Insider Tips from the Pocket Mentor: Be Persistent

Vince Reardon, author of The Pocket Mentor: Insider Tips from America’s Most Successful People, is back to share more great advice. Over the past few weeks, we’ve learned the importance of being yourself, having compassion, being for others and being a learner. This week, Vince explores the fourth most talked about piece of advice in his book: being persistent.

Vince says, “none of the people in my book are quitters. Truth be told, some of them are pretty stubborn. They remind you never, and I mean never, give up.”

Most of us give up after the first, second or third failure. The people in Vince’s book, are just getting started by the first, second or third failure or rejection.

Vince points out the example of Emily Warner. Warner was the first female commercial airline pilot and captain. It took her six or seven years to get hired, and it was a struggle. She ran a flight business in Denver where she trained young men who would step into jobs as airline pilots. She had 7,000 hours of flight time; the young men she was training, who would eventually become pilots, had 2,500.

Year after year she would submit her resume and make calls to the major carriers but they would tell her “we’re not hiring.” They wouldn’t say “we’re not hiring women,” but it was clear to her that they weren’t going to hire her because she was a woman, though she was more than qualified.

She was eventually hired by Frontier Airlines, but only after she camped out in front of the flight operations director. She got a 20 minute interview with him and he was impressed. He gave her a simulation test, although no other pilots had to take this test. She passed with flying colors and in January 1973 he hired the first commercial female pilot.

She had a great career in the airline industry. She went on to become an airline captain. In 1973 she also won the Amelia Earhart Woman of the Year Award for becoming the first commercial airline pilot.

Stay tuned to Insider Tips from the Pocket Mentor each week to hear more about varying topics from the variety of people in Vince’s book, The Pocket Mentor: Insider Tips from America’s Most Successful People.