SUCCESS FILING TO FEEL MORE SUCCESS-FULL …
AND FULL-FILLED
What’s the difference?
FEELING SUCCESS-FULL comes as the result of your efforts. FULL-FILLMENT comes as the result of your leadership, because of what you’ve done to help others succeed. The contributions you’ve made to your family, organization and world.
What you mean by SUCCESS today will be different tomorrow, in 10, 20 or 50 years. But sadly, by then, you may have forgotten how you got there … the daily steps you took. The obstacles you faced and what you did to get back on course … your course. Unfortunately, most people haven’t saved old appreciation letters, newspaper clippings, report cards, job evaluations or acknowledgments. Be sure to start now! I hope sharing My Success File will inspire you to create Your Success File, or find someone to do it for you. Teens are great at this! (Building it for you will change their lives too!)
Our Success Files will be different of course. We are different people with different dreams, living in different times and places! Now Success Filing is easy. Today we take lots of pictures on cellphones. We have email and social media so we can find dates and refresh memories. Chances are good you can find what you need in your computer or online. Or by reaching out to family and friends. Do you remember when? Do you have a picture of? Creating a website is an exciting way to build YOUR SUCCESS FILE, to save it, update it and share it! You can also use a notebook or computer file of course!
Why is SUCCESS FILING the First and Most Essential Success Skill?
Because Success Filing builds, and rebuilds, the self-confidence you need to live your life and dreams. Here’s the bottom line …
When your Success File is FULL, you feel Success-FULL.
When it is LOW, you feel dependent and needy …
needing other people to acknowledge you.
But truth be told, other people are too busy, or they aren’t noticing, or they disagree.
When you were a child, your parents and teachers Success Filed for you. They gave you treats, stars, hugs, praise and permissions … or they didn’t, and you were frustrated. Either way, it’s time to take over that responsibility yourself … with your plans and dreams in mind, not theirs. My father wanted me to be an accountant. But I didn’t!
Success is a journey full of twists and turns, obstacles and opportunities.
March 2020 … Covid arrived and life suddenly changed.
My training program in Puerto Rico was cancelled, and they asked me to return my advance. Within days everyone else on my schedule had cancelled too.
It was shocking. Before Covid my work was face-to-face … in one-to-one sessions, meetings in large conference rooms and corporate auditoriums. I regularly traveled on planes. An open suitcase on the bench at the foot of my bed meant my dog Honey would sulk. She knew I was going away.
No more speaking to live audiences, no more travel, no more meeting with clients face-to-face. No more income. Cancer had just taken my husband Albert and my sister Fran. Thank heavens I was able to be at the hospital with them at the end. After Covid arrived, this wouldn't have been possible.
And I hadn’t fully recovered. In 2017, my home had been severely damaged by a tornado and a hurricane … on the same day. I was still waiting for the insurance money but had to pay for repairs up front. I was rebuilding my home and my life ... literally.
Pulled ahead by my commitment to teach The Technology of Success, I started exploring the virtual world. Learning new ways to communicate … Zoom, blogs, podcasts, social media. Making tech upgrades … new cameras, mics, lights. Hours spent in front of a computer screen. With people but alone. Even my dog Honey was depressed. No one was coming to see her either.
Taking deep breaths, I started putting the 10 Success Skills (I had discovered by shadowing Highly Successful People for 20 years) to work … not just for my clients but for me. To rebuild my self-confidence. To find new ways to earn money and feel myself again. My new self.
To share what I was learning with you, I wrote BLUR: CLEAR THE WAY AHEAD ... Even in The Worst of Times. And recorded it for Audible. I reached out to bloggers and influencers. Hired social media experts, learned the difference between podcasts and blogs (Blogs are written. Podcasts are audio.) Shared pictures on Flickr. And thought about how to deliver the 10 Success Skills worldwide … from my home.
Back to My Beginnings ….
I was born in New York City, grew up in Richmond, Virginia and studied at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts until my mother was hospitalized. Then I transferred to the University of Richmond so I could take care of Mom and my two younger sisters. I worked hard at it all … home, school and a part time job at the VA … and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa, Psi Chi Psychology, and Ki Kappa Delta Education Honors. Complicated or not, family and education have always been important to me! My mother was brilliant and beautiful, but her needs for success and acknowledgment weren’t met so she drank. I wanted more.
In 1961 I married Don Collins. We had met at the VA and he was doing an Army-funded residency at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda MD. So, I found a position nearby at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) doing research for Dr. David Rosenthal who was writing a groundbreaking book on the interplay of genetics and environment. The Genain Quadruplets, Basic Books 1963.
But after a year at NIH, I was frustrated. We were only studying ill and dysfunctional people. What more could we learn if we started studying healthy, Highly Successful People (HSPs) as well? But when I proposed my research in one of our prestigious weekly conferences, my audience laughed … and laughed loud! Were they right that I was wrong? Or did they just not understand yet? In that “red-faced in front of my peers” moment, I vowed to spend my career pursuing this research, and I started making a list of HSPs I wanted to study. But how?
The Army was paying for Don’s Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina, so we moved wherever they sent us. First, he was assigned to Walter Reed. Then to Fort Dix NJ where our beautiful daughter Cathy Lyn was born. When he was completing his thesis in Chapel Hill NC, we were thrilled to have Margaret Ann join us. Then there would be payback time when he worked for the Army.
While we were at Fort Dix, I commuted to Philadelphia to earn a master’s in design. Then we moved to Jenkintown PA. With no research positions available nearby, I completed a teaching certificate and was hired to teach the Gifted Program at our daughters' school so we would have the same schedule. Sadly, a couple of years later, Don Collins and I divorced, and my girls and I moved out of the Victorian home I had just redesigned and renovated and had just been featured in a full-page newspaper article. https://flic.kr/p/pjgBw
My research on HSPs was being delayed … until Fate stepped in. The principal of my school asked me to attend the World Game conference at the University of Massachusetts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Game When I arrived and picked up my nametag, I literally bumped into Buckminster Fuller who was at the top of my “HSPs I Want to Study List.” Recognizing this unexpected opportunity, I told Bucky about my research and asked permission to shadow him for three months. (I had learned early on that HSPs couldn’t tell me what made them successful so I would have to shadow them to find out.) Bucky replied with a chuckle, “I like you young woman. You’ve got spunk! I teach at the University of Pennsylvania and you teach in Jenkintown. There’s a train that runs between us. We can make this work!” And we did.
After three months, I outlined the 10 skills I had seen Bucky using. And he responded, “Yes, I do use those skills. But doesn’t everyone?” No Bucky, that’s the point! Everyone doesn’t! But they’ll need to use them to meet their goals and live their dreams. Enthusiastic, he introduced me to other HPSs who introduced me to others. My research tree grew. And grew.
Suddenly there was a budget cut and being the newest teacher, I was let go. To generate income, I designed unique homes and interiors and was spotlighted in Focus on Women in the Visuals Arts.
As I explored being single, I wrote two books … Becoming One Again: Divorce New Love and Life, calligraphy 1974, paperback 2014. And The Me Book paperback 1983.
My great romance … DB. (His name was Don Baker but since my ex-husband was Don, I couldn’t call him that, so he became DB. In those days having a relationship with another teacher was forbidden so we had to keep it secret. Notes, phone calls, meeting at the Jersey Shore where he had a shoe business, The Shoe Place. Finally, a year later I met his daughters Laurie and Jennifer, and they joined my family and heart. My girls and I spent summers at the shore. Money was tight so we ate lots of free fish and I hung a banner by the door welcoming guests to The Soup Place. For former student Kathy Most visited, and we dyed curtains and took pictures of water flowing back to the sea creating patterns in the sand. Our graphic designs and our souls were connected from the start.
When I lived in Jenkintown, Lee, Jane and Larry Tamaccio were my best friends. Jane and I played Mozart duets on her grand piano until we fell on the floor in exhaustion and headed to the kitchen for tuna and hard-boiled eggs. Lee and Larry were architecture students. I was studying interior design, so we saw the world through the same lens. It was glorious! Leslie Ehrin added howls to the laughter!
The pot on the left is my version of Lee’s face. The plate in the middle was part my everyday dishware displaying poems I wanted to publish but couldn’t. And Lee created the face mask on the right himself … very Egyptian I’d say.
To produce income, I got my real estate license and worked with Dick and Shirley Kuhn at Richard Kuhn Real Estate.
Next DB and I opened a crafts gallery, The Shoeman and The Lady, in a run-down, three-story twin in downtown Jenkintown, and another major renovation in my home and family began. https://flic.kr/s/aHskCUo3AS
Sadly, our lifestyles pulled us apart. Thank you DB, Laurie and Jen. You will always be family.
Celebrations acknowledge that one phase is complete and another is beginning … graduations, marriages, new titles and positions. My daughters’ weddings signaled they are now in charge of their lives. CREATING NEW TEAMS AND BUILDING NEW DREAMS. Bravo!
In 1982, I moved to Miami and stayed at John and Meredith’s home in Coconut Grove. It was there that I met Sharon Huff, my first Miami friend. And Jason Bernstein who modeled vintage clothes with me at the Eden Rock Hotel. Now he’s my trademark attorney!
Refocusing on my commitment to teach the 10 Success Skills …
I began exploring large group training programs … EST, Insight, Wilson Learning. Then I spent five years developing and testing formats for teaching them. John David, Richard Israel, Art Disner and Mark Penser and I created the Inner Modeling Seminar in 1983.
Our clients included Coopers and Lybrand, South Miami Hospital and Levitz Furniture. 1983
Below, that’s John David, Richard Isreal and me. The portrait that hangs over my bed was created by painter Jonas Gerard … a client who paid me in paintings! He would pull up in front of my home in his colorful paint-spattered truck, throw open the back doors, and shout, “Susan, which ones do you want?” This portrait of me was in galleries across the country before coming home to me.
Nature and photography feed my life anad creativity. I spend hours each week capturing beauty and knowledge with my Nikon strapped around my neck. Remembering and savoring the beauty of nature. Bryn Athyn was a favorite spot near Jenkintown. And Arch Creek East and Fairchild Garden are close to my home and dear to my heart now.
In 1985, I launched The Technology of Success public seminar at the University of Miami Conference Center. Finally, I was on my own. I designed and mailed thousands of brochures and received one response … The City of Miami. That was more than enough! Fortunately, my daughters were already in college, living on campus, and starting to work.
And … The Technology of Success caught on!
PR departments started calling! “Susan, we don’t know what you taught our employees in your weekend seminar, but whatever it was, we want you to teach it to the rest of our team in house.” American Express, Ryder, FPL, Digital … within 10 years I had delivered 3,000 training sessions, built a thriving coaching practice, and started writing The Technology of Success Book Series.
1982-1995 Consultant to American Express. Trained executives, directors, managers and supervisors across the US.
1984 Facilitated Supervisor Readiness.
1991 Leadership Workshop Series SROC/Plantation FL. All VPS, directors, managers, supervisors and professionals.
1991-1992 Executive Team Development SROC. Strategized to develop the executive team. Taught 3 Gear Leadership.
1992 Performance Appraisal Training WROC/Phoenix.
1989-1990 Managing for Excellence. SROC, WROC and NROC/New York City. Two-day management skills for all VPs, directors, managers and supervisors.
1989 Advised on Reorganization of MSC. Workshops with supervisors and managers.
1982-1991 Facilitated One-Day Workshops for associates, managers and directors.
One-to-One Coaching with managers, directors, and VPs.
“These are the life skills that make us successful leaders.
Susan has given us a roadmap for staying the course.”
Susan Morris, VP Human Resources, American Express
April 1987 Selling: A New View for Florida Power & Light (FPL)
Nancy Zimmers and I collaborated with Wilson Learning to produce videos for Selling a New View. We facilitated training sessions across Florida and taught inhouse trainers to deliver and reinforce the program.
1987-1990 A Team Approach to Meeting Todays Customers’ Needs. All Florida customer contact personnel, supervisors and trainers.
Digital Equipment Regional Managers. Building high performance teams, change management, negotiation skills.
Ryder System Management training in Miami.
Public Service Clients Palm Beach Children’s Services Council, Sable Palm Youth Service Center, St. Francis Hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami Fire and Rescue. Spoke on City Government Day in Hallandale and Coral Springs FL.
One-to-one coaching with executives from FPL, Citibank, ComputerVision Tokyo, Codina Bush Group, Pompeii International, Injection Footwear, and The City of Miami.
Pompeii Furniture 1995-96 “Y0ur management training sessions this year assisted us in pulling together both our old and new members into a team. Thanks for your support in developing the communication and leadership skills we so urgently need in this time of tremendous growth and expansion of sales.” Vivian Vega, GM/CFO
Injection Footwear Corporation 1995-96 “Your training sessions greatly assisted us in developing our management team. Your work created a new direction for our company.” Jacob Barrocas, Executive VP
The Technology of Success for Leaders, The City of Miami.
Then I bought a sprawling “wreck of a house” in Biscayne Park FL, renovated it as money came in, added a sparkling Koi Pond and lush tropical foliage.
I put my knowledge of design and construction to work … steel, gunite, precision. And my genius friend John David (in white T-shirt) was the mastermind! It was a frighteningly huge hole … until we started letting water pour in, till we planted around the edges and finally introduced fish! https://flic.kr/s/aHsiDgsAMw
1990-92 Leadership Consultant to Seaside Florida. https://flic.kr/s/aHsmX1FboM A 120-person customer service organization engaged in town development and resort management. Seaside has received national and international recognition. https://viemagazine.com/article/the-seaside-institute/
In 1990 CEO Robert Davis won the Rome Architectural Prize for town development which would take him to Rome for nine months. I was the leadership consultant before, during and after he returned.
May 1990 to Feb 1991. Prepared the Seaside team for the absence of their CEO. Trained the management team to assume greater responsibility. Developed directors and facilitated selection of a general manager. Conducted one-one-one sessions with underachieving managers. Specified changes needed and methods for making them. Acted as CEO during CEOs stay in Rome. This new management structure will free Robert to move into new business development on his return.
Updated Robert on his return. Briefings and meetings. Discussed his feelings as his team became independent and decisive. Built confidence in them so he could turn over more responsibilities. Provided feedback on meetings and talks. Completed frequent walk throughs and acknowledged team accomplishments. Spent exciting hours discussing his Post-Rome Vision for Seaside.
Then in August of 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew apart our lives here in South Florida.
My corporate clients diverted training funds to assist employees whose homes and lives had been blown apart, so my scheduled programs were postponed.
Hurricane Andrew gave me an unexpected gift … TIME.
So, I wrote Our Children Are Watching: 10 Skills for Leading the Next Generation to Success which was published by Barrytown in 1995.
Chinaberry published a powerful review in 1996 and Our Children Are Watching took off!
Then chance and serendipity stepped in again … an unexpected call from The Upjohn Company. Why?
I was invited to teach the 10 Success Skills in schools and universities across the country … Montessori, Waldorf, Ponce de Leon Middle School, Miami Country Day School, University of Richmond, University of Miami, Florida International University, Smith College … and The Unity School in Delray and Ransom Everglades in Miami where my grandchildren went to school … to name a few.
CEOs begged me to teach parents and teachers The Technology of Success “so the next generation will be using these skills when we hire them!” And, I wrote Our Children Are Watching … 10 Skills for Leading the Next Generation to Success.
Chance and serendipity was at work again ...
I was invited to do an interview on WLYF Radio in Miami. The interviewer was Bobby Ellerbee, a top voice talent. www.imdb.com/name/nm11417041/ Afterward he called Stuart Gelles, Lou Dobb’s Administrator at CNN, to tell him about me.
“Quick-witted, full of stories, Susan’s depth of thought and knowledge make her not only a great guest but the epitome of success itself. She will leave you and your audience inspired and full of possibilities for a fulfilling future.”—Bobby Ellerbee, Creative Director, WLYF Radio
Weeks later, on my way back from England, I had dinner at Mah’s Chinese Restaurant in New York with Lou and his team. It was an exciting evening! The next morning CNN scheduled me for an interview with Lou, but he was out sick that day and Valerie Morris interviewed me instead. So, Lou scheduled a second interview. In the hall afterward, he told me why … Susan, I wanted to interview you myself because I want you to teach my entire team The Technology of Success.”
And a new flow of connections emerged.
“Susan spent two decades studying successful people. Now she shares with others what she has learned about leadership and management.” Lou Dobbs, CNN
1997 to 2000 Consultant to CNNfn from and collaborated with large consulting firms in New York.
Arthur Andersen … Created a video training program and was Keynote Speaker at their national Leadership Conference.
“At Merrill Lynch, we strongly advocate the pursuit of personal and professional goals for our employees, especially during difficult economic times. Your message regarding the importance of achieving goals, both large and small, resonated with our employees and helped them to realize that success comes in many sizes.” Bryan C. Vielchr, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch.
“Susan Ford Collins is a consultant to the titans of industry,” Kerry Brock, Freedom Speaks, The Freedom Foundation. And I consulted on Y2K strategies for CNN.
“Susan Ford Collins is one of the most enthusiastic people I have ever interviewed. During her stories, I had to hold back from laughing and crying out loud—on camera. You see the passion in her eyes and hear the dedication in her voice. I didn't want to stop; she just motivates you to do more. As a result, our five-tape video series is a Telly Award winner.” Julia Bengis, Producer, Educational Management Group, division of Simon & Schuster. 2000
Taught The Technology of Success at the Princeton Montessori Teacher Training Center and spoke at graduation. 1996
“After your graduation address here, I had a call from a parent who was in the audience. He wants me to let you know that after hearing you talk about Success Filing, he went home and wrote his company’s top-selling ad: ‘On your master list of goals, you can check off “Own a Rolex.”—Ginny Cusack, Director, Montessori Teacher Training Center, NJ
Keynote Speaker for the American Montessori National Convention in Philadelphia. And National Association of Independent Schools Ford Fellows Retreat in Chicago. And spoke at Montessori and private schools across the country.
Speaker for Communities in Schools Luncheon in Miami.
I spoke in Boston for The Parkinson Foundation and wrote “Success, Hologramming and Health: New Approaches” for The Parkinson Report.
“Finally, we have a major-league success book written by a woman!”—Karin Klenke, Ph.D. Jepson School of Leadership Studies, The University of Richmond. Author of Women in Leadership.
“Our Children Are Watching is a book full of hope … a very valuable item.
—Michael Fitzsimmons, Producer, The Weekend Today Show
"Racing so fast, we've taken our mind off the prize: What makes life worth living. Susan Ford Collins remembers.”—Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold, coauthors of the international-bestseller Between Heaven and Earth wrote poems for my birthday. In this one, Harriet dubbed me Jungle Mama … and it stuck. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jungle_mama/albums/
How did these poems happen? It was the magic of my friend Sharon Huff who secretly reached out to my friends and family to write something for my birthday. Then she bound their responses in a paisley, velvet-covered scrapbook I still treasure. On another birthday when I was going through a painful breakup, Sharon gave me Glamour Shots. And it took everything I had in me to put on pink feathers and smile for the camera! But thanks to Sharon’s generosity, I did! xxx
Sharon was my first friend when I moved to Miami. And she did graphics and PR for me when Our Children Are Watching was published.
35-50% of first marriages end in divorce. It’s time for something new …
Here I am with my daughters, Cathy and Margaret. I’m so proud of them … as women and parents!
“Susan would stand in front of a room full of business executives, and what would the high-powered people in suits want to talk about? Parenting. Collins says … Parents are the first and most important leaders of all!”
South Florida Parenting Magazine
Ponce de Leon Middle School, The Technology of Success for students, parents and teachers. Presented in classrooms, faculty and staff meetings, for police and cafeteria workers and in assemblies. Program sponsored by Informed Families, Coral Gables, FL
The Technology of Success for Parents and Teachers, Miami Country Day School, Miami Shores FL
Princeton Montessori Training Center in Princeton, NJ. For 3 years, Susan trained teachers and spoke at graduations.
Keynote speaker American Montessori Society National Convention, Philadelphia PA.
Taught Montessori Teachers in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Chapel Hill.
The Technology of Success Workshop for Waldorf Teachers.
The Technology of Success for students, teachers, parents and City Government in Boise, Idaho. Spoke at the District 8 PTA Conference and did radio and TV appearances.
“Nationally known speaker Susan Ford Collins has been the inspiring guest of over 200 television and radio shows. A master storyteller, she moves audiences to tears … and to action.” — South Florida Women’s Business Conference
I’m clear that I’m dependent on myself for self-confidence, and that people around me and the energy they project affect me so I must choose wisely who I stand next to, who I climb mountains with, and who I forge bonds and commitments with … if I wish to maintain my enthusiasm for solution and change.
