Carolyn Marks was an over-achiever. She lived for success and she received it. She was always pushing and striving to do more, she wanted to know more, and to be more – that’s Carolyn.

Carolyn was the CEO of an international insurance company. She was the first female Chief Executive Officer in the company’s history. Carolyn’s career path was unique. Very few women make it to the top spot of a Fortune 500 company, and at the time of our story, there were even less.

It was early spring in Chicago, a typically blustery day for the end of March. Carolyn had a 10:00 a.m. appointment scheduled with her executive coach. An executive coach is someone hired by a company to help its leadership team become more productive leaders. Carolyn’s coach was Harry Kleiner. Harry was a brilliant man, well-respected, and the best in his field. On that particular morning Carolyn had a particularly vexing set of questions she asked Harry.

It occurred to Carolyn, that she could master the art of optimum living if she knew three things: 1. Timing. When was the right time to start something new? 2. Advisement. Who are the right people to listen to and who are the wrong ones. 3. Selection. How to choose what to do.

Harry took his time to think about the answer. He mulled it over as one question, he took it apart and broke it down as many questions. Harry had a nearly photographic memory and he recalled all the hundreds of experiments and research papers on the topics of efficiency and success. From this vast store of knowledge he concluded that Carolyn needed to make a five-year plan with set times, dates, goals and tasks for starting a project at the exact right time. Her plan should include a carefully vetted list of influential people who Carolyn would go to for step-by-step advice, shunning anyone not on the list. And finally, she should develop a set of three questions to ask herself as a screening process for determining the highest priority, worthy of her efforts.

Carolyn thanked Harry for his input and sought out the opinion of a second trusted advisor, Jack Marovsky...READ MORE