Leaderonomics

Photo credit (above): Fraser Reid | Flickr

An actor’s journey towards success

Have you ever thought of perseverance as a great tool to use? It doesn’t require college education or training of any kind.
Perseverance is one of the key qualities that you need in order to reach success.

Now, let me tell you a story about our very own Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford. In his childhood, teenage and adolescent years, Ford was bullied every day at school. He was never good at sports and his grades never rose above a ‘C’ in his studies.

Battle ‘Ford’

Depression came in early at his first year in Ripon College, Wisconsin. He slept during the day, stopped attending classes and failed most of the exams.

All these elements seem to make it impossible for him to become a star one day, right?

Wrong. Despite all these setbacks, he found a new field which he grew fond of – acting. He eventually quit college because he couldn’t graduate and moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue his acting career.

Ford went for the Young Talent Programme’s interview and thought he did not make it. He began to walk away when someone chased him down and offered him a small role for $150. That was the start of his remarkable acting career.

He started appearing in numerous small roles but sadly, remained unnoticed. He received only typical roles of cowboys or hippies.
To make things worse, he got sacked from the programme and received bad reviews from the manager.

In desperate need for money, he tried carpentry and luckily did well in building stages and sets despite not having any experience.

Ford never forgot his passion for acting, and continued to do a little bit of acting. One day, a twist of fate befell him when he was introduced to George Lucas.

He dubbed this: “We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.” He was then given the famous role of Han Solo in Star Wars.

A few years later he scored a major single leading role in the Indiana Jones movie franchise.

Impenetrable ‘Ford’

Today, Ford has won numerous awards as one of the most prominent male leading actors in Hollywood.

He went on a bumpy ride up the hill and faced many obstacles along the way. However, his patience and perseverance resulted in a smooth-sailing journey.

In 2002, the total salary Ford received was $100mil for 11 films, with Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson tailing behind.

This record would definitely nail him as the most bankable actor in history. Ford’s effort to gain success would have never come to fruition without perseverance.

The perfect quote by him to emphasise is this: