Sully

Chesley Sullenberger III

📚 GENRE: Biographies & Memoirs

📃 PAGES: 368

✅ COMPLETED: October 15, 2022

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger reflects on his life in the cockpit, including the events that forced him to land US Airways Flight 1549 in New York’s Hudson River in January 2009. In Sully, Sullenberger reveals the important lessons he’s learned through his life, his military service, and his work as an airline pilot.

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Poise Under Pressure — Considering the situation and the stakes, the level of poise, leadership, and teamwork in the Flight 1549 cockpit was impressive. After both of the plane’s engines were destroyed by a bird strike, Sully and co-pilot Jeff Skiles had just 3 minutes and 28 seconds (208 seconds) to analyze the situation, run through emergency checklists, attempt to restart the engines, talk to Air Traffic Control, decide where to land, and control the aircraft as it was descending rapidly. Both pilots were extremely focused and managed to keep their cool in a life-or-death situation. 

2️⃣ ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ — From an early age, Sully knew he wanted to fly planes. He piloted his first solo flight at age 16. By age 24, he was a highly trained fighter pilot with the Air Force. His passion for flying drove him to develop his skills and become the best pilot he could be. All of his training, knowledge, and skills were tested on January 15, 2009. It’s important to find things you’re passionate about and put the majority of your time and energy into those activities. 

3️⃣ Don’t Neglect Balance — Although he loves flying planes, Sully admits that his career caused him to miss many special moments in his daughters’ lives and led to some friction in his family relationships. He’s open about regretting that. It’s important to commit to your career and try to advance as much as possible, but you have to try to avoid neglecting relationships. Ultimately, relationships are a greater source of happiness. 

Favorite Quote

“I’ve tried to instill in my daughters the notion that all of us have a duty to value life, because it is so fleeting and precious.”

Book Notes 📑

Ch. 1: A Flight You'd Never Forget

  • Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III (1951-Present) — The author of this book, and a man most known for his heroics as the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 in January of 2009. Sully landed the plane safely in New York’s Hudson River after a bird strike caused him to lose both engines. Sully was born in 1951 in Denison, Texas. 
  • Flying Early — Sully’s first solo flight was on June 3, 1967 at age 16 in Sherman, Texas. He grew up nine miles from Perrin Air Force Base in North Texas, and was fascinated by airplanes from an early age. His first flight ever was on April 3, 1967 in a two-seater — the Aeronca 7DC.
    • L.T. Cook Jr. — A crop-dusting pilot who had a small plane and a landing strip on his property. Cook taught a teenage Sully how to fly and accompanied him on his very first flights. Prior to World War II, Cook had been an instructor in the federal government’s Civilian Pilot Training Program. 
    • Private Pilot Certificate — By October 1968, Sully had 70 hours in the air and acquired his private pilot certificate, which allowed him to travel with passengers. Getting the certificate involved a similar process as getting a driver’s license — he had to pass a flying test and log a certain number of hours in the air. He now has almost 20,000 hours of flight time in his career. 
  • Interesting Fact — Just before World War II, the United States government set up a Civilian Pilot Training Program. President Roosevelt knew the U.S. would likely get involved in the developing war in Europe and felt that the country needed thousands of qualified pilots. Starting in 1939, veteran flyers began training ordinary citizens to fly planes. These ordinary people went on to fly planes in the war and played a crucial role. 

Ch. 2: A Pilot's Life

  • Interesting Fact — All pilots are forced to retire at age 65. And all flight crews have a “home base” that they operate out of. Although he lived in Danville, California, Sully’s home base with US Airways was Charlotte, North Carolina. 
  • Interesting Fact — Pilots are paid by “air time,” which begins when the plane pushes away from the gate, even if it’s delayed on the tarmac. The cockpit crew is also not allowed to talk about anything other than flight details until the plane reaches 10,000 feet.

Ch. 3: Those Who Came Before Me

  • Interesting Fact — The Wright brothers first flew in 1903. They were the first to fly.
  • Interesting Fact — On September 20, 1944, two test pilots risked their lives by landing a plane in Virginia’s James River. This was a voluntary ditching, considered the first test on a full-size aircraft. Both pilots survived. The goal was to learn how to better land a distressed plane in water. The test was in response to the huge number of planes the Allies ditched in the water in World War II. Many pilots were killed in these landings, and better procedures were needed. 
  • Quote (P. 43): “Historically, safety advances in aviation often have been purchased with blood. It seems sometimes we’ve had to wait until the body count has risen high enough to create public awareness or political will. The worst air tragedies have led to the most important changes in design, training, regulations, or airline practices.”

Ch. 4: Measure Twice, Cut Once

  • Early Years — Sully’s dad loved to build things. He was always adding new rooms and spacing to the family’s home in Texas. Both of his parents supported his early dreams of flying planes. Sully was a fairly quiet kid growing up. He was an introvert who mostly kept to himself. 
  • Quote (P. 63): “I always like to say that my mother gave me three important things: a lifelong love of reading, learning, and music. These are three very special gifts.”
    • Takeaway — Reading and learning were always big in Sully’s life. All highly successful people seem to have a thirst for learning. 

Ch. 5: The Gift of Girls

  • Interesting Fact — On July 6, 1936, air traffic control was born, beginning operation under the Bureau of Air Commerce.
  • June 17, 1989 — Sully married his second wife, Lorrie. The two met at the Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center in Fremont, California. There was an event going on there in 1986 celebrating the 50th anniversary of air traffic control. Sully was the pilot from Pacific Southwest Airlines selected to speak with guests. Lorrie was a marketing representative from PSA selected to speak with guests. 
  • Adoption — Sully and his wife Lorrie have adopted two kids, Kate and Kelly. Kate was born on January 19, 1993 and Kelly was born on January 6, 1995. As a pilot, Sully is gone 18 days every month and has missed quite a bit of time with his family over the years. 
  • Quote (P. 87): “As we get deeper into our marriage, Lorrie and I have become big believers in the idea that we should focus on what we have rather than what we don’t have. We have weathered some serious storms in our relationship, but on a lot of fronts, we feel closer than ever now. And we really try to live in a way that allows for the word gratitude.”
    • Takeaway — This is really important. Gratitude is really important. Always keep your focus on the great things you do have in your life. It’s great to shoot for goals and strive for things you don’t currently have, but never lose sight of all the amazing things you have in your life right now. 

Ch. 6: Fast, Neat, Average

  • Interesting Fact — The military used to be a breeding ground for commercial pilots. Until the mid-1990s, 80% of pilots working for major airlines were trained in the military, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Now, just 40% of newly hired pilots get their training in the military.
  • June 23, 1969 — An 18-year-old Sully arrived at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. He was there to attend college on a full ride and learn how to fly jets for the Air Force.
    • First Ride — Sully’s first ride in a military jet came during his freshman year. He sat in the ejection seat of a Lockheed T-33, a plane that can go 500 miles per hour.
      • Quote (P. 98): “This was the first time I’d ever worn a parachute, helmet, and oxygen mask, the first time I had ever been seated on an ejection seat. The officer piloting the plane did a roll, then headed 10 miles west of Colorado Springs and flew over Pikes Peak upside down.”
  • Interesting Fact — Prior to his sophomore year, Sully had to go through Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape Training (SERE) where older classmates dressed up as communists and tried to capture younger cadets. The training went on for four days and cadets were not given food or water. Formally established by the Air Force at the end of World War II and the start of the Cold War, SERE attempts to train cadets on how to survive on their own behind enemy lines. 
  • Flying Gliders — While at the Air Force Academy, Sully signed up to fly gliders, very lightweight planes that are a lot of fun to fly. Flying gliders helped him learn how the environment can impact a plane.
    • Thermal Lift — The sun heats the earth’s surface unevenly; some parts become warmer than others. The air above the warmer parts is heated and becomes less dense, so you have rising air over those areas of the earth. When you fly through a column of rising air, you can feel it lifting the airplane. Going from one thermal lift to another, you can end up soaring for hours.
    • Mountain Wave Lift — The winds in the air are stronger in the winter, especially when the wind is crossing a mountain or ridgeline. If you can stay in the rising air above the mountain, you can remain in the air for long periods.
    • Quote (P. 106): “I loved flying the gliders because gliding is the purest form of flight. It’s almost birdlike. There’s no engine, it’s much quieter, and you’re operating at a slower speed, maybe 60 miles an hour. You feel every gust of wind, so you’re aware of how light your airplane is, and how you are at the mercy of the elements.”
  • Graduation — Sully graduated from the Air Force Academy on June 6, 1973 and was named ‘Outstanding Cadet in Airmanship’ for all of the hours he spent flying planes during his time there. 

Ch. 7: Long-Term Optimist, Short-Term Realist

  • Masters Degree — Following his graduation from the Air Force Academy, Sully got a Masters Degree in Industrial Psychology from Purdue University. The coursework taught him why machines and engines were built the way they were built and how that applied to his role as a pilot. What he learned here helped him land Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. 
  • Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPL) — The Air Force later sent Sully to UPL training at a base in Mississippi, where he learned to fly the Cessna T-37 and the Northrop T-38 Talon fighter jets.
    • Cessna T-37 — A basic twin-engine, two-seat trainer aircraft used by the Air Force. It was 29 feet long with a maximum speed of 425 mph. 
    • Northrop T-38 — The world’s first supersonic jet trainer. It could reach a maximum speed of 800 mph, which is more than Mach 1, which is the name given to objects that travel faster than the speed of sound.
  • Fighter Lead-In Training (FLIT) — Following his time at UPL, Sully was one of two men selected to participate in FLIT training at historic Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. At Holloman, Sully learned basic fighter pilot air combat maneuvers, tactics, and flying formation strategies in the Northrop T-38.
  • Interesting Fact — Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico is one of the most storied bases in the country. It served as the training ground for men flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator during World War II. The B-24 was designed to carry 8,000 pounds of bombs and was the most widely used heavy bomber plane during World War II. 
  • F-4 Phantom II Training — Following FLIT training, Sully spent 10 months at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona learning how to fly the F-4 Phantom II, a supersonic jet that can fire radar-guided missiles beyond visual range and flies at a maximum speed of over 1,400 mph, or Mach 2. The plane was a two-seater, with one seat designed for the pilot and the other seat located behind the pilot for a Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) to operate the plane’s weapons.
    • Quote (P. 114): “My fellow pilots and WSOs and I learned not just how to fly the F-4 — that was the easy part — but how to use it as a weapon. We dropped practice bombs. We engaged in air-to-air combat training. We practiced flying in tactical formation.”
  • Fighter Pilot — In 1976 and early 1977, Sully spent 14 more months flying the F-4 while stationed at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, 70 miles north of London. It was Sully’s first mission as an operational fighter pilot. 
  • Becoming a Captain — After his time at Lakenheath, the Air Force sent Sully to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, where he spent three years training as a fighter pilot and rose to the rank of captain. Also while stationed at Nellis, he spent time on the Air Force Mishap Investigation Board, where he looked into fatal crashes.
    • Quote (P. 122): “Investigating this pilot’s apparent inaccurate SA (situational awareness) reminded me of what was at stake for fighter pilots. It took an absolute commitment to excellence because we were required to do incredible things close to the ground and fast, often changing directions quickly, while always making sure that the way we were pointed was safe to go.”
      • Takeaway — It’s pretty amazing what fighter pilots do. Whether it’s dogfighting with other planes, dropping bombs, flying high-speed, low altitude missions under enemy radar, or ejecting when needed, fighter pilots are incredibly skilled and have to be extremely detail-oriented. Crucial decisions have to be made instantly. In Sully’s heyday, the fighter jets didn’t have the same automation and computer AI capabilities that today’s planes have. A lot of it was feel and raw skill. 

Ch. 8: This Is the Captain Speaking

  • Interesting Fact — Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada is home to ‘Red Flag,’ which is a code name for the war games and combat exercises the Air Force participates in to help ready pilots for battle. Three or four times every year, pilots split up into ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ and essentially go to battle in the air. The Red Flag combat missions started in 1975 in response to the poor performance of pilots in the Vietnam War. Through its ‘Project Red Barron II’ investigation, the Air Force found that pilots performed much better after at least 10 combat missions. The Red Flag games were designed to give pilots those 10 combat missions, and all of the accompanying challenges, without killing them. 
  • Life After the Air Force — Sully’s stint in the Air Force came to an end in 1980 after serving his required time. He knew that promotion with the Air Force would require more time at a desk and less time in the air. He didn’t like that thought, so he left. Following the Air Force, he became a second officer/flight engineer with Pacific Southwest Airlines. After eight years at the airline, he became a Captain and has been flying commercial airplanes for over 30 years now. 
  • Interesting Fact — There are speed limits in the air. Below 10,000 feet, commercial airplanes can’t go faster than 250 knots (288 mph). Also, airlines partner with different medical service companies. When a passenger is having a health issue on the plane, the pilot radios in to get advice from somebody with the medical company, as well as air traffic control. The pilot can then make an informed decision about landing somewhere. 

Ch. 9: Showing Up for Life

  • Quote (P. 157): “I’ve tried to instill in my daughters the notion that all of us have a duty to value life, because it is so fleeting and precious.”
    • Takeaway — It’s important to live with gratitude and always understand that you’re not guaranteed another day or moment. That should always be on your mind. 
  • Quote (P. 160): “Everyone’s reputation is made on a daily basis. There are little incremental things — worthwhile efforts, moments you were helpful to others — and after a lifetime, they can add up to something. You can feel as if you lived and it mattered.”
    • Takeaway — Look to help and uplift people in some way every day. Helping people doesn’t have to be a big public spectacle. Look for subtle ways to go the extra mile and make somebody’s day. 

Ch. 10: Anything is Possible

  • Climbing Mount Whitney — On September 2, 1999, Sully and Lorrie climbed Mount Whitney in California, the highest peak in the United States at 14,505 feet. It was a 21-mile round trip hike that took all day. 
  • Quote (P. 179): “Lorrie believes that to meet your goals in life, it’s important to write them down. But that’s not enough. You also need to take what she and others call ‘authentic action’ every day to achieve them. That means you have to knock on a door, or make a phone call, or do something concrete to get you closer to your goal.”
    • Takeaway — You have to take action daily. Every day you should be looking to improve and get closer to your goals in some way. Develop small, good habits and execute them every day. These small habits and action steps are how you make big progress over time. 

Ch. 11: Managing the Situation

  • Skill vs. Automation — Piloting has become increasingly automated over the years. Back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, piloting a plane didn’t involve any computer technology. Now, many aspects of flying a plane are computerized. In some ways, this is good. In others, it can be bad. When he landed Flight 1549, Sully relied on a little bit of both. 
  • Quote (P. 191): “I always keep in mind a remark made by the fire chief at the Sioux City airport: ‘Either you manage the situation, or the situation will manage you.’”
    • Takeaway — Take control of situations when warranted. Be aggressive, not passive. Often, if you don’t take command of a situation, no matter what it may be, you can get run over by people who are willing to step up and take control. 

Ch. 12: The View From Above

  • Airbus A320-214 — On January 15, 2009, Sully and his co-pilot Jeff Skiles prepared for takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York on US Airways Flight 1549 bound for Charlotte, North Carolina. The plane was an Airbus A320-214 built in France by Airbus Industrie. The plane was delivered to US Airways in 1999, had logged 16,298 flights before our takeoff, and had been airborne for 25,241 hours.
  • Interesting Fact — LaGuardia Airport in New York is unique. It has some of the shortest runways in the country and is surrounded by water. Landing at LaGuardia presents more of a challenge than most other airports. 

Ch. 13: Sudden, Complete, Symmetrical

  • Bird Strike — What caused Flight 1549 to end up in the Hudson River was a bird strike so devastating that it took out both of the plane’s engines instantly. The plane was about 3,000 feet in the air when a pack of at least 12 Canadian Geese hit the plane. Most bird strikes aren’t a big deal, but Canadian Geese are big birds, weighing between 8-18 pounds each. Historically, bird strikes have damaged airplanes, but this was a rare occurrence where the strike downed the plane.
    • Quote (P. 216): “Studies have shown that about 4% of strikes result in substantial damage to aircraft. In the past 20 years, wildlife strikes have resulted in 182 deaths and the destruction of 185 aircraft, according to the National Wildlife Research Center in Sandusky, Ohio.”
  • Restarting the Engines — Skiles had been flying the plane, but seconds after the bird strike, Sully took over the aircraft while Skiles looked through 150 checklists to identify some kind of procedure that would get at least one of the engines going again. The first move was to attempt to restart one of the engines. Meanwhile, Sully worked with Patrick Harten to identify somewhere to land.
    • Quote (P. 219): “I was aware of my body. I could feel an adrenaline rush. I’m sure that my blood pressure and pulse spiked. But I also knew I had to concentrate on the task at hand and not let the sensations in my body distract me.”
      • Takeaway — In pressure moments, it’s so important to focus on the process rather than allowing yourself to get caught up in thinking about results or consequences. Keep your focus on the actual task at hand. Bad things happen when you start focusing on possible outcomes of the situation. Sully and Skiles were completely focused in the moment and on what it was going to take to land the plane safely. 
  • Glider — Because of the bird strikes, the plane essentially became a glider. The aircraft had no thrust; both of its engines were gone. Despite the repeated attempts of both pilots to get one of the engines going, nothing was happening. The initial plan from air traffic control was to return to LaGuardia, but it quickly became clear that the plane didn’t have enough time to pull that off. 

Ch. 14: Glider

  • Quick Decisions — Sully and Skiles made some pretty critical decisions almost instantly and under a lot of pressure. From the moment of the bird strike to the moment of landing — everything happened in 3 minutes. Inside of a minute, Sully and Harden went back and forth on landing spots. LaGuardia was considered first. Then Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Sully quickly made the decision that the plane wouldn’t be able to land at any airport. At that point, he decided that the Hudson River would be the likely landing spot. One of several reasons he settled on the Hudson was the boat traffic in the river — he knew nearby boats would be able to rescue survivors of the crash.
    • Quote (P. 234): “The Hudson, even with all the inherent risks, seemed more welcoming. It was long enough, wide enough, and, on that day, it was smooth enough to land a jet airliner and have it remain intact. And I knew I could fly that far.”
    • Quote (P. 234): “It did occur to me that if we could make it safely into the Hudson near the Intrepid (museum), there would be ferries and other rescue boats close by, not to mention large contingents of the city’s police and ambulance fleets just blocks away.”
  • Landing in the Hudson — Sully’s focus while landing the plane was primarily centered on keeping the wings level, keeping the nose slightly up, and keeping a level flight path. The post-crash investigation revealed that he landed the plane almost perfectly given the situation and rapid speed of descent (because the plane didn’t have any thrust it was falling very much faster than a normal landing).
    • Quote (P. 246): “My consciousness existed solely to control the flight path. As we came in for a landing, without thrust, the only control I had over our vertical path was pitch — raising or lowering the nose of the plane. My goal was to maintain a pitch attitude that would give the proper glide speed. In essence, I was using the earth’s gravity to provide the forward motion of the aircraft, slicing the wings through the air to create lift.”
  • Interesting Fact — One of the passengers on Flight 1549 was Eric Stevenson, who was on a plane that lost both engines in 1987 on a flight from Los Angeles to Cincinnati. The pilot of that Boeing plane had accidentally turned off both engines, but restarted them just in time to regain control and resume the flight. The pilot had switched off the engines because the buttons were too close to other engine control switches and he got them mixed up. After that flight Boeing, completely reconfigured its engine control panel. 

Ch. 15: One Hundred Fifty-Five

  • Icy Hudson — After successfully landing in the Hudson, the next immediate issue was getting off the plane. The air temperature was 21 degrees and the water temperature in the Hudson was 36 degrees. It was freezing. The plane was sinking. Passengers found a way to open the passenger exit doors and began loading up on the wings. Some passengers found a way to deploy the plane’s emergency water rafts. Hypothermia was a real problem. People were slipping on the wings and falling into the water. 
  • Rescue Vessels — A total of 14 boats ended up helping the passengers and crew of Flight 1549. The first rescue boat, the Thomas Jefferson captained by Vince Lombardi of NY Waterways, arrived at the plane inside of 4 minutes and took 56 people. The second boat on the scene was the Moira Smith. The third ferry, the Yogi Berra rescued 24 people. The fourth boat, the Governor Thomas H. Kean, rescued 26 people. 
  • No Fatalities — Later that night, investigators were able to confirm and report that all 155 people on the plane had survived the crash, leading to the incident’s now-famous name: ‘Miracle on the Hudson.’

Ch. 16: Stories Heard, Lives Touched

  • Moving Moments — Sully and his crew were celebrated as heroes following the water landing in the Hudson. People all over the world sent Sully letters thanking him for his preparation and decisive action that day. People were really moved by the incident, especially those who had been involved in aviation emergencies before or knew others who had died in plane crashes. 

Ch. 17: A Wild Ride

  • Rising to Fame — Sully and his crew received around 350 media requests per day following the landing. Sully gave TV interviews and was invited to many big events, including:
    • The Super Bowl 
    • President Obama’s Inauguration (which was a few days after the Hudson landing)
    • The Academy Awards 
    • Baseball Games (to throw out the first pitch)
  • Quote (P. 290): “Despite all that had happened out on the Hudson the previous night, I hung up the phone and just marveled at the way things work in America. Twenty hours before, I was just an anonymous pilot hoping to finish my last flight of a four day trip, before quietly heading home. Now there I was, talking to the president (George W. Bush) like we were old buddies from Texas.”

Ch. 18: Home

  • Home Life — Following Flight 1549, Sully and his family had to fight through the aftermath and waves of emotion of the landing. Things were difficult. The crash impacted the family in positive and negative ways. 

Ch. 19: The Question

  • 208 Seconds — The events of Flight 1549 happened very quickly. In total, the flight lasted 5 minutes and 8 seconds. The first minute and forty seconds were uneventful. Just 3 minutes and 28 seconds (208 seconds total) passed from the moment the birds hit the plane to the moment the plane hit the Hudson. Huge decisions had to be made almost instantly.
    • Quote (P. 325): “Jeff (Skiles) and I found ourselves in a crucible, a cacophony of automated warnings, synthetic voices, repetitive chimes, radio calls, traffic alerts, and ground proximity warnings. Through it all, we had to maintain control of the airplane, analyze the situation, take step-by-step action, and make critical decisions without being distracted or panicking. It sounded as if our world was ending, and yet our crew coordination was beautiful. I was very proud of what we were able to accomplish.”
      • Takeaway — The focus, poise, and determination in the cockpit was really impressive. In just 208 seconds, Sully and Skiles went through various emergency checklists, attempted to restart the engines, analyzed the situation, made huge decisions about where to land, and controlled the aircraft as it was descending rapidly toward the Hudson. All of this was done in a serious, life-or-death situation. 
  • Find Your Passion — Since he was a kid, Sully knew he wanted to fly planes. By age 16, he was in the air for the first time. By age 24, he was a fighter pilot with the Air Force. And at age 57, he was an experienced airline pilot who landed an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River in the face of extreme danger.
    • Quote (P. 327): “It’s so important for people to find jobs suited to their strengths and their passions. People who love their jobs work more diligently at them. They become more adept at the intricacies of their duties. They serve the world well.”
    • Quote (P. 327): “I found my passion very early. At five years old, I knew I would spend my life flying. At 16, I was already in the sky alone, practicing and practicing, circling happily above Mr. Cook’s grass strip. In the years that followed, my romance with flying helped sustain me. At 24, I was a fighter pilot, learning that I had to pay the closest attention to everything, because life and death could be separated by seconds and by feet. At 57, I was a gray-haired man with my hands on the controls of an Airbus A320 over Manhattan, using a lifetime of knowledge to find a way to safety.”
      • Takeaway — Doing work that you’re passionate about and that means a lot to you is vital. It gives you something to be excited about every day. When your passionate about something, you naturally want to become great at it — it doesn’t feel like work. 
  • Quote (P. 327): “I have told Kate and Kelly (Sullenberger) that each of us has the responsibility to prepare ourselves well. I want them to invest in themselves, to never stop learning, either person professionally or personally. At the end of their lives, like all of us, I expect they might ask themselves a simple question: Did I make a difference? My wish for them is that the answer to that question will be a ‘yes.’”
    • Takeaway — Commit to lifelong learning. Enhance your current skills. Learn new skills. Increase your knowledge. Never stop learning and growing. Try to get better every day and focus on maximizing your potential. 

Appendix