A few weeks ago, I wrote about the 20th anniversary of this column. This year, I also celebrate another important anniversary -- 25 years since I published my first book, "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive."

"Sharks" is still selling briskly around the world after all this time because the concepts haven't changed. This is why "Swim With the Sharks" became the success it did, especially coming from a then-unknown author from the flyover state of Minnesota.

Books from first-time authors typically have print runs of 7,500 to 10,000 copies, which is only a couple books per store. This makes it much easier for publishers to recoup their losses if the books don't sell well. But I knew that to really give "Sharks" a chance, I needed a first printing of 100,000 copies. We were meeting on the 28th floor of a New York skyscraper when I asked my publishers for a print run that size. They practically told me to jump.

Fortunately, I brought in two huge briefcases with two large Rolodex files (remember, this was 1988) containing more than 6,500 names from all over the world, including my connections with major companies, organizations and associations. That helped convince the publisher, William Morrow, to print 100,000 copies. "Sharks" was No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list for 54 weeks.

As much as I love the title "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive," a lot of people mistakenly thought I was advocating becoming a shark. Rather, my message then and now is to give people the tools to get along and work with sharks.

I'm often asked to name the No. 1 piece of advice in the book. No contest: It's using the Mackay 66 Customer Profile, which is available for free on my website, www.harveymackay.com. The Mackay 66 is a tool that helps humanize your selling strategy and take business relationships to a personal level. You can't talk about business all the time, so it's important to learn about your customer's education, family, hobbies and interests, favorite sports teams, vacation habits, previous employment, professional and trade associations, clubs, and so on. In other words, know what turns that person on. If you build a good relationship, you will not only get the order, you'll get all the reorders.

And this is not just for customers. It's also for suppliers. Use the Mackay 66 for employees and competitors -- anyone you can benefit from knowing more about. Each time you encounter those persons, you learn a little bit more about them and keep building your list.

"Swim With the Sharks" is divided into sections on salesmanship, negotiation and management. That's why the subtitle is so appropriate -- "Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate and Outnegotiate Your Competition."

Its sales lessons include:

-- It's not how much it's worth; it's how much people think it's worth.

-- The sale begins when the customer says yes (customer service).

-- Writing personal notes yields positive results.

-- If you don't have a destination, you'll never get there.

-- Fantasizing and projecting yourself into successful situations is one of the most powerful means there is to achieve personal goals.

Essential to successful negotiations are these ideas:

-- The most important thing in any negotiation is the ability to say no.

-- Everything is negotiable.

-- Agreements prevent disagreements.

-- The most important term in any contract isn't in the contract; it's dealing with people who are honest.

-- Make decisions with your heart and you'll end up with heart disease.

-- If you burn bridges, you better be a damn good swimmer.

Top management lessons include:

-- It's not the people you fire who make your life miserable; it's the people you don't fire who make your life miserable.

-- You'll always get the good news; it's how quickly you get the bad news that counts.

-- Little things don't mean a lot; they mean everything.

-- Practice makes perfect is not true. You have to add one word: Perfect practice makes perfect.

-- The single biggest mistake a manager can make is a bad hire.

-- You can't solve a problem unless you first admit you have one.

Sharing what I have learned in my decades of business has been pure delight. When I revised and updated "Sharks" in 2005, I challenged myself to see how much of my own advice I was still following. I can honestly report that my formula continues to keep me safe in shark-infested waters.

Mackay's Moral: People's lives change in two ways: The people we meet and the books we read.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, a new Chinese emperor took the throne of the Middle Kingdom. Because he was only 18, he called upon the court's wisest adviser.

"O learned sage, O venerable counselor," said the young emperor, "you advised my grandfather the emperor for many years. What is the single most important advice you can give me now for ruling my kingdom?"

And the adviser, the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius, replied, "First, you must define the problem."

Certainly sage advice -- except most of us don't have a Confucius to consult. But we can learn plenty from studying the advice of top CEOs and business leaders.

For example, Anne Mulcahy, former chairman and CEO of Xerox, was asked by Fortune magazine for the best advice she had ever received in business. She said it occurred at a breakfast meeting in Dallas, to which she had invited a group of business leaders.

One of them, a plainspoken, self-made, streetwise guy, came up to Mulcahy and said: "When everything gets really complicated and you feel overwhelmed, think about it this way. You gotta do three things. First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got into the ditch. Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn't go into the ditch again."

What a great management tip because when you break it down, it covers just about every situation. I'd like to share some other gems with you that will help you "define the problem."

-- Make your calendar your best friend. As soon as you book an appointment or meeting, choose an appropriate date to prepare for it, and prepare a to-do list for that day. Allow sufficient time to gather and review all the information and material you might need. Take time to prepare so you don't have to waste time in despair!

-- Don't waste precious time fretting about things over which you have no control. Although taking control of the details and tasks in your life is essential to becoming an effective priority manager, there are things that occasionally pop up over which you have little or no control. When that happens, don't fight it; just do them and get them over with.

-- Manage the function, not the paperwork. Remember that your job is to manage a specific function within the company. There might be a lot of paperwork that goes with the job, but don't let that distract you from your real responsibility.

-- Get out of your office. Management By Walking Around (MBWA) does work. You make yourself more approachable. You get information first-hand. You find out what's really happening. The auto pioneer Henry Ford was once asked why he made a habit of visiting his executives when problems arose, rather than inviting them to his own office. "I go to them to save time," Ford explained, "and besides, I've found I can leave their office a lot quicker than I can get them to leave mine."

-- Delegate the easy stuff. The things you do well are the things to delegate. Hold on to those tasks that are challenging and difficult. That is how you will grow.

-- Don't get caught up in "looking good." Appearances can be deceiving. Don't try to act big, don't exclude rank-and-file employees, and don't think you know it all. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honest.

-- Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.

-- Open your ears and close your mouth. Listen to the people around you. Your associates, your employees, your suppliers and your customers all have something of value in what they have to say. You will never learn what it is if you drown them out by talking all the time. Remember, the only thing that can come out of your mouth is something you already know. Shut up and learn.

-- Practice what you preach. To lead, you have to lead by example. Don't expect your people to work unpaid overtime if you leave early every day. Don't book yourself into a four-star hotel on business trips and expect your employees to stay in the motel off the freeway.

Mackay's Moral: When you manage to define the problem, you begin to manage.

"Pushing the envelope" is a phrase that originated with American test pilots like Chuck Yaeger and John Glenn in the 1940s. It described maximum stress situations for the metal skin ("envelope") of a jet aircraft. In other words, the plane was designed to fly safely up to a certain speed for a certain distance at a certain altitude.

The job of test pilots was to "push the envelope" by making the plane go faster, farther and higher. The term "pushing the envelope" came into popular parlance in the blockbuster 1979 book and 1983 movie "The Right Stuff."

Naturally, this phrase is near and dear to me. On my business card, my title is "Envelope Salesman." So literally, I am pushing the envelope every day!

Beyond that, "pushing the envelope" means pushing the boundaries and pushing yourself to be better, faster and smarter and to get the results you want, in business and in life. I can assure you that as times and businesses change, I have had to make many adjustments to keep our company functioning and prospering. It's about determination and risk taking -- going above what your customers expect and trying new things that will put you outside of your comfort zone.

Most people go for safety and security when planning and living their lives. There are certain lines they won't cross. Many life-changing, transforming and worthwhile decisions are outside their comfort zone and require risk, which prevents them from trying anything new.

When you study truly successful people, you'll see that they all saw opportunities, took risks and made plenty of mistakes, but when they were knocked down, they kept getting up ... and up ... and up. They owe their success to their willingness to accept change as inevitable and welcome the challenge.

Determined people possess the stamina and courage to pursue their ambitions despite criticism, ridicule or unfavorable circumstances. In fact, discouragement usually spurs them on to greater things. When they get discouraged, they recognize that in order to achieve different results, some change is in order.

At 211 degrees, water is hot. One small change -- one more degree -- and it boils, turning into steam. And steam can power a locomotive. That small change of one more degree makes all the difference. That one extra degree in business and in life separates the good from the great. It's your life. You are responsible for your results. Never be afraid to turn up the heat.

A little book, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," swept America in 1970, selling more than 7 million copies, but not before being turned down by 18 publishers first.

Richard Bach wrote the 10,000-word story about a seagull that refuses to join with those in his flock that are only interested in scavenging savagely for food. Instead, Jonathan Livingston Seagull wants to fly and soar to heights none of his kind could even imagine.

Most seagulls learn only how to get from shore to food and back again. But Jonathan kept going off by himself, flying higher and higher, until he finally was able to reach 8,000 feet, far higher than any other seagull had ever flown. He even learned to fly at night, something seagulls never do.

Jonathan would go into dives straight down -- reaching the incredible speed of 214 miles per hour. He taught himself to do the loop, the slow roll, the snap roll, the point roll, the inverted spin and the pinwheel! Every day he kept learning new ways to fly that stimulated and nourished his soul.

Although initially rejected by his flock for his unorthodox approach to life, Jonathan eventually became a hero of wisdom and renown. Younger seagulls flocked to Jonathan to learn his flying secrets.

The lesson of this little book is the necessity to risk some things in life and, above all, to keep on learning. There are few prizes for following the flock.

No doubt about it, taking chances and making changes can be daunting. But consider the alternative. If you aren't content with the status quo, you have no choice but to change the way you are operating.

After all, it is the continued search for excellence and devotion to learning that is the true secret of professional accomplishment and personal happiness.

Mackay's Moral: To get what you've never had, you must do what you've never done.