I often refer to the Straight-A Guide because it’s central to the lessons I teach people in prison. Just a couple of days ago, I finished building an extensive follow-up course to complement that guide. I’m calling it Triumph: Building Bridges to Success. I plan to add Triumph to our nonprofit’s platform so people can learn how decisions they make today lead to better opportunities in the future.
Reflecting on the Straight-A Guide
I remember how the Straight-A Guide came to be. During my time in prison, one of my mentors, Lee Nobmann, came to visit me at the Taft Federal Prison Camp. Lee is not only my mentor and a friend, but he’s also a billionaire—a detail that still amazes me. I feel incredibly fortunate to learn from someone who has built a privately held company generating over $500 million in annual revenues. Lee created a company that provides jobs for more than 1,000 people, and generates taxes that fund entire communities. Yet in his life, he lives as a portrait of good citizenship and humility. No one who meets would know of the enormous wealth that he created for his family and for others. That is why he has always been a role model for me.
When Lee visited me in prison, we frequently spoke about the career I wanted to build upon my release. He offered an opportunity for me to work with him. Yet I wanted to pursue a plan that had begun at the start of my sentence, when I was serving that first year in solitary. I wanted to share lessons that I learned about overcoming adversity, and working toward a higher potential.
Around that time, I’d been reading Ten-Ten-Ten by Suzy Welch. She was married to Jack Welch, the legendary CEO of General Electric. From him, she learned how anyone could live as the CEO of their own life by thinking about every decision’s impact in the next ten minutes, the next ten months, and the next ten years.
Lee liked the concept. He used it in building his own businesses. But he had the wisdom to help me accept that I would need to develop my own framework. I returned to my housing unit, went through my usual “stare-at-the-wall” process—just thinking deeply about how to create a teaching strategy. That reflection led to what I now call the Straight-A Guide, a ten-part approach:
- Define SUCCESS
- Set clear GOALS
- Move forward with the right ATTITUDE
- ASPIRE to become part of something bigger than your life
- ACT in harmony with how I define success
- Create ACCOUNTABILITY tools to measure progress
- Stay AWARE of opportunities, and make others aware of my commitment
- Be AUTHENTIC, showing how I plan, prioritize, and execute
- Celebrate incremental ACHIEVEMENTS
- APPRECIATE blessings and live with gratitude
I’ve built many courses around the Straight-A Guide. My new Triumph course expands on these principles, showing how each step can lead to opportunities and greater fulfillment—even from within the confines of prison. I follow these principles today by planning my projects, reflecting on my progress, adjusting as needed, and holding myself accountable.
The video below shows more of my commitment to teaching the Straight-A Guide, even while on vacation in Rome:
Reflective Question
In what ways will you be able to show the thought that went into your strategy for bringing value to your community?
