Harlan living proof you can go anywhere in the world from Shelbyville, Indiana

Joe Harlan’s entertaining and interesting biographical offering chronicles one man’s journey from a small Indiana town to the pinnacle of the American business world and cites his foundational influences, most notably the Shelbyville Boys and Girls Club, as the primary factor in that success.

The author refers to the traditional principles imperative for achievement. He highlights persistence, perseverance, dedication and commitment among others, and weaves a narrative as to how these attributes were introduced to him and continually reinforced in him by his hometown Boys and Girls Club.

Harlan candidly writes about an ordinary, yet challenging childhood filled with pain and disappointment. The suicide of a grandfather, the untimely death of his mother, his house burning down when he was ten, and his being diagnosed with a life-changing and life-threatening illness at the age of 17 are examples of his personal trauma.

However, he emphasizes that these are the kinds of life-shattering difficulties that everyone, to some degree, experiences.

“The important thing is to keep going,” relates Harlan.

He documents the tremendous strength he has consistently drawn from his parents and his wife, Theresa, and the motivation they provide for him to “keep going,” even during the darkest of times.

Throughout, Harlan’s focus returns to the Shelbyville Boys and Girls Club.

“Life applies to everyone,” says Harlan. “The Boys and Girls Club is about life.”

He points to simple, familiar lessons and how the Club teaches them.

“At the Boys and Girls Club, you don’t always get to play your way. There are rules, you stick with it -- if you keep showing up, you learn how play within the structure. You will get better.” states Harlan. “That mindset didn’t start in college, it started in Shelbyville, Indiana.”

Joe Harlan signs a copy of his book Saturday at the Shelbyville Boys and Girls Club.

Following his 1981 graduation from Indiana University, Harlan embarked on an illustrious 37-year business career in major leadership positions for three Fortune 500 Companies (General Electric, 3M and Dow Chemical).

The single profound influence that has stood as his foundation through that odyssey of monumental growth and development are the lessons derived from his Boys and Girls Club participation.

“It starts at the Club,” says Harlan. “At the Boys and Girls Club, you learn to deal with people. Different personalities. Different styles. If you want to win -- you figure it out.”

He learned these very basic truths at the Club. “The world doesn’t change the fundamentals. It just tests them.”

The narrative is brisk, evocative and endearing. The reader is anxious to learn what Harlan’s next adventure, accomplishment or in some cases, disappointment will be. There is no sense of condescension, pretense or entitlement in the narrative. The story reads more like a third-person account than a biography.  It is very easy to forget that the author is also the main character.

The story is pedagogic by its nature, but never pedantic or arrogant.

Each chapter includes an, “It starts at the Club page,” which focuses on a Boys and Girls Club value and how each of these truisms relate to the Harlan story.

“The Club is first and foremost about relationships,” says Harlan. “That is at the heart of the Club’s message.”

Charity and giving back are the paramount themes of “You can go Anywhere.”

“Give back because it pays back,” says Harlan.

The author has become a tremendous benefactor to numerous organizations and causes, including the Boys and Girls Club in his hometown.

“When you give, you get,” says Harlan. “It may not be in kind but its real and it’s powerful.”

He advises the reader to make the most of the opportunities that life provides. “And when you’re done -- help someone else do the same.”

In “You can go anywhere in the world from Shelbyville, Indiana,” Joe Harlan provides a special insight into how he rose from commonplace circumstances to the zenith of the corporate world with the principles of his Boys and Girls Club background at the very core of who he was and continues to be.

Joe Harlan’s story is one of an ordinary individual rising to unfathomable heights.

Then again maybe Joe Harlan is not ordinary; maybe none of us are.

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