If you're not happy with your career--or, for that matter, anyarea of your life--Larry Winget has a message for you: Quitwhining, because it's your fault.

Known as "The Pitbull of Personal Development," Winget bringshis message of achieving personal, financial, and career success byfocusing squarely on the "self" in self-help to Tuesday's keynoteaddress at 8 a.m. He is caustic, straightforward, and never minceswords--and audiences love it.

"Sometimes I see people almost pull back in their seats with alook of 'I wish he hadn't said that,'" Winget says. "But the nextthing I see is a look of understanding that says, 'He's right.' Ata core level, people understand the message of personalresponsibility and respond to it."

Winget is a five-time New York Times/Wall Street Journalbest-selling author. He is a frequent business contributor onMSNBC, FOX News, and FOX Business on the topics of money, personalsuccess, and business. He also has appeared on The Today Show,Larry King Live, and The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.

A "no-nonsense motivator," Winget attacks traditional businesswisdom and offers simple truths in his direct, thought-provoking,and humorous style.

"I am 'in your face' and irreverent. But I'm also entertaining,and I present universal truths that are hard to argue. I back upwhat I say with stories and facts. I talk about real people andreal results," he says.

Winget draws from his books and a wealth of knowledge gainedthrough his own voracious appetite for the written word, whichincludes reading more than 4,000 books in the past 20 years. Heteaches audiences from his own experiences as a self-described"screw-up" who grew up dirt poor but figured out how to succeed inbusiness.

"I've done everything in the world wrong, but I've learned fromall of my mistakes," he says. "I give examples from mylife--examples where the minute I start to describe situations andcompanies, people nod their heads and say, 'Boy, that happens tome, too.'"

Secret to Success

One of the biggest obstacles to success is not the mistakes wemake, Winget says, but our reaction to them. "I don't tell peoplethey aren't going to make mistakes, because they are. But peoplestay focused on the problem and not the solution. So, identify theproblem, but don't wallow in it. Learn from it. I don't faultpeople for screwing up; I fault people for screwing up the same wayover and over again," he explains.

On the other hand, Winget says, companies often take aPollyanna-ish approach to their genuine shortcomings. "Companiesneed to put the rose-colored glasses away. None of this, 'We don'thave problems, only opportunities.' Because you do have problems,and the quicker you realize and admit it, the quicker you can moveto resolution."

In his experience, Winget also has learned that business oftenfollows--or claims to follow--fatally flawed principles. Taketeamwork, for example.

"Businesses talk about teamwork because it's a feel-goodbuzzword. They make the mistake of thinking the only way to get ajob done is by working together and trying to force everyone intoholding hands," he says.

The problem is that it doesn't work. "Business is not like onebig happy family, just like no one has one big happy familythemselves. Everyone has an idiot brother-in-law or that spookyuncle who shows up on holidays. So the problem is any business teamis going to have one or more dysfunctional individuals--that personwho just isn't going to work, which means the team isn't going towork," he says.

Instead, businesses should create a group of "dedicatedsuperstar employees" who work independently toward a common goal."Let people do what they do best and hold them accountable. Inturn, they will count on each other to get the job done," saysWinget.

It's a subtle, but important, distinction. "Letting people focuson what they do best means they will work their butts off. The keyis while we work independently, we are working toward a common goalof selling a lot, serving the customer really well, and making thebusiness successful so that we all get to keep working here," hesays.

Personal Progress

In our own careers, Winget says, we also should refocus on thecore principles people intuitively know work. "Honesty, integrity,personal and fiscal responsibility. Working hard, and spending lessthan you make. You have to be dedicated to those core principles,"he explains.

Winget's keynote stands in stark contrast to buzzword-ladenpresentations. "People like my message. They like the style.They're tired of hearing stupid things--while they sound good atfirst and on the surface, you walk out of the room saying toyourself, 'That's not true,'" he says.

"We go to business meetings. We hear all these stupid clich?s,but then we go back to the real world and deal with real problems:I work with idiots; my customers are jerks; the economy stinks. Sowhat should I do about it?" Winget asks.

In an era of instant gratification, the answer to that questionis not going to be easy. "It's called 'work' for a reason," Wingetsays. "You have to work your butt off. You have to do it becauseit's the right thing and you said you were going to do it, whetheryou feel like it or not."

If that sounds like common sense, it is. Unfortunately, Wingetpoints out, common sense is all too uncommon in the business world."Companies and individuals lose sight of these things, but theindividuals and companies I deal with and draw from are the mostprofitable and the best at what they do. And my ideas are so basic,so profoundly simple, that they're real hard to argue about."

If you don't like your circumstance, change it. If you don't,it's your fault. And if you disagree with that advice?

"Then prove me wrong," Winget says.