You have to accept your fate; do it without bitterness and stay humble.

Let me tell you something about myself. I am a straight shooter.

Surely if we knew what bitterness fate held in store, we would shrink back in fear and let the cup of life pass us by untasted.

As a baby boomer myself, I can tell you we are part of the have-it-all generation. We pretend never to age and often do our best to avoid sacrifice.

Here is what I know. When you're running a successful company or an organization, you can take this human equation to the bank: underconfidence plus insecurity always equals paranoia and backstabbing.

On the back of comic books in the 1970s, there was something called the American Seed Company. They would send you a cardboard box full of seeds; kids would sell them door-to-door in the neighborhood and then pick from a catalog of prizes. I bought myself a watch that way.