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Return To Leadership Development Article Archive   True Leadership and Successfully Overcoming Multiple Major Adversities - The Dr John Sperling Story By Dr Howard Edward Haller This groundbreaking proven research into how to overcome adversity and how to "Turn Adversity into Opportunities" has received extensive endorsements and enthusiastic reviews from well-known prominent business, political, and academic leaders, best-selling authors, and leading scholars who either participated in the study or reviewed the research findings. You will discover the proven success habits and secrets of people who, in spite of adversity, discrimination, abuse, or difficult or life threatening challenges shaped their own destiny to become successful, effective leaders. The full results of this research will be presented in an upcoming book by this article's author which will be entitled - "Turn Adversity into Opportunities." The nine initial prominent successful leaders who overcame adversity were: Dr. Tony Bonanzino, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, Monzer Hourani, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, Dr. John Malone, Larry Pino, U.S. Army Major General Sid Shachnow, Dr. Blenda Wilson, and Zig Ziglar. The data from the above nine research participants was materially augmented by seven other successful individuals who overcame adversity including: Jack Canfield, William Draper III, Mark Victor Hansen, J. Terrence Lanni, Angelo Mozilo, Dr. Nido Qubein, and Dr. John Sperling. Additionally, five internationally known and highly respected Best-Selling scholars offered their reviews of my research findings including: Dr. Ken Blanchard, Dr. John Kotter, Jim Kouzes, Dr. Paul Stoltz, and Dr. Meg Wheatley. I was honered to interview Dr. John Sperling at his home in San Francisco, California in 2005, as part of my Doctoral research. Dr. Sperling was the founder and initial Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, of the Apollo Group, Inc., and is now Executive Chairman and Director. This organization owns and operates the University of Phoenix and other colleges. John was born in poverty. As a child he suffered physical injury, psychological trauma, and was raised in a home where his parents were always fighting. Due to a tragic accident when John was only four, he suffered a major burn when his older brother accidentally blew up a coal stove right in front of his face. John was literally strapped into bed with his hands tied while he recovered from the serious burns. At age seven, John ingested a massive amount of half-ripe cherries, and was seriously ill. He contracted a high fever, and he my have contracted an especially virulent form of pneumonia. The end result was John was in bed for the better part a year. Additionally, he was abused by his derelict father. When John's father died when he was 15, John was "very happy." He said of his father's death "it was the best day of my life." John overcame adversity and impossible odds in his business career. Notwithstanding the "tragic adversity" in his youth, with illness and accidents, Dr. Sperling expressed that the battles in his career and adult life were the most important. John Sperling barely got out of high school as he was only semi-literate and was also dyslexic. He joined the Merchant Marines after high school and taught himself how to read. By his shear force of will, John went from just a semi-literate dyslexic kid, who barely graduated from high school, to someone with a master's degree from U.C. Berkley, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. Sperling's University of Phoenix was challenged on a number of fronts because they were a "for-profit" University, which the regulators believed was heresy, immoral and they thought should be illegal. John battled every regulatory body that his vehement enemies could launch against him, "including two regional accrediting agencies, the state legislatures in both in California and Arizona, the FBI, and various law enforcement agencies, plus multiple civil and criminal law suits." While the journey was difficult for John, the University of Phoenix and the Apollo Group won all the battles, and disproved the false charges, and was victorious on the law suits. Sperling's life story is a real life "Rags-to-Riches" story, or a true Horatio Algier story of going from poverty, to being a multi-billionaire. Dr. Sperling taught a several major Universities for over twenty years. H became very active in the academic union movement and was a union leader in addition to being a University Professor. At age 53, John became an entrepreneur and after two decades of battles, blood, sweat, and tears, he was multi-billionaire. Dr. John Sperling was the focus and driven entrepreneur who created the University of Phoenix, in spite of all the major opposition from Academic Regulators, bureaucrats, politicians, traditional "non-profit" academic institutions. Dr. Sperling led the charge and took all the arrows to create a for-profit revolution in higher education. Dr. Sperling did an excellent did of telling his story in his book about being "A Rebel with a Cause" (2000). Copyright 2008 © Howard Edward Haller, Ph.D. Howard Edward Haller, Ph.D. is the Chief Enlightenment Officer of the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho based The Leadership Success Institute. His Doctoral dissertation in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga Univ. included interviews with prominent US leaders in business, politics & education. The initial nine prominent leaders who overcame adversity included: Dr. Tony Bonanzino, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, Monzer Hourani, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, Dr. John Malone, Larry Pino, U.S. Army Major General Sid Shachnow, Dr. Blenda Wilson, and Zig Ziglar. Then seven more leaders, who overcame adversity, were interviewed including: Jack Canfield, William Draper III, Mark Victor Hansen, J. Terrence Lanni, Angelo Mozilo, Dr. Nido Qubein, and Dr. John Sperling. Five internationally known and respected leadership scholars offered their reviews of the Dr. Haller's research findings including: Dr. Ken Blanchard, Jim Kouzes, Dr. John Kotter, Dr. Paul Stoltz, and Dr. Meg Wheatley. http://www.TheLeadershipSuccessInstitute.com keywords: overcoming | adversity | leadership | Sperling | University | Phoenix | Apollo | hope | success Program For Leadership Development

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