Be very clear right now, we believe without a doubt that you can get and keep a good-paying job, and we don't even know you or what your disability might be.
".. .if you just show up to work on time and with a good attitude, you're better than 75% of everyone else. "
David Neeleman, President and CEO, Jet Blue Airlines
That might seem like an easy thing to say if you are president of an airline. However, David has a learning disability, to this day has trouble with reading, and recounts the story about how the only success he had by the time he was nine years old was working in his grandfather's store because he simply could not read a chapter and write a paper on it. It was impossible for him.
Then David gives his next piece of great work advice for people with disabilities,
"Don't focus on what you can't do. Focus on what you can do."
For example, he was not a very good reader or writer, but he was very good at understanding anything explained to him orally, he was a good speaker and was good at both understanding and organizing things visually, from the time he was making displays in his grandfather's store.
"Work hard, have a good attitude, focus on what you can do. I got up at 8 a.m. this morning so I could come here and listen to fortune cookies?"
Wait a minute, though, because Mr. Neeleman just gave the best career advice ever.
What matters at work