The Gain Principle: Mastering Life's Growth Cycles for Success and Service

Steven J. Pruett has identified the growth cycles that have helped him build a successful career as an influential executive in the media industry.

Now, he invites you to look closely at yours so you can elevate your life too. The Gain Principle—Go, Assess, Identify, Next—refers to the steps that define the beginning, middle, and presumptive ends in these cycles, as well as the reboots that most of us experience in different phases of our lives. Pruett teaches you how these patterns build and blend, ebb and flow, so you can recognize them earlier, take advantage of opportunities sooner, and overcome inevitable barriers to reach your goals.

Ultimately, you can make each cycle shorter, avoiding mistakes along the way. Pruett literally went from the outhouse to the penthouse, and his story provides an ideal metaphor for the meteoric rise that can occur when you embrace the Gain Principle. He shares important skills that will help you maximize your growth cycles, including learning from failures, cultivating courage and resilience, and above all, applying leapfrog moments that shift your mindset almost overnight and turbo-charge your ascent into new and unexpected directions.

The principles in this book are not magic formulas or quick fixes for you to memorize. They are guideposts that, through Pruett’s decades of trial and error, are now outlined clearly for your gain, professionally and personally.

Steven J. Pruett is executive chairman of Cox Media Group. Before joining CMG, Pruett served as executive vice president and chief TV development officer of Sinclair Broadcast Group, where he had also served as vice president and co-chief operating officer. Pruett was responsible for creating the company’s Chesapeake Division through acquisitions, as well as overseeing all TV stations in that group.

Before joining Sinclair, Pruett was chief financial officer for Communications Corporation of America and later became its president and CEO. Prior to that, he was a special strategic advisor to DirecTV and Thomson Consumer Electronics.

Over a long, successful career, Pruett has helped found several broadcast groups as an initial investor, financier, managing partner, or board member. These include Spanish Radio Group, Excel Communications, ACME Television, USBG, and UPI Media, where he served as president. He also served as treasurer of the FOX Affiliate Board of Governors and was elected its chairman.

Pruett studied radio and television at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. He earned a master’s in management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He lives in Atlanta and Arizona with his wife, Paula.

LinkedIn: /stevenjpruett