GPS for Success: Skills, Strategies, and Secrets of Superachievers

Barry A. Franklin, PhD, is Director of Preventive Cardiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation at Beaumont Health, Royal Oak, Michigan and Professor of Internal Medicine, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. His clinical research interests include the primary and secondary prevention of heart disease; cardiovascular risk reduction; obesity and metabolism; exercise testing/ prescription and lifestyle medicine.

In his early 30s, Franklin intuitively embraced business management/productivity guru Peter Drucker’s recommendation that “everyone should find at least one interest outside his/her primary area, and make that secondary pursuit into more than just a hobby.” For him, that secondary pursuit, the study of highly successful people in all walks of life became a passion. Years later, he took what he had learned and developed a college course titled “GPS for Success” which he taught at Central Michigan University (2012-2017). It became one of the most popular courses on campus. Since the mid 1990s, he’s participated in countless media (e.g., YouTube TV) and invited presentations on this topic as well as giving themed commencement addresses at major universities.

Dr. Franklin’s professional accomplishments have been recognized through a number of honors and awards. He has served as President of the American Association of Cardiovascular Pulmonary Rehabilitation and President of the American College of Sports Medicine as well as Chair, American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism. In 2010 he was appointed to the national AHA Board of Directors as well as a member of the Administrative Cabinet. Franklin is a past Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and currently holds editorial positions with 15 other scientific and clinical journals.

Dr. Franklin has written or edited more than 700 publications, including 547 papers, 101 book chapters and 26 books. He has also narrated 42 educational videos. In 2015, he was named by Thomson Reuter’s among the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (Clinical Medicine). He has given over 1,000 invited presentations to state, national and international, medical and lay audiences.

Please visit www.drbarryfranklin.com for more on Dr. Franklin.