739. Be Yourself. There Is Only One You

Jay Lucas

“I remember being 8 years old and going across the lawn to the town library. They had a particular reading room there for kids and in that room were a number of biographies of people like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. That reading room was a very formative place for me. I got to see what these great leaders had done in their lifetimes and it created an imprint on me and the kinds of things that can be achieved.”

Jay Lucas—accomplished businessman, author, leader and philanthropist—believes in the power of positivity, patriotism, and community engagement. Jay is actively spreading his message through his bestselling book “American Sunshine: Rays of Hope and Opportunity.” He served as an elected State Representative while still in college at Yale. He then earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, and his Law degree from Harvard Law School. He is now the Chairman and Managing Partner of The Lucas Group, focusing on the specialized needs of private equity investors and their portfolio companies.

How Did You Start Using Your Talents?

“I jumped full force into politics in the spring of my sophomore year at Yale, at the age of 19, when there was an opportunity to run for office as a delegate in the New Hampshire legislature. I wrote over a thousand hand-written letters and knocked on hundreds of doors. I won and went to the constitutional convention that was held once every ten years in the state. I was on the bill of rights committee and got to meet state senators, members of the House of Representatives and judges. This experience gave me the confidence to believe that I can do more of this!”

The Most Impactful Turning Point?

“St. Paul’s School is one of the very elite prep schools on the East Coast. Every summer they host an Advanced Studies Program for six weeks, to which they invite roughly 180 public school students from around New Hampshire who are at the top of their class. I was fortunate to be selected. The program is run by teachers and interns from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth and other top schools. I decided to put my heart and soul into those six weeks and ended up at the top of my class. It was easily the most decisive moment in my entire academic career. The intern who had the greatest influence on me had studied at Oxford and Yale and, as a result of that relationship, I ended up at Yale.”

The Most Powerful Lessons Learned?

“Before starting law school my brother and I got entrepreneurial. We started a small business where we sold electronic equipment: wide-screened TVs, videos, et cetera. This brief experience piqued my interest in the world of business. Where before I had been going straight down the narrow path to law school, I opened myself up to the entrepreneurial side of the world. I decided to pursue a joint MBA and law degree. Harvard structures it as a joint 4-year program broken up between law school and business school courses. I took the business school year first and worked that first summer at Bain and Company. After graduating I joined Bain full time and stayed on for 9 years, becoming partner during their most dramatic period of growth.”

Steps to Success from Jay Lucas

1. Work in some sort of a structured environment where you can learn the basic principles and practices of the occupation or profession from the masters.

2. Be yourself because there is really only one you. Each of us is blessed with unique talents and qualities and it’s our responsibility to work with them to our full potential.

3. I also follow an idea I call Modern Patriotism:

Believe in the basic fundamental human values that created America such as fairness and freedom of speech and religion.
Achieve to your fullest potential based on your talents and these core values.
Share the wisdom and experiences from your life with others. And in the process you will experience what I call earned success.