Privilege..........................63CHAPTER 4 Sidney Poitier: A slot of My Choosing.....................................126CHAPTER 5 Abraham Lincoln: Appetite for Politics....................................150CHAPTER 6 Suze Orman: Like What You Do..............................................170CHAPTER 7 Barack obama: Life Beyond His Father's Dilemma............................181CHAPTER 8 Oprah Winfrey: Determined to Achieve Fame.................................242CHAPTER 9 Realizing our Powers......................................................259CHAPTER 10 success and Greatness....................................................276Illustration........................................................................297Acknowledgements....................................................................299About Author........................................................................300Notes...............................................................................301

Chapter One

"Colonel" Harland Sanders: Greatness After Sixty-Five

Although it is imperative that we should be mentally and physically capable of embarking on any project, old age has minimal impact on the pursuit of our passion and the achievement of success and greatness. This is evidenced by "Colonel" Harland sanders and a host of others who found success in their sixties. Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), did so at the age of sixty-five. If we think we are too old to pursue our passion, we should look around us at all the people who made great accomplishments in their fifties and sixties.

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Harland sanders was born in 1890, and at the tender age of six, he was burdened with the responsibility of taking care of his younger siblings; his mother had to go to work, so she taught him how to cook a variety of dishes, including fried chicken. She worked in a shirt factory to support the family. Sanders took care of the domestic work, cooking for his siblings and watching them. His father, who had labored in the coal mines of Kentucky, had just died.

The cooking skills that sanders acquired from his mother would remain with him for the rest of his life and would prompt his foray into the restaurant industry. Although sanders did not start off working in a restaurant, over the years he modified his fried chicken recipe, and it orchestrated a drive in him to make something of this recipe—which would take him to unprecedented heights.

Sanders held several jobs, including his endeavors as a street car conductor and a railroad fireman. While working with the railroad, sanders took a correspondence course in law. He eventually became a lawyer and practiced law in Little Rock, Arkansas. He brought his law career to a screeching halt when he got involved in a scuffle with one of his clients in a courtroom.

Later, as sanders got older, he opened a service station, where he also operated a small eatery for customers. The more he exhibited his great cooking skills, the more his business grew. He eventually expanded into a restaurant next to the service station. His specialty was fried chicken, which included other southern dishes such as vegetables and biscuits. His restaurant grew into a 142-seat establishment. To sharpen his skills in restaurant management, sanders took an eight-week course in restaurant management at Cornell University.

For Sanders, the acquisition of knowledge in the area pertaining to his passion was instrumental in propelling him to great heights. Other individuals featured in this book, as depicted in subsequent chapters, mirror Sanders in embarking on avid quests for education in the activities encompassing their passion.

As great as a higher education may be—with respect to enabling us to increase our level of information, polish, flexibility, and learning capacity—the amount of effort that we put into education, preparation, and practice in those activities relating to our passion will contribute immensely toward our success and greatness in our chosen field. This is evidenced not only by the personalities featured in this book, but also by American technology titans such as Bill Gates, steve Jobs, Michael Dell, and Mark Zuckerberg. All were college dropouts who went on to achieve greatness by founding multibillion-dollar technology companies. These individuals were able to attain great heights through preparation, practice, and education in their chosen activities.

Following his course at Cornell and the growing success of his 142-seat restaurant, Sanders became a burgeoning force in the restaurant industry. His popularity and skill in the industry earned him the honorary title of "Colonel" from the governor of Kentucky, an honor that was bestowed upon him again by the lieutenant governor of the same state. Following this recognition, he began dressing in a white suit with a black string tie and black shoes, carrying a cane, and wearing a white goatee and mustache, portraying the image of a southern gentleman.

Sanders' budding success came to an abrupt end when the construction of a new highway diverted traffic from his restaurant. As a result of this, his business dwindled and eventually failed. So he retired at the age of sixty-five and proceeded to collect social security.

Sanders decided to come out of retirement after collecting his first monthly check of $105. He was sixty-five years old and completely broke. His decision to come out of retirement is commendable. He was deterred neither by age nor by failure. sixty-five is an age when most people generally throw in the towel and opt for an easier life: lounging, playing golf, or doing something that requires minimal mental or physical exertion. Sanders proved that the paradigm of being undeterred by failure or advanced age is a good one.

Sanders was confident in himself. He had learned valuable lessons from his failure. Still passionate about cooking, he believed that he could be successful at operating another restaurant. Armed with his passion and driven by the need to make something of his fried chicken recipe, Sanders went from place to place trying to sell it, and at the same time he sold chicken cooked with his pressure cooker out of his car. He decided to take full advantage of his fame and cooking skills by convincing some people he knew to invest in his fried chicken recipe. He encountered obstacles; they rejected his idea. His persistent efforts finally paid off when he found a couple who embraced his concept and was willing to invest in it. That was the advent of the famous Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants, or KFC, as we know it today. From then on, he built and franchised his restaurants.

Sanders often paid surprise visits to his restaurants and scolded employees for not doing things correctly. He was a perfectionist. He was also fastidious about cleanliness and all other aspects of the business. Perhaps in Sanders' time, the chastising of employees was not looked upon with the same amount of disdain as it is today; however, the fact still remains that in any given era, the scolding of one's employees would not have been looked upon in a positive light. Colonel Sanders was definitely not without his faults. But in spite of his weaknesses, he was a tenacious and resilient individual. He was also passionate about his endeavors.

When Sanders sold his stake in his KFC restaurants for $2 million in 1964 to John Y. Brown and his group of investors, little did he know KFC would change ownership a few times and become a behemoth. Twenty years later, in 1984, R.J. Reynolds Industries sold the company to PepsiCo for $840 million. KFC is currently owned by Yum! Brands, Inc, a spinoff from PepsiCo. Yum! Brands operates several franchises including taco Bell and Pizza Hut. More than two billion dinners of Sanders' fried chicken are now sold annually in over eighty countries. According to encyclopedia.com's article, "KFC Corporation," as of 2007, KFC made $520.3 million in sales and had 11,000 locations in 80 countries, with 5,300 domestic restaurants. The company's sales peaked at $4.8 billion in 2002. KFC has been plagued by problems pertaining to the unhealthiness of fried foods.

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Although Sanders met with many failures and challenges, he had some remarkable successes in his imperfect yet extraordinary life. He started a few businesses that he eventually closed for one reason or another. Success did not come easily for him, but he was persistent and resilient. Sanders had a difficult time convincing other restaurateurs to stock and cook with his secret recipe. Also, he tried his hand at many careers and professions, including law and sales. He continued and did not give up until he arrived at his real love and passion—cooking fried chicken with his secret recipe. this led to his tremendous achievement: the advent of KFC.

Sometimes, we can easily recognize our passion; at other times, it is not so easy. We all need jobs to make an income, but to make achievements of significance that would mirror Sanders', we should ultimately choose the endeavor we enjoy the most. If that endeavor is not immediately apparent then, similar to Sanders, we should go the trial and error route until we can truly identify what we enjoy doing. People who are close to us can also be instrumental in helping us identify areas that could potentially be our niche. this, invariably, could be where our passion lies. As the Greek philosopher Socrates said when giving a young man advice about passion, the endeavor we want as much as we want the air we breathe is our passion.

Another basic component of success and greatness is the commitment of time, energy, and patience in finding that passion. since our passion does not always manifest itself readily, time, energy, and patience are vital ingredients for us as we search for our passion. In some cases, for instance, a child may know at age five that she wants to be a neurosurgeon, and she goes on to do just that; this, however, is rare. Identifying our passion is often not that simple. Thomas J. Perkins, a silicon Valley billionaire and venture capitalist, said in a 60 Minutes television interview that he tried his hand at ten different ventures and only two of those ventures were successful—the two that elicited his passion.

Some important elements in Sanders' remarkable life were that he was undeterred by age and was driven to go on the quest for his passion. We should be undeterred by age unless we are underage or our vocation involves activities that are too physically demanding for people in our age group. Sanders was driven by some factors: Initially, he grew up in poverty, and he was driven to elevate himself through the pursuit of cooking, with the recipe he had obtained from his mother; later on, he set out to make something of his recipe.

Sanders identified his passion for cooking fried chicken and southern dishes. How do we recognize our passion when we find it? If we enjoy an activity so much that we are willing to work without immediate financial rewards while in pursuit of that endeavor—this is a good indication that we have found our passion. If we have a niche in that activity, then there is definitely something to build on. If we pursue an endeavor with conviction, it is also a sign that we may have found our passion. In his book The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, John C. Maxwell contended that John Schnatter of Papa John's Pizza lives and breathes pizza. "And he enjoys it so much that he is always in the thick of things." of course, our passion should be a value-added activity—something that would add value to or enhance people's lives.

How do we acquire passion similar to Sanders'? Can we learn to be passionate and driven? Certainly, we can learn to be passionate and driven. Once we have identified a cogent reason for desiring success, the next step entails identifying a passion that can bring our desire to fruition. Everyone has a niche or a calling, which we need to identify, in order to pursue our passion. Our success depends on ensuring that there is a correlation between our niche and passion. It also depends on fervently pursuing that passion. Of course, some of the key factors that are orchestrated by passion—customized education, preparation, enjoyment of the activity, courage, resilience, tenacity, confidence, and ability to take risks—have to be present to ensure the successful pursuit of our passion.

Chapter Two

Winston Churchill: A Glow-Worm

Winston Churchill's childhood was mired by his inconsistent performance in school and a distant relationship with his parents. He came in at the bottom of his class a few times, and at other times, he did well. In general, he struggled with some subjects such as Latin and mathematics, and excelled in history and English literature. Despite Churchill's troubled beginnings, including his less than stellar performance in school, he rose to become one of the world's greatest leaders and an intellectual powerhouse who was driven to write volumes of books and to win the Nobel Prize in Literature—thus making unprecedented accomplishments through the successful pursuit of his passion.

The care of Churchill and his younger brother, Jack, was relegated to a nanny, Mrs. Everest. At that time in Britain, it was not uncommon for people of considerable social status, of the caliber of Churchill's parents, to surround themselves with servants and nannies. Churchill's nanny practically raised him. Most of the time, his parents were too busy with social engagements and travels to really concern themselves with the intricate details of child rearing.

Churchill's impetuous behavior contributed to the distance between him and his mother. According to Martin Gilbert in his biography of Churchill, Churchill: A Life, once, upon returning to his Brighton boarding school after a brief holiday with his parents, he wrote back to his mother saying, "You must be happy without me, no screams from Jack or complaints. It must be heaven on earth." Despite the distance between them, Churchill loved his mother dearly.

While in boarding school, young Churchill communicated with his parents through letters. In most of his letters to his parents, he craved their ever-so-elusive attention, especially his father's. When Churchill's father, Lord Randolph, once visited the town of Brighton on official business without stopping to see him, young Churchill was sad after he read about his father's visit in the local newspapers. According to Gilbert, he wrote his father saying, "I cannot think why you did not come to see me while you were in Brighton. I was disappointed but I suppose you were too busy to come." Despite the distance between him and his father, Churchill revered him and decided to follow in his footsteps by going into politics. He followed his father's political career through the newspapers.

As much as Churchill revered his father, he was also cognizant of his mistakes. Lord Randolph was a minister—a cabinet position in the British government. The elder Churchill was terminated from his job as a minister due to problems that ensued from a bad decision he made while in office. Churchill would later forge a closer relationship with his own children than he had with his father because he did not want them to go through the experiences he had as a child.

Upon completion of high school, Churchill, at the persuasion of his father, opted for a military career. Lord Randolph was convinced that his son was academically ill-prepared to attend a university. The Sandhurst Military Academy, which prepared young men for a career in the infantry, was Churchill's last option. He lacked proficiency in mathematics, which was the prerequisite for a career in the Royal Artillery or Royal engineers. Churchill passed the entrance exam to Sandhurst Military Academy on his third try.

Already, Churchill's early years were riddled with disappointments and failures. He craved the love of his parents, which he did not get. His behavior was deemed wanting by both parents. Although he had a flair for English and history, he was anything but academically gifted; hence, it took him three attempts on the entrance exam to gain admission to Sandhurst. In spite of these failures and disappointments, Churchill would later in life show the mark of a great individual and the resilience it would take to reach great heights.

The discipline at Sandhurst Military Academy was good for Churchill. While there, his father's health, unbeknownst to young Churchill, began to deteriorate. He wrote letters to his father about his progress. Churchill's father often responded with letters decrying his conduct. Churchill did not let his father's denigrating letters foster a sense of inadequacy in him. Rather, as he indicated in his letters to his mother, he resolved to do better and to make something of himself at Sandhurst.

Unaware of his father's malady, syphilis, and his continuing deterioration, both physically and mentally, Churchill continued to write letters to Lord Randolph, assuring him he would do better. The replies from his father, due to his poor health, were sporadic, sometimes confused and incoherent because he was also mentally incapacitated and disoriented. Despite his father's nasty letters, Churchill continued to idolize him. His father died a few months prior to his commission as a second lieutenant.

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