No is a Complete Sentence

I'd like to talk for a minute about the incredible wisdom of Kathy Ireland.

Kathy Ireland as an Entrepreneur

Kathy was a 13-time swimsuit cover issue model for Sports Illustrated. We often think that beauty and brains aren't available in the same human being, but in her case, that is simply not true. Kathy has gone on to become one of the most successful female entrepreneurs in the 21st century. In fact, her company actually sells over a billion dollars of products and she is one of the leading people in her industry.

She said something really remarkable recently that I find really inspirational, and that is that it was not until she was 40 years old that she learned that no is a complete sentence. No is a really powerful word, and for all of us entrepreneurs who need to focus, and who need to do things with a high degree of execution.

All the myriad things that we get involved with are a distraction to us and prevent us from really being the best we can be at the thing that we really intend to do the most. Learning to say, “No” to all of those details, learning to say, “No” to those opportunities that are not central to our focus on our mission, is critically important to making progress.

Thank you, Kathy for your amazing insight. No is a complete sentence.