Leadership, Entrepreneurship & Management: Profile of Dr. John Sperling, Chairman of Apollo Group, Inc. (University of Phoenix)

This article provides an insight into the groundbreaking proven research about overcoming adversity and the relationship it has with "Leadership and Adversity" has received extensive endorsements and enthusiastic reviews from well-known prominent business, political, and academic leaders, best-selling authors, and leading scholars who either participated in the study or reviewed the research findings.

You will discover the proven success habits and secrets of people who, in spite of adversity, major health issues or injuries, assassination of a parent in front of you, imprisonment in a Nazi Concentration Camp, discrimination, significant abuse, or difficult or life threatening challenges shaped their own destiny to become successful, effective leaders.

The full results of this leadership and entrepreneurship research are presented in a book by Dr. Howard Edward Haller - "Leadership and Adversity: The Shaping of Prominent Leaders," which was published in November 2008 by VDM Verlag Dr Müller AG & CoKG.

For this overcoming adversity and leadership research, I personally interviewed sixteen prominent leaders in-depth, including - Two Self-Made Billionaires, Seven major company Chairman/CEO's, Three well-known and respected Guru's, US Major General (Ret.) & Two current U.S. Senators, on how overcoming adversity has shaped them: Dr. Tony Bonanzino, Jack Canfield, William Draper III, Mark Victor Hansen, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Monzer Hourani, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), J. Terrence Lanni, Dr. John Malone, Angelo Mozilo, Larry Pino, Dr. Nido Qubein, U.S. Army Major General Sid Shachnow (Ret.), Dr. John Sperling, Dr. Blenda Wilson, and Zig Ziglar.

This overcoming adversity and leadership research was reviewed and Peer Debriefed by Five Major Leadership Scholars and Best-Selling Authors: Dr. Ken Blanchard, Dr. John Kotter, Prof. James Kouzes, Dr. Paul Stoltz & Dr. Meg Wheatley.

This is a short biography of one of the sixteen overcoming adversity and leadership research participants who generously contributed their time and insight for this important research into the true insights of the phenomenon of how prominent successful individual leaders overcome adversity and obstacles.

This is Dr, John Sperling’s amazing story of overcoming adversity, entrepreneurship and success:

I interviewed Dr. John Sperling at his home in San Francisco, California. Dr. Sperling was the founder and initial Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, of the Apollo Group, Inc., and is now Executive Chairman and Director. This organization owns and operates the University of Phoenix and other colleges. John was born in poverty. As a child he suffered physical injury, psychological trauma, and was raised in a home where his parents were always fighting. Additionally, he was abused by his derelict father. When John’s father died when he was 15, John was “very happy.” He said of his father’s death “it was the best day of my life.” John overcame adversity and impossible odds in his business career.

Sperling’s University of Phoenix was challenged on a number of fronts because they were a “for-profit” University, which the regulators believed was heresy, immoral and they thought should be illegal. John battled every regulatory body that his vehement enemies could launch against him, “including two regional accrediting agencies, the state legislatures in both in California and Arizona, the FBI, and various law enforcement agencies, plus multiple civil and criminal law suits.”

While the journey was difficult for John, the University of Phoenix and the Apollo Group won all the battles, and disproved the false charges, and was victorious on the law suits. Sperling’s life story is a true Horatio Algier story of going from poverty, to being a billionaire. He went from a semi-literate dyslexic kid, who barely graduated from high school, to someone with a master’s degree from U.C. Berkley and a Ph. D. from Cambridge University. Notwithstanding the “tragic adversity” in his youth, Sperling expressed that the battles in his career and adult life were the most important.

Dr. John Sperling's insightful and inspiring autobiography, "Rebel with a Cause" (2000), is a great read; or you can read about him and the full story of overcoming adversity by nine prominent leaders in Dr. Haller's book, "Leadership and Adversity: The Shaping of Prominent Leaders."