Joy Mangano
Eturuvie Erebor
J
oy Mangano is an American business woman,
inventor, and creator of the self-wringing
Miracle Mop. Like everyone else, Joy
started with a dream. She became an
inventor at a young age when she
dreamed up a fluorescent flea
collar to keep pets safe. At
the time, she was a teenager
working at an animal
hospital in New York.
Although that invention
never saw the light of day,
years later, in 1990, she
developed the Miracle Mop,
a self-wringing plastic mop.
The mop was quite unlike
any before it. The head was
made from a continuous loop
of 300 feet (90 meters) of cotton
that can be squeezed out without
the user touching it and getting their
hands soiled in the process. Using her
savings and investments from family and friends,
she made a prototype and manufactured 1000
units. She began by selling the mop at trade shows
and in local stores but soon had an opportunity
to sell on QVC. At first, it sold moderately,
but once Joy was permitted by QVC to
go on-air to sell it herself, 18,000
mops were sold in less than half
an hour. That was a significant
breakthrough that took her
business to a whole new
level. A decade later her
company was selling $10
million worth of Miracle
Mops every year. Joy went
on to produce other items
including the velvet no-
slip hangers which Oprah
Winfrey endorsed. In 2015
a movie, JOY, was made about
her life, and although it is fiction
many parts are factual, and even
those parts which are not based on
facts contain powerful lessons which are
beneficial to the woman pursuing her purpose. As
such they will be referenced here.
LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE
LIFE OF JOY MANGANO
1.
Everyone starts with a dream
of what life will be for them.
But as people grow older
and are surrounded by those
who found it challenging
to accomplish their own
desires and who will make
it their business to let them
know at every turn that
their dreams are beyond
their reach they begin to
believe that it is impossible
to accomplish their goals
and so they settle for less.
They give up the desire to
live and begin to make a
DOZ Magazine | October 2019
2.
living like everyone else.
Dreamers need a team to
work with them to fulfil
their dreams. Joy had
an idea, but she couldn’t
achieve it alone. According
to John C. Maxwell, one
is too small of a number
to achieve significance.
We need other people if
our dreams will become
tangible. We need those who
believe enough to invest in
our ideas, whether it is their
money, time, or skills.
8
3.
4.
Our pain often leads to the
discovery of an idea. In the
movie, Joy cuts her hand
while trying to wring a mop
she was using to clean a
surface that was covered in
liquid and broken glass. It
was a painful experience,
there were fragments of
glass in her palms, but it
caused her to think of the
possibility of a mop that
could wring itself. And as
they say, the rest is history.
Ask for help. You need
DOZ Leadership Lessons