Delivering the message
This uber-achieving yet astonishingly accessible guy doesn’t just have a message — he IS the message. There’s no difference among what he believes, who he is and what he’s accomplished. His mission is to tell you how he did it and convince you that, like him, you can realize your potential. And he wants you to start today.
If you’re not going to be in the audience any time soon when he bounds onto the stage to deliver his trademark dream and make-it-happen talk, you can read his books. The newest is "Lead or Get Off the Pot: Seven Secrets of a Self-Made Leader." It’s chock full of practical advice, actionable ideas and tools to use to make yourself into a person of initiative and influence — the kind of person capable of achieving your best and inspiring others to achieve theirs.
Croce, just back from Los Angeles, where he was filming multiple segments of his nationally syndicated self-help reality show "Pat Croce: Moving In," slowed down long enough to talk about why he wrote the book and what it has to offer.
"I want to change that tape of self-doubt that plays in people’s heads into a positive voice by using myself as an example. If I can do it, so can you."
Leadership, according to Croce, isn’t a role that somebody else confers on you. You become a leader by thinking and acting like one.
"A great leader is not measured by a profit and loss statement. All CEOs are not leaders. They may have the title but if they’re not helping others reach their goals, they are not real leaders."
That’s what he said when he spoke at Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year awards ceremony in Palm Springs, Calif., in 2002, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
"Everyone in the room was already a winner. But I told them not to rest on their laurels, and urged them to use their influence to make those around them better. Doing well has everything to do with doing good."
The return on that investment, he says, comes in many forms, both personal and professional.
"The rewards are emotional and financial. You will grow and so will your business," he says.
"Everyone has the power to add to or subtract from the situations around them. Be aware of that power. Look for it. See the times and the places you exert influence. Build on that. This requires presence. You have to be there, moment to moment. It’s the hardest thing, but it’s important."
Presence, in Croce-speak, includes paying attention, asking questions and focusing on the person in front of you. It’s part of "listening with a leader’s eye," an essential ability for a successful manager and the title of chapter five in his most recent book.
