for unremitting improvement; and maintain and demonstrate a personal sense of balance in your life. And do this systematically. Keep a scorecard. Ask yourself, where am I now in terms of these characteristics? Where do I want to be in three to five years? Then move forward, one day at a time, and in three to five years take another assessment of the situation. Ask yourself again, how am I doing? Where can I improve? And where do I want to be in three to five more years? In the end, as has been said in many places and many ways, it is the journey that gave all the pleasure (or not).
Van R. Wood Ph.D. is Philip Morris Chair in International Business, and Professor of Marketing at the Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Business in Richmond, Virginia.