Scott Alexander - Rhinoceros Success : the Secret to Charging Full Speed Toward Every Opportunity

Rhinoceros Success 1980 by Scott Robert Alexander

Foreword 2011 Lampo Licensing, LLC

Published by Lampo Press, The Lampo Group, Inc.
Brentwood, Tennessee 37027

All rights reserved. No portion of the Foreword of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Cover designed by Jason Miller
Interior designed by Casey Hooper

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alexander, Scott.

Rhinoceros success : the secret to charging full speed toward every opportunity / Scott Alexander; foreword by Dave Ramsey.
p. cm.

Originally published: Irvine, Calif. : Rhinos Press, c1980. With new foreword.

ISBN 978-1-937077-15-0

1. Success. I. Title.

BJ1611.2.A44 2011

650.1--dc23

2011032549

Dedicated to Mom and Dad,
who raised me as a rhino

Ever since I was a little kid, Ive been a fast-moving, hard-charging, go-getting kind of guy. I remember back when I was cutting yards at twelve years old, I didnt just settle for cutting one yard, getting paid, and then moving on to the next. I tried to line up clients next door to each other just so I could cut two or three at one time! I challenged myself to totally blow away the hourly income of my friends flipping burgers and tearing movie tickets for minimum wage. Ive honestly never been into minimum anything!

So when I was handed this book at a success rally in my early twenties, I immediately said, Yeah. This is me. Im a Rhino. Rhinos are intense, passionate, and focused. Rhinos see where they want to go and start charging, knocking down anything that gets in their way. Rhinos get things done.

I believe that you have to have a Rhino mentality to win in the marketplace. You have to be wired up and fired up to get something significant done in our culture today. How many times has one crazed, excited player in a football huddle turned the tide of a big game? How many times has a strong personality stepped up to a microphone and spoken life into a depressed and distressed nation? Thats called leadership, and thats what Rhinos do.

But most people dont win, because theyre mediocre. They make mediocre efforts and get mediocre results, and most of them are happy with that. This book calls them Cows. Cows are average, leading average lives, milling around in the field munching cud and keeping their heads down.

In the early days of my company, I decided that I wanted to surround myself with men and women who are just as focused and energetic as I am about the work were doing. I wanted to run with Rhinos! We dont allow Cows to graze in our building, so I require every one of my team members to read this book in their first ninety days with the company. I want them to understand the culture theyre charging into, and I want them to know what kind of people theyre going to be running with.

Now, Ill be honest. This book is silly. Its even a little cheesy. The author, Scott Alexander, is a friend of mine and I promise, he knows its silly. Thats okay; this isnt an MBA textbook, its a fun book aimed at lighting a fire under you! Its designed to give you a framework for understanding the Rhinosand avoiding the Cowsall around you.

Rhino has become part of the vernacular of our company. We all know what it means because were all charging together. I hope as you read Rhinoceros Success and maybe share it with your own team that you enjoy it as much as we have.

Dave Ramsey

Somewhere, deep in the jungle where few dare venture, there lives a wild animal called success. It is rare and much sought after, but only a few ever risk tracking it down to capture it. The hunt is long, hard, and risky. There are many hardships along the way that tear at your heart and soul. The jungle brush throws up an almost impenetrable barrier. Bugs constantly bite and bore into your skin. Poisonous snakes, crocodiles, and other dangerous animals present very real dangers to your safety. The incessant, burning sun is your constant, relentless companion until nightfall. Then the temperature drops to near freezing and you long for the burning sun against your already reddened, blistered skin.

At times you feel weak and dizzy from exhaustion. Success seems at times an imaginary creature, impossible to capture. But you continue on, because you are too deep in the jungle now to head back without your prize.

Months go by, maybe years. Still, no sign of success. It is a clever animal, rarely exposing itself, always quick to flee should it sense danger of being caught. Success is so uncommon, so unique, and so challenging that you must have it! No other animal requires so much skill to hunt and capture.

As rare as the animal is, even more rare are the men and women who set up their own expeditions in its pursuit. You and I are part of that group who must have success. The rewards are great. We know that. We also know that the hunt is difficult, at best. We know the odds are against us. We know many have failed and few will even attempt the expedition. Knowing all this, we know that success is for us!

Success is not easy. It is a truly difficult animal to capture, requiring lots of work, quick thinking, desire, and persistence on the part of the hunter. This book is a survival guide for your expedition, a rhinoceros manual for your greatest hunt. Use it and you will not only achieve more success quicker, but you will also have the greatest time of your life charging through the jungle. Lets go! Right now is the season for success.

The secret of success is, naturally, becoming a rhinoceros. In fact, my wish for you is that you wake up tomorrow morning as a full-grown, six-thousand-pound rhinoceros! Imagine the look on your spouses face in the morning, finding you in the bed. Oh, it is fun being a rhinoceros!

In fact, it is so much fun that you will be up very early every morning, including the weekends. No more sleeping in until the last possible minute. You are now a rhinoceros! The sooner you get that into your head, the sooner you will achieve more during your rhinoceros life. At six in the morning, when your opportunity clock rings, get out of bed like a rhinocerosnot a sloth! Take a quick shower, brush your horns, put on your rhino clothes, and get ready to charge!