We learn a great deal from our traumas, mistakes and from bad examples, but you'll rarely see them listed on a resume or web site even though these events shape us powerfully. There is rich learning beneath the brief stories below... feel free to ask me more about them, or even to compare war stories with me.

I remember when I was once asked to speak to a group of potential managers about my leadership style and vision. I spoke about, "My Biggest Mistakes as a Leader and What I Learned From Them," and I told stories that showed some of the things that sharpened me over the years.

In my first management job at 24, I learned how to manage an alcoholic worker - it was a crash course in navigating the legal requirements of managing through rehabilitation and mixing in human compassion. I also remember how I used to have it backwards in my twenties and believe that working more hours than my staff would inspire them. One of the toughest job situations I ever had to overcome was inheriting an entire team in one location (one fifth of my entire staff) whose members were all poor performers. Managing them appropriately while still maintaining morale with the rest of the team, and simultaneously creating future vision and objectives taught me lessons about leadership that you can't learn in a book.

If you read the part about my tennis career, you'll notice how easy it is to list a bunch of records and achievements, but over the years the most common question people ask about my tennis is, "Do you still play?" This inevitably leads to the story about my horrendous knee injury and the subsequent ten surgeries. My surgeon told me I had the ugliest knees he'd ever seen.

I think I learned some of my most powerful life lessons on the tennis court-through major losses, having control in a match and losing it, through intense dedication and gritting it out against overwhelming odds. I recovered from the surgeries and nearly two years on and off crutches to play on the professional tennis circuit at 27-an age twice as old as some of my opponents! I certainly didn't shake up the tennis world, but I overcame horrendous odds, and I did it- sometimes all by myself on court 879 in the middle of the night in an unknown city, sometimes in stadiums with television cameras. In the end, I was there for the pure joy of participating in a sport I love.