Willing to Climb.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about the difference between coaching the game and playing the game.

A coach can teach you how to play, how to practice, and prepare for the game, but cannot play the game for you. The winning is up to you. A mentor can prepare you for your interview, guide you through tough career choices, but cannot do your job for you. Being successful is up to you. There is a great line in the Matrix movie when Morpheus tells Neo, "I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it." Being "the one" could not come true, until Neo believed for himself, what Morpheus already knew.

There have been times in my career when I was able to recognize a young employee as a rock star long before they could see it themselves. I've learned in fact, the smartest people in the world are usually the last to realize it. When I've had an opportunity to work with a future star, I invested more effort in them, gave them tougher challenges, and tried to push them toward their full potential.

Unfortunately, my investment in future stars has not always succeeded. While some have excelled well beyond my expectation, others became stalled in the starting blocks and could never get going. Not all rock stars actually want to be stars. I've seen some become impatient and chose to quit just moments before they reached the finish line, and others have even sabotaged themselves, as if to say they didn't deserve success.

Learning and growing are not easy. My daughter chose to enroll in high honors classes, and I see her struggle every day, studying, reading, and working to complete mountains of homework. Learning does not come easy for her, but she really wants to do it. Last night at dinner, she announced that she may choose to drop her honors classes and be what she called "a normal high school student." We confirmed that we would support whatever she wants to do and asked why she wants to be "normal."

She explained that getting an A+ was easier before and she fears that she may only be able to get an A- or a B in honors classes. My wife told her, "I would rather see you get an F in honors where the work is harder, than to get an A+ where everything is easier." Then, I just quoted Tom Hanks from the movie, "A League of Their Own," saying, "It is the hard that makes it great."

I am grateful for how hard she works and how successful she has become. I am grateful that she thinks so highly of us to ask our opinion about her choices, and the choice is ultimately hers to make. The truth is, we cannot do her homework for her, just as we cannot go to college for her, or go to work for her one day. We can provide advice, coaching, and encouragement, but her life is hers to live. Whether we're talking about my daughter or my employees, it really is as today's fortune says, "There's no boosting a man up the ladder unless he's willing to climb."