I remember telling my new boss that I definitely wasn’t the smartest person in the company—not by a long shot—but I would be one of the hardest-working. I think if you asked him thirty years later if that was true, he would agree.

This is no pat on the back. That’s just how things are with me. I’m willing to put in the hours to guarantee success if there’s something I want or believe in.

It hasn’t always been that way. I was more focused on boys and having fun in high school than on st...