Four Principles for Success

By Suzie Isak | 15 July 2015 |

Every business needs a little inspiration from time to time.

Successful Speaker's catalogue of keynote speakers doubles as a handbook on how to transform ideas and dreams into the reality of successful businesses, brands or movements. We've looked through our line-up of business, tech, life and start-up gurus to come up with four principles of success based on the real-life experience of our speakers.

1. Age is Irrelevant

Guest speaker Holly Ransom is one of Australia's brightest stars. By the age of 25, she accomplished more on a national and international scale than most people hope to accomplish in a lifetime. She's authored a topical paper for the United Nations, been a part of the G20 conference and has started her own consulting firm based on her enthusiastic approach to business.

Holly's life is a testament to the principle that age is not as important as a willingness and a passion to embrace the principles and ideals of your vision and do whatever it takes to see that vision come to fruition. For your company, that may mean reaching unprecedented levels of profit in the upcoming quarter. For others it may be starting their own organisation from scratch.

Whatever the motivation; the principle remains the same. No matter how young or old you or your business are, don't let that stop you from creating something truly amazing.

2. Courage is Indispensable

Turia Pitt, one of our most inspirational guest speakers, was a mining engineer and an ultra-marathoner whose life took a sudden, tragic turn during an ultra-marathon in 2011when a brushfire on the course trapped her and burned more than 60 percent of her body. The blaze left her nearly dead and her skin horribly burned. Turia spent six months in the hospital learning how to walk and to feed herself again.

Turia's near-death experience has turned her into a champion of courage. She's clawed, fought and cried her way back to normalcy. Her autobiography, “Everything to Live For”, has inspired thousands and to this day she pushes herself to the limit as she travels the world to advocate for surgeries on behalf of burn victims and patients with deformities.

Turia's inspirational personal narrative is sterling example of how great things cannot be accomplished – and great pain cannot be overcome – without great measures of courage. In a business sense, one only has to look at the recent global financial crisis to see that, though the crisis wasn't life threatening, it did threaten the way of life for millions of Australians. Business leaders and executives needed courage in those difficult days, leading their teams through dark times and always pushing for growth and strength amid turmoil.

3. Vision is Necessary

We love having tech and thought leader Steve Sammartino on our team of conference speakers because he represents the vision and forward thinking of Australia's start-up industry. Steve is the first entrepreneur in 60 years to start a car company in Australia and the country's only person to ever create a fully functioning car built from LEGOs. His blog attracts 30,000 readers every month and he's a marketing professor at Melbourne University.

Steve has built his career on his ability to see things in a way that nobody else can see them. He envisions things which don't exist, then uses his expertise and his creativity to bring them to life. In a day and age when innovation is moving at a breakneck pace, the capacity of a company to peer into the future and envision solutions and inventions that do not yet exist is a crucial part of adaptation and advancement. Where there is no vision, the people perish; and so it goes with business.

4. Perseverance Conquers All

Vietnamese food wasn't a big deal in Australia until Pauline Nguyen came along. It's hard to believe the larger-than-life restaurateur was ever not a part of Australia's foodie scene, but it's true. She was born in Vietnam and before she was five years old she had to flee the country and endure a Thai refugee camp. Eventually, she made it to Australia with her family to start a new life.

Her childhood was not easy, but it proved that the owner of the internationally renowned Red Lantern restaurant refused to give up and would stop at nothing to reach her destination. That fierce desire is apparent in the way she handles her business relationships these days – she's constantly sharpening the people around her, helping them overcome the stress and strain of her Sydney kitchen through excellence and dedication.

Every business goes through seasons of difficulty and seasons of success. Sometimes the latter can't happen without the former. It takes the power of perseverance to endure the dark days in order to see the glow of more profitable times.

Tying it All Together

Each of these four speakers offers businesses and companies a unique look into the character traits that made them who they are. The beauty of their personal narratives is that the principles of perseverance, vision, courage and setting lofty goals no matter your age are easily adaptable to corporations, businesses and organisations. They have the power to transform the collective mindset of your audience as they weave their life experience and their business acumen into their captivating presentations.

Furthermore, their messages are such that you can find just the right personality to speak to the current state of your business – burdened, booming, struggling or succeeding.