Pinnacle Performance Champions

Six Lessons from a One-of-a-Kind Life

There are entertainers who become famous. There are stars who become icons. And then there are the rare few who become part of our lives.

Dolly Parton was one of those people.

Her remarkable career spanned more than six decades and included more than 100 million records sold, unforgettable songs like Jolene, 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You, movie roles, businesses, awards and a place in American culture few performers ever achieve.

But measuring Dolly’s life only by records, awards and fame would miss much of what made her so special. For all the attention she received for her talent, appearance and larger-than-life personality, I think there was something else that explains why people connected with her for so long.

As I thought about her life, six qualities stood out to me:

1. Stay Humble, No Matter How High You Climb

Dolly came from a poor family in the mountains of East Tennessee and eventually became one of the most recognizable people on Earth. Yet she never seemed overly impressed with herself.

She could laugh at her image, poke fun at her success and make herself the punchline before anybody else had the chance. Behind all those rhinestones was someone who seemed to understand that being successful didn’t suddenly make her more important than everyone else.

That’s not always easy. Success has a funny way of changing some people. A bigger title, more money, or authority can sometimes convince people they’ve somehow become better or more important than everyone else.

The most impressive people I’ve known are usually the opposite. They’re confident without being arrogant. They know what they’re good at, but they also know they don’t have all the answers. They still listen and learn, and they don’t feel the need to make sure everyone in the room knows how accomplished they are.

Dolly had reached heights most people could never imagine and still managed to come across like someone you could sit down and have a conversation with.

Success may change your income, surroundings and opportunities. It shouldn’t change the respect you show other people.

2. Give More Than You Receive

Early in her musical career, Dolly said one of her goals was to become rich and famous. She certainly achieved that goal, but she also spent decades finding ways to use her wealth and celebrity to help others.

Perhaps the best-known example is her Imagination Library, which she started in 1995 in honor of her father, who could not read or write. What began as an effort to provide books to children in her home county eventually grew into an international program that has distributed hundreds of millions of books.

And that was just one part of it. She funded scholarships, supported children’s hospitals and medical research, helped families recover after disasters and quietly contributed to countless other causes.

Her example reminds us that one of the best measures of success isn’t simply what we accumulate, but what we choose to do with it.

3. Put On Your Best Face

Nobody ever accused Dolly Parton of quietly blending into the background. The hair. The makeup. The clothes. The heels. And, of course, enough rhinestones to be visible from space.

Dolly understood something that applies even to those of us who aren’t likely to show up anywhere in sequins and six-inch heels: how you show up matters.

It’s how you carry yourself, the energy you bring into a room, the attitude you choose, how prepared you are, how you speak to people and the amount of effort you put into what you’re doing. All of those things say something about us before anybody gets the chance to discover how talented or capable we might be.

Dolly knew people expected something special when she walked onto a stage, and she made sure they got it. She didn’t wander out hoping she felt inspired that night. She came prepared to give them the Dolly Parton they came to see.

There’s something to be said for taking that kind of pride in yourself and what you do.

4. Be Authentically You

There has only ever been one Dolly Parton. I suspect that was very much by design.

Over the years, she moved far beyond traditional country music into pop music, television, movies, business and even rock. She changed with the times without ever becoming unrecognizable in the process. She never lost the accent, never hid where she came from and never toned down the humor. And she certainly never decided the hair had gotten a little excessive. She remained Dolly.

That matters because one of the easiest traps to fall into while pursuing success is believing we need to become more like somebody else. There’s nothing wrong with learning from successful people. I’ve spent much of my life doing exactly that. But there’s a difference between learning from someone and trying to become them.

Personal growth should help you become a better version of who you already are, not turn you into somebody else. Improve your skills, learn more, raise your standards and fix what needs fixing. Get better at the things that matter, but don’t polish away the qualities that make you who you are.

Dolly certainly didn’t.

5. Work Hard and Keep Going

All that sparkle sometimes made it easy to overlook how incredibly hard Dolly worked.

Nobody sustains a career for more than six decades on personality and good hair alone. Behind the costumes and seemingly effortless charm was an enormously productive songwriter, performer, actress and businesswoman who continued creating long after she had enough money and recognition to spend the rest of her life doing absolutely nothing. That kind of longevity requires more than talent; it requires discipline.

Successful people don’t wake up motivated every morning. They get tired, discouraged and make mistakes. Things don’t work, people say no and plans fall apart. There are mornings when staying in bed sounds like a perfectly reasonable career strategy. They keep going anyway.

Talent can open doors. Luck can give somebody a head start, and connections can certainly help. But very few people achieve lasting success without one pretty unglamorous ingredient: doing the work, over and over again, for a very long time.

Dolly made success look fun. She also worked incredibly hard for it.

6. Make Your Success Mean Something

Eventually, every career ends. Titles disappear, awards gather dust, records get broken and money gets spent. Which leaves a bigger question: What remains because you were here?

For Dolly, obviously, there will be the music. People will still be singing her songs decades from now, including generations who weren’t alive when they were first recorded.

But that won’t be all that remains. There will be adults who received books as children because a woman from Tennessee never forgot that her father couldn’t read, families who got help rebuilding after disasters, students who received opportunities, communities strengthened by businesses she created, and millions of people whose lives were made just a little happier because Dolly Parton happened to enter the world.

That’s a legacy and maybe that’s the biggest lesson her life leaves behind.

I think that’s ultimately a much better measure of success than how high you climbed, how much you earned or how many people knew your name: Is anything or anyone better because you were here?

Dolly Parton certainly knew how to put on a show. But underneath the performances was something even more impressive: a remarkably talented woman who worked hard, stayed humble, gave generously, remained true to herself and never forgot where she came from. Not a bad formula for success. Not a bad way to live, either.

Rest in peace, Dolly.

You spent 80 years showing us that it’s possible to shine incredibly brightly without having to dim anybody else’s light.

Steve