Define yourself: there's nothing like having a good picture of where you're going to help you get there.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: On Management - Column

ABOUT 30 YEARS AGO I RENTED A ROOM in Palo Alto, Calif., for a couple of months from a wonderful lady named Paige. I had gone to California to pursue a new career track in my younger days, leaving behind my wife and young family for a few weeks while I got started in a new job in a new place.

Paige was a window about 60 years old who had a couple of rooms that she rented to itinerants like me. When I wasn't working I hung around the house watching TV and often spent time talking to Paige, an interesting and gracious lady.

I noticed that she had a number of little statues of elegant ballerinas around the house and one day I asked her what was up with these figurines.

"Well," she said, "they are my model, my inspiration. I have a problem with my weight and those little gals remind me from all over my house what my goal is." She then proceeded to tell me just how effective they had been and how much weight she had lost. She finished by telling me that a young man such as myself should have goals in order to succeed.

When I first met Warren he was a new salesman. Probably in his third sentence he told me he wanted to be a publisher (in our business that's like being manager of a business unit). He went on to say he knew that his chance would depend on his ability to sell advertising space, and he decided that he was going to be one of the best. He also said that he would spend all his office time talking to people who could buy and that he would never do paperwork during the day--only at night when he couldn't talk to potential buyers.

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Warren not only told me, but he told everyone what his goal was and how he was going to get there. He defined himself for himself and for everyone...