During a break, I was commenting about the wonderful flavor of their iced-strawberry brew with real strawberry slices that they freely shared with the audience. One of the elders commented, "It goes well with popcorn," which brought us into a conversation about its origins.

"You know, no white man could have invented popcorn," he stated. Apparently it was Quataquina who in 1621 was credited with discovering popcorn at the first Thanksgiving.

Speaking strictly for myself here, I couldn't help but reflect on this man's wisdom as it compared to my own impatience. I can see myself back in 1621 with a pan full of kernels over a fire, and after a minute or two going, "hey nothing's happening" and being tempted to give up.

Yet, many religious camps around the world teach us the importance of patience. So I'd like to go on record to advocate that creativity is a lot like popcorn. Even when the kernels are in the heat of the fire, it sometimes takes a while to pop. But once we get cooking, yee ha!

Now this also brings up the idea of compression. I would tend to argue that just as nature turns coal into diamonds, creativity gets challenged and distilled before emerging as polished brilliance.

Take entrepreneurs. Throughout my life I've been fascinated by these people of accomplishment and have made an informal study of their thought processes. It seems that in many circumstances, before they "popped" onto their paths, there were great depths of frustration, loneliness, setbacks, and a host of other ills that these folks had to keep moving through.

Babson College Founder's Day is a unique program for honoring global entrepreneurs. It has been my living laboratory, where I've enjoyed the good fortune to interface with many great entrepreneurs. From cookie king, Famous (Wally) Amos, to recreational vehicle magnet, the late John K. Hanson, founder of Winnebago Industries, their stories are richly woven with fabrics of setbacks and fortunes. Yet there are two who stand out the most with their comments, examples and stories about compression: Leslie H. Wexner, founder of The Limited, and Masayoshi Son, founder of The Softbank Corporation.

Les Wexner addressed an intimate audience, and, with some mild frustration, stopped fielding questions and proclaimed, "As many look at my global chain of stores, corporate jet, power, wealth, I've sensed students today implying 'How do I get where you've gotten and get what you have?' and I must admit, I do not have the answers. I can't tell you how to do it." He went on to say that he could tell us only that he followed his love for retail. From his first store in Columbus, Ohio, he loved putting the key in the door first thing in the morning and turning the lock. He loved putting the key in the door at the end of the night after sweeping and locking up. "I'm still the world's best men's sweater buyer," he chuckled. In all, he communicated that chasing the trappings of success had nothing to do with his path. His focus was on his passion.

Les came from humble origins, with parents who weathered the depression and honored the security of postal work. So, when he received a call early in his career from a leading New York retail chain magnet, his father was in total disbelief of his son's actions. Apparently, this magnet invited Les to New York, all expenses paid, and offered him a staggering salary and wild perks like a penthouse apartment. Les responded, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize this is why you brought me to New York. I'm not interested in a job," and proceeded to leave. When he got off the elevator, he called his father and recounted the experience. "Now you get right back up there and tell the man you're sorry, of course you'll take his offer," suggested his father.

About a year later, Les felt compelled to call the magnet and inquire as to why he had been inspired to make such a generous offer in the first place. "Well Les, you might be a terrific retailer, but in your whole life you'll never have more than fifteen* stores without my capital." Les hung up the phone and was beside himself. "Fifteen* stores," he thought. "I never thought I'd have more than six*." This magnet had in effect raised the bar of possibilities for Les's vision for himself. At last count, Les' chain includes well over 3000 stores. *Note: I was unable to confirm the exact store numbers, but the story's spirit is true.

Imagine starting out with two employees who laugh at your dreams and targeted projections and quit two months later. This is what Masayoshi Son experienced. Today he earns some $200 million per day from his Internet investments such as Yahoo!, E*Trade, and Ziff-Davis, just to name a few.

When queried about his path as if it had all been a successive string of successes, he replied, "I've made a lot of moves. I have lots of scars and am ashamed and shy when I look back." He went on to explain that most warriors have battle scars that remind them of pains experienced. It is often these reminders that become the greatest teachers, helping us prepare more intensely for the next round.

Masayoshi's formula for success is tried and true: "Strongly believe in big dreams and have a strategy." And yet the numbers associated with his dream were huge, so I asked him, "Many goal setting experts state that we should set goals that are believable, so how does one set large goals and make them believable to the mind?" He replied, "Start with the big picture and break it down from there. I figured out what it would take to be number one in the industry and worked backwards."

In both cases, these men were cooking their own creative kernels. Despite family pressures, ridicule and/or setbacks of various sorts, they endured the heat and man have they popped!

In the end, I believe that creative success is best defined by our ongoing efforts and not merely by the results. To paraphrase a Chinese proverb, "It matters not what path a person is on in life. What matters is their commitment to the path."

So regardless of what kind of popcorn you seek, give it your all, because that's what we are called to do.

How committed are you to your creative path?   top