Tweet

Lesson #1: “Persistence is the single most important thing for success"

Article Overview: Matthews’ career has largely been characterized by two things: his persistent and active involvement in all of his companies, and his thorough knowledge of the industry in which he is involved.

Lesson #1: “Persistence is the single most important thing for success"

Matthews' career has largely been characterized by two things: his persistent and active involvement in all of his companies, and his thorough knowledge of the industry in which he is involved. "Why is it that I can start up 60 companies and only ever lose two - and even the two that I lost, the technology went on to be a part of someone else's success?" Matthews once asked himself while giving a keynote speech to a large group of investors. "I am truly an angel investor and I'm not a passive investor. As a passive investor, I am awful because I cannot put funding into a company and leave it to other people."

Matthews' success has been marked by his unwillingness to participate in the "pumping and dumping" he sees many of his competitors doing. Of the many companies he's been behind over the years, both Mitel and Newbridge Networks have grown to be worth more than one billion dollars. That is a direct result of his refusal to get into a venture only to pump up the valuation of the company and make some fast money.

Instead, Matthews likes to take his time with companies, get involved in their management and operations, and make sure he has a thorough understanding of the industry - however long that takes. Even outside of the world of IT, Matthews has become well known for his twenty year fight to bring golf's Ryder Cup to his home country. Equally passionate about golf as he is IT, Matthews worked for over twenty years to try and make that a reality. Finally, he was able to make it happen.

"It's a good win," he said at the time. "I've been working on it for 20 years, understanding how it works, how the Ryder Cup board works. It's all about persistence."

Some may see Matthews' persistence as a vice - that he takes too long to achieve results. Matthews, however, knows that it is the time he puts into making something happen, that actually gets the results.

"I don't think I'm stubborn," he says. "I just focus on the task at hand and do what it takes. Persistence is the single most important thing for success."

Persistence to Matthews also means believing in his gut instinct when nobody else is willing to. Such was the case when he announced that 15 years after selling Mitel to BT, he would be buying back the struggling systems business. "It wasn't clear to anyone when I signed that agreement what was on my mind but I knew in my gut that there would be a technology change in enterprise communications."

"Last year it didn't look a particularly good thing to do but in my gut I was absolutely convinced that convergence would happen this year. Now I know I'm right."

In 2007, after negotiating a successful merger with Inter-Tel, Matthews' new Mitel emerged twice the size of the original company. It withdrew itself from the IPO process and, as Chairman, Matthews is now sitting atop a company that earns revenues in excess of $850 million.

Related Articles
  A View on the Law of Attraction
  Persistence and Success
  What Is The Value Of Persistence?
  Successful Sales Techniques
  Selling Techniques 101

Article Tags: angel investor, investors, keynote speech, large group, lesson 1, mitel, money, newbridge networks, one billion dollars, passive investor, persistence, ryder cup, single most important thing, twenty years



Related Forum Posts
THE Most Important Concern At Startup - Just doing an informal poll. What do you think is the single most important thing to consider when considering the idea of starting a business. I know there are many things to consider, but I want you to share the one that you think is the most important to you. I look forward to your thoughts. Shri
Re: Persistence gives live to small business. - Persistence is the key to success on any enterprise
Re: Why Some Websites Sell and Others Don’t? - Thanks for starting this inspirational thread,am working on owning my own site.This is a vital info for me. I will take note of this important quote as a beginner "Forget about the magic bullet that will make you rich overnight. Persistence is more important than intelligence"
Re: What is your age? - [quote="ideasuniversity":6b9rl9vv]what does age got to do with making money? We have seen Teenage Millioniares. Young Millioinaires and older Millioniares who became millionaires over sixty.[/quote:6b9rl9vv] I agree. I would be more interested to know how a person's childhood influenced his/her future success. For instance, was there a particular person or situation that played an important role? I often find that people I know with a single parent or less money (when they were younger) tend to achieve more in life. Perhaps it has to do with being more "hungry" for success.
Re: How do you budget your life? - hi all, this is the important thing to allocate budget in our life a good allocation getting him success, i visit your site and i lkie your site....


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Entrepreneurs and the “Oh! No!” Trap

The Biggest Domain Name Myth

An Intelligent Contact Sheet

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.