Harvey Mackay: Muhammad Ali's advice on life and work still packs a big punch

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HARVEY MACKAY

MUHAMMAD ALI: THE GREATEST ADVICE OF ALL TIME!

I will never forget the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta when Muhammad Ali was the surprise person to light the Olympic torch. I was sitting in the stadium, watching that spectacle with my entire family.

At the time, I was writing my third book, "Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You Will Ever Need." I wanted to intersperse stories from the best networkers in the world. I thought, who better than the Champ? But how would I get to him?

Remember the Broadway play and movie "Six Degrees of Separation"? The title refers to the belief that there's a chain of no more than six people that links every person on this planet to every other person.

But first, I did my homework and completed a "Mackay 66" on Ali. (The Mackay 66 Customer Profile is a 66-question synopsis, available for free on my website, harveymackay.com.) At MackayMitchell Envelope Co., we require all of our salespeople to fill one out about each of our customers.

We want to know, based on routine conversation and observation, what our customers are like as human beings. What do they feel strongly about? What are they most proud of having achieved? In other words, we want to know what turns that person on.

In Ali's case it was magic, so I had a local magician teach me a few magic tricks that I could explain and teach to the Champ. We hit it off, and were great friends for the past 20 years. That relationship extended to a tremendous friendship between our wives, Carol Ann and Lonnie.

During a break from that interview, we headed out to lunch. I introduced Ali to my driver, Francis. At the restaurant, Ali whispered to me, "Tell Francis to join us for lunch."

Ali was a master at trying to make everyone feel special.

• Don't be boring or predictable. Entertain your visitors.

• Promote yourself. Ali learned this lesson from pro wrestler Gorgeous George when the two were interviewed on a radio program. A flair for poetry proved helpful!

• Stand up for your convictions. His faith led him to be a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, for which he was suspended from boxing for more than three years during his prime.

• Reward your fans, not with a brushoff, like so many athletes today, but by taking genuine pleasure in honoring their requests. Ali would stop and talk to everyone. He faithfully answered his fan mail and sent out autographed photos.

• Be generous with your time for worthwhile charities. Prime example: The Champ was an unstoppable force behind Celebrity Fight Night, which has raised $123 million to support the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix and many other charities.

• Deal with your own physical limitations with optimism, not bitterness and self-pity.

Ali once said: "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."

He has paid that rent many times over. Muhammad Ali will always be "The Greatest."

Mackay's Moral: You may not float like a butterfly or sting like a bee, but you would do well to learn from Ali.