Harvey Mackay on Attitude

Harvey Mackay, author of Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, is also chairman and CEO of Mackay Envelope Corp., a company that has been in business since the 1950s. In an interview, he told me that "attitude is the cornerstone of living." He has hired thousands of people during his career, and it is the top quality he looks for.

Mackay said, "I've studied attitude for over 40 years now. I have a 10-step process for hiring, but number one on my list is attitude.

"You get your choice when you get up every morning. Every single morning you can either be an optimist or a pessimist. You can be happy, you can be sad, you can have the right attitude, or you can have the wrong attitude. When I look to hire someone, I'm looking for someone who makes a good choice every morning, someone who's got a phenomenal attitude and the 'stick-to-it' mentality to hang in through rough times.

"One way I personally keep up a positive attitude is this—I have no negative friends. I always want to be around upbeat people. Norman Vincent Peale, who always had a positive attitude, was a great friend of mine. And Lou Holtz, one of the [most victorious] coaches in college football history, has been my closest friend for 15 years. These two men are the most positive people I've ever known. How can you be negative around people like that?"

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

—Lou Holtz,
football coach