Executive Message: Keep Moving Forward
- July 2, 2007
- Aaron Garrity — president & CEO, XanGo, LLC
Things don’t always go the way we plan them. The path to success and happiness isn’t exactly smooth. Not for any of us. In fact, even those we see as the greatest of entrepreneurs and visionaries have stumbled along the way. Bill Gates and Microsoft have faced legal battle after legal battle in just about every country of the world. Ronald Reagan, the “Great Communicator,” went through a painful divorce. Winston Churchill failed in a bid for reelection. And Walt Disney, the greatest dreamer of his generation, went bankrupt three times.
The truth is plain, we all face setbacks. We all get discouraged. There’s no question about it. But how will we react? Will we let our obstacles keep us from our goals? Will we let a little snag unravel everything we’ve worked for? Or will we remember the words of Joseph Campbell: “At the darkest moment comes the light.”
XanGo is made up of thousands of small triumphs. As you overcome each stumbling block, we all grow together. Success comes to those who endure. Anything valuable will be challenged and contested. And those challenges will teach you lessons you could never learn in any other way. Those challenges will make you leaders. Those challenges will test and prove your ability to lead and grow your organizations.
Keep moving forward…with the determination to be the best you know how to be. Remember the words of Thomas Paine, “the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” No matter the darkness, the light will come. It did for Walt Disney. It did for George Washington and the American revolutionaries. And it did for Joe Morton and XanGo.
