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You Are Full of Promise

Published by Danzig Insight Services, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any form, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review or article, without written permission from the publisher or author.

First Edition eBook

eBook ISBN 978-0-9858039-3-3

Author Website

http://www.bobdanzig.com

http://www.youareworthwhile.com

Narrated by Ed Primeau

http://www.primeauproductions.com

FOREWORD

This eBook was originally a live talk to a business audience. For this reason, it is written the way one would speak. You will also notice there are sections where it says “Narrator” and “Bob.” This was purposely left in to increase readability.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Meet Bob Danzig

Introduction

1. You Are Full of Promise

2. Quality

3. Inspiration

4. Innovation

5. Perseverance

6. Passion

7. Respect

8. Charisma

9. Energy and Enthusiasm

10. The Power Within You

11. Interview with Bob Danzig

Qualities To Lead A Transformational Life

MEET BOB DANZIG

Bob Danzig spent his childhood shuffling from one foster home to another, never quite belonging. When he got his first job as an office boy at the Albany Times Union, the newspaper became his family. Encouraged by a caring boss, he spent three years in the Navy; went to college nights for five years; was awarded a Journalism fellowship to Stanford University; and nineteen years after walking in the door as an office boy, became Publisher of the Times Union. Seven years later, he was named President of all Hearst Newspapers nationwide. In the next two decades, he led the 6,000 employee/colleague company to a renaissance of talent, strategic purpose, and 100-fold profit growth, earning him industry-wide respect for his innovative marketing leadership.

Bob is the author of The Leader Within You, Conversations with Bobby, Every Child Deserves a Champion, Vitamins for the Spirit, Angel Threads, Shakespeare Lives on Cape Cod, The Hummingbird Effect, You are Full of Promise and Business Gems. His story of personal triumph continues to inspire readers and audiences nationwide.

Today, Bob is Dean of the Hearst Management Institute and a spellbinding professional speaker, named to the Speakers Hall of Fame in 2007. He was the first recipient of the National Speakers Association’s Philanthropist of The Year Award; the first recipient of the Child Welfare League’s Champion for Children Award; and received the 2012 Beacon of Ethics Award from the Business Ethics Alliance ®.

For Bob, the key to all these life marks is embracing every opportunity and acknowledging each individual who crosses his path. By spreading encouragement, enhanced spirit and confidence, he is bringing lasting change to a world searching for these qualities. It has been said, “Bob Danzig is one of those magical people who, when he enters a room he fills it, and when he begins to speak he owns it.”

INTRODUCTION

Bob: I am going to tell you about transformation. And if it’s your privilege to guide an organization, I am going to talk about transforming the place whose destiny you touch.

The Hearst Corporation is 125 years old. We’re essentially a media company and the largest monthly magazine publisher in the world. So, if Good Housekeeping, or Redbook, or Cosmopolitan, or Town and Country, or Harper’s Bazaar, or Popular Mechanics, or Esquire is ever in your home, you give us the privilege of touching you where you live.

We are also one of the largest television companies in the nation and the seventh largest newspaper company in America. We are now in partnership with Disney, and own ESPN, ESPN II, A & E, Lifetime and The History Channel. If you ever click one of those channels on, you also permit us the privilege of touching you where you live.

We have 450 businesses. What drives every one of those businesses? Three things that we all have in common. The first thing that drives them is talent. That’s what this room is. It is a room full of talent. The second thing that drives all those businesses is customers. That’s what drives everyone in this room, ultimately. When you speak, it’s to touch a customer. Thirdly, what we have in common with you is about connecting the talent to the customers by the way we lead our organization.

One of the things I’ve learned from running this company for so long is the fundamental difference between “leading a life and leading a company” and “managing a life and managing a company.” As I see it, management is about today and leadership is about tomorrow.

Likewise, the decision to participate in a program that’s designed to enhance your ability as professionals is about leading your life, not just managing your life. You managed getting here by car, train, taxi, whatever. The decision, though, to embrace this day’s content is about the way you lead your life. Management is also about process. Leadership is about purpose.

This week, we will deliver ten million Hearst newspapers. If you went out at six o’clock and your paper was there, I don’t think we should expect you to say, “Wow! What a company! They got me this paper.” You assume we know how to exercise the process to get the thing to you. But if today, our Houston Chronicle launched a series that changed the atmosphere or the quality of life in Houston, Texas, that’s because someone chose to put leadership into that property.

We view management as feeding the body of a place. We believe leadership feeds the soul of a place. So we think there’s a difference between managing and leading.

Chapter One
YOU ARE FULL OF PROMISE

Narrator: Can you speak about the eight words that transformed your life?

Bob: I grew up in several foster homes in Albany, New York. When I was around 9 years old and moving from my fourth to my fifth foster home, the social worker in charge of my case leaned into me, looked me deeply in my eyes and said, “Never forget, you are worthwhile.” Over the course of that year, Mae Morse, who was a tall, angular-looking woman with grayish-blonde hair, (I can see her as if she were here this morning) never finished a discussion where she didn’t say to me, “You are worthwhile.”

I had never heard those words before. Until she crossed my path, I had never had anybody tell me I had consequence or value. Those words had a profound impact on me. They bathed my spirit and gave me a sense of purpose.

Narrator: Can you tell us about the other affirming words that impacted your life?

Bob: I want to start by telling you the way you get to be president of Hearst Newspapers. You get fired from your first job. You see, when you grow up in the foster care system, you’re pushed out when you graduate from high school. Eighty-five percent of the kids in foster care don’t go to college. You go to a room that’s rented someplace and get a little job.

My first job was in the mattress department at Montgomery Ward’s in upstate New York. In the mattress department, those of us who were new went to work each day and climbed up these ladders. There were bins full of mattresses. Across each bin, there was a catwalk. You climb up in the morning, and they’d yell out, “B6.” You push that baby off. It would come down and land on a trampoline. Then, they’d wheel it out to a customer.