Friday Reflections

In Response to a Reader...

This week's Friday Reflection is in response to a reader who sent in this question:

    “What’s the quote about getting the door slammed in your face 10 times and being just as positive for the 11^th? I need to give a young man some encouragement. Thanks”

    It turns out that this reader is helping his stepson find a job. It has been tough due to the economy and his stepson was losing morale. So the request was made for the quote - which is below along with the original reflection - and I went searching. I found the quote in the archives from 2007.

    I was surprised, touched, and honored that a Point to Ponder from over 4 years ago would still be remembered by a reader today. I wanted to say thank you to that reader, and all of the readers, for supporting Friday Reflections. I hope it has and will continue to make a difference in each of your individual journeys.

    So to the reader with the fabulous memory, here's the answer you've been looking for...

 

Persistence Pays Part 4: From Homeless to Billionaire (Reprinted from 11/01/07)

(Not the reader in question)

"I have said many times that the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people do a lot of the things that unsuccessful people don't want to do. Like when the door is slammed in your face ten times, you go on to door number eleven with just as much enthusiasm.”

                                                                                - John Paul Dejoria.

STORYLINE

If this were just another rags to riches story, I would probably not cover it here. However, the story of John Paul Dejoria was particularly exceptional and fascinating to me: because of his values, his "out-of-the-box thinking", and what he did with his phenomenal success.

John Paul grew up with a single parent, amongst the gangs of East Los Angeles, living in near poverty. At the age of nine, he would deliver newspapers at 3 o'clock in the morning with his brother, dreaming that he might earn $150 week someday so that he could afford a used car.

As fate would have it, while still in his early 20s, he became a single parent and now had a young son to support.  To get by, he took various jobs - janitor, a gas station attendant, repairing bicycles, and selling encyclopedias - but during this time, he was homeless twice.  Too proud to ask for help, he collected coke bottles and cans and cashed them in for small meals. By any standard, he was in deepest of valleys but managed to keep his hopes high.

In 1980, he finally got his break.  He was able to borrow $700 with his friend, Paul Mitchell, to start a new company. This company would introduce a new line of hair care products under the brand name "Paul Mitchell".

At the time, this company consisted of one post office box and a single answering machine.  The voice message on that machine was recorded by a female friend with an English accent in their office which was icidentally, the back seat of their car.  The company could not afford colored ink and went with black and white packaging - which today is the instantly recognizable Paul Mitchell brand.

Instead of following the convention of chasing supermarkets and chain stores, the partners knocked on the doors of hair salons across the United States. They used an innovative sales strategy that had never been tried in the beauty industry before. They offered free demonstrations for customers and guaranteed that if the product didn't sell, the salons could return it without any conditions.

Suffice to say, the salons loved it and their customers did too. As the company grew, John Paul continued to innovate; running it with a management philosophy to hire, train and retain the best people, and reward them handsomely.  As a result, his company operates with three to four times less resources than his competitors, or in his words, with “fewer moving parts ... fewer people doing more.”

With this combination of innovation and persistence in everything; ranging from design and sales to operations, his dream of earning $150/Week turned quickly into billions of dollars in assets.  Today, John Paul Dejoria is still innovating.  He is involved in many other ventures ranging from tequila and pet care products to solar cars and environmental projects. He donates $100s of millions to various charitable causes around the world. His motto is “Success unshared is failure.”

REFLECTION

There are a few common themes that come out of the lives of successful people.

1. They have dreams and know what they want to achieve.

2. They are willing to pay the price (whatever it may be) to achieve them.

3. They go for them with passion and never look back.

Hint: you can see other stories in our 'persistence pays' series by clicking here

The Greatest Punch Was the One He Never Threw

POINT TO PONDER 

“We're all fighting for the same cause and idea but we have different reasons and different approaches."                                                

                                                                                                        -Muhammad Ali

STORYLINE by Rajiv Shah

It is approaching Muhammad Ali's 70^th birthday this week and as an avid boxing fan I would like to pay tribute to the man who simply became known as “The Greatest.” His boxing accolades, championships, and triumphs are well known: three time world championships, an Olympic gold medal winner, and in 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.

Add to this a man that could rhyme poetry, who spoke openly about his religious beliefs, and who protested the Vietnam War by refusing to fight a war he didn't believe in. A refusal that caused the United States of America to strip Ali of his title, his boxing license, and four of the most precious years a young boxer has in fighting career.

I watched a talk show with the young Ali where he was asked if he regretted his decision to evade the draft. The punishment was severe and was it really all worth it? His response was, “...if I regretted it, it wasn't sincere.”

The talk show host pointed out that when Ali's conviction was overturned that he didn't seem the least bit resentful of the Supreme Court or the men that had taken boxing away from him.

Ali responded, “I would be a hypocrite if I did because I expected them to recognize me for what I believed. And they did what they thought was right at the time they took my title, at the time they wouldn't let me box nowhere in the country. They just did what they thought was right. And for me now to sue them or to condemn them, or to speak out against them for doing what they thought was right – then this would be hypocritical - at the same time I expect them, though they didn't, to recognize me for what I believe. So how can I get on them for doing what they thought was right?”

REFLECTION

There was a humor and a humanity to Muhammad Ali that seemed to belie the savage nature of the sport he dominated. Ali is a study in that contrast that has grasped our fascination with him as an athlete and man for so many decades. George Foreman spoke of Ali's greatness in the documentary, “Facing Ali.” In the film Foreman recounts the famous “Rumble in the Jungle” fight that took place in Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974. He says the best punch of that fight was never landed. Foreman said that as he was stumbling and headed for the canvas in the eight round, Ali could have easily punched him on the way down. Ordinarily, boxers will finish off the collapsing fighter but Ali didn't. He kept his fist cocked but didn't deliver the blow. There was something humane about not throwing the punch - something aesthetically beautiful in a moment of pure brutality – that made Ali the greatest fighter in Foreman's estimation. Happy birthday to the greatest, Muhammad Ali. 

Click on the photo above for a 1min and 30sec video of the Greatest of All Time. 

 

 

iRemember

 

POINT TO PONDER

A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.

                                                                                  - Steve Jobs

 

STORYLINE (Jerry Brown, California's current governor declares October 16th as official Steve Jobs day) 

http://mashable.com/2011/10/16/steve-jobs-day-video/

 

REFLECTION

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

                                                – Think Different, narrated by Steve Jobs.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Point to Ponder:

"When you came to this world, the world was smiling (happy with your arrival) and you were the one crying (being a baby). Live life in such a way that when you leave this world, you are the one smiling (for a well lived life) and the world is crying."

 

Reflection (from Steve Jobs 2005 commencement address at Stanford University):

"When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much."

 

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined*

POINT TO PONDER 

 “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

                                                                                 - Steve Jobs 

STORYLINE

 

REFLECTION 

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEO of Apple."

                                                                                                            - Steve Jobs

As a tribute I wanted to “connect the dots backwards” in the unconventional life of a remarkable visionary.

Steve Jobs was born in 1955, adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs.

In 1969 meets Steve Wozniak while working over the summer at Hewlett Packard. By 1972, they are building and selling blue boxes to Berkeley students.

In 1973, Jobs attends Reed college only to drop out one semester later. He does however stick around to crash classes and credits a typeface class for his innovation of fonts on personal computers. Steve also becomes interested in eastern mysticism at this time and it is here he first experiments with drugs.

In 1974 Jobs convinces his employer at Atari to send him abroad. He is sent to Germany to work at the Atari plant there.

Afterwards he ventures to India to seek spiritual enlightenment. He does not find it there and returns to Atari.

Shortly after he ventures with his girlfriend and friend to a hippie commune in Oregon. There they fast only eating apples occasionally.

In 1975 Jobs and Wozniak start building computers in their garage.

1976, Apple Computers is incorporated.

In 1978, Jobs unveils the Apple 2 computer which is a hit. Personally, Jobs becomes a father to a daughter with ex-girlfriend Chris Ann-Brennan.

From there, the rest is history. http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2007/06/excellence-is-n.html

It is interesting to look at Steve Jobs' life and it's easy to say that he is an anomaly, the exception to the rule. I included some of the facts because I felt every journey, especially ones that are unconventional, often live outside the norm. I personally was surprised while doing research for this article that Jobs had done all kinds of unconventional things including dropping out of college. I highlight this not to celebrate it but to point out that every path is different, difficult and often confusing. The courage is to pursue it anyway.

Bonus: Steve explains the rule of success in this one minute video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuNQgln6TL0&feature=related

 

*Quoted from Henry David Thoreau

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer

 

POINT TO PONDER:

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." -Albert Einstein

STORYLINE - by Rajiv Shah:

Over the weekend I attended a conference where the head speaker was one of the most successful coaches in college football history, Bobby Bowden. The head coach for Florida State University, Bobby has 2 championships under his belt and has the second most wins for a head coach in college football history.

When asked what led to all those victories, Bowden paused for a long moment.

“It was the ability to look at problems as opportunities,” he finally responded.

“Life is full of problems, it is really what it is about, and the ones that succeed are the ones that can take those problems and find ways to solve them.”

 

REFLECTION: It was a simple statement but one that contained much power. There are many ways to address a problem: avoid, deny, accept, complain, blame someone else as the cause, or we can confront it head on and try to solve it. Everyone has challenges and problems, what we do with them is the test of what we are made of and who we are.

Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.

Point to Ponder:

"If you ask me how I want to be remembered, it is as a winner. You know what a winner is? A winner is somebody who has given her/his best effort, who has tried the hardest she/he possibly can, who has utilized every ounce of energy and strength within her/him to accomplish something. It does not mean s/he accomplished or failed, it means s/he has given it their best.  That is a Winner."  - Walter Payton.

 
Storyline: Originally published on November 2008 under the title "Tough times do not last, but tough people do" - Repeated with an update:

In these times of global financial crisis, stock market meltdowns, wars and employment worries, I would like to share the remarkable life story of a "common" person that has been anything but common. Her friends and relatives affectionately call her “My Lola” (Grandma). I met her during my visit to Manila in 1978 and got to know her more during my expatriate assignment in the early '80s.  Here is her story:

She was born to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother. At the age of 12, she lost both her parents and was left to take care of three younger siblings. In order to survive, she started a small business: she supported the family by selling fruits, vegetables & fish to locals in the market.

During the second world war, most of the people in her town were slaughtered by the occupying force. She escaped death only because of the kindness of one enemy soldier. After the war, she got married and started another business that provided a comfortable, middle-class living for the next 30 years.

Sadly, in the mid '70s, a fire destroyed her home and her business. Before she could launch another venture, one of her teenage sons developed a rare disease and died, after long and very expensive medical treatment which drained the family savings. A year later, another teenage son met with an accident and died, while trying to help the family. One would think that this is enough misery for one person in one lifetime.

Unfortunately, in the early '80s, her eldest son and her husband died. She was left to support the three remaining young children by herself.  She learned to read and speak English while taking care of a young boy; she would make the little one read a book, and while moving her finger on every word, listen carefully and pick up the pronunciation.

Eventually she went abroad and for the last 27 years her life has turned for the better. Last December, on her 77th birthday, I asked her for a formal interview. After recapturing many of her experiences, and her creative approaches for surviving and eventually thriving in life, I asked her the final question. “What kept you going on in life with all that has happened?”

“Hope” she answered. “I never gave up thinking that tomorrow will be better than today and kept on going. Every day was precious and I gave my best efforts.”

Personally I have not met anyone who has been through so much in one life time. But what she said in her final answer is what I witness every time I see her. Last Sunday, I chatted with her about the current global problems.  She told me, “Trust me. Things will get better.”

UPDATE: The above story was published in November 2008.  Shortly after, “My Lola” (Mrs. Lim) developed some major health issues. In past two and a half years, she defied five calls by specialists for her demise and showed remarkable recoveries each time, to the surprise of all. Her willpower was inspirational to all who were fortunate to witness it. But today, her body gave way. During her life she fought every adversity/battle hard, never gave up and came through. And her last battle was no different. She demonstrated in all conversations and actions that she was going to give every ounce of energy she had and not give up on her own.

As one care taker put it: “They leave the way they live.” 

 
Reflection: from the poem by Gene Autry:

 “Now somewhere, there stands the man/woman

       His/her duty o’er and won

       The world will ne’er forget him/her

       To him/her we say, “Well done.’” 

To live in the hearts one leaves behind is not to die.

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot

 

 
POINT TO PONDER
 

“There's something just as inevitable as death. And that's life.

Think of the power of the universe — turning the Earth, growing the trees.

That's the same power within you — if you'll only have the courage and the will to use it.”

-C.Chaplin: “My Autobiography”

 

STORYLINE - by Rajiv Shah
 
Charlie Chaplin is considered the most influential movie star of all-time. From films like The Great Dictator, The Gold Rush and Modern Times - Chaplin is indelible as his best known, lovable character, the Tramp. Charlie brought a new brand of comedy but the world in which Charlie lived was not kind – he burst onto the global scene as it was deeply entrenched in its first world war – and it tore at the very man who tried to bring laughter and relief. He is remembered as one of the greats, a movie star that defined a style all his own, but his achievements are only a small portion of a life that was filled with disappointments and hardship.
 

• Chaplin was born to an alcoholic father and a mentally insane mother who was institutionalized at Cane Hill asylum in England.
• At the age of twelve Charlie's father passed away from cirrhosis.
• Charlie was forced to room in a workhouse after his father's death. His mother could no longer care for Charlie or his siblings due to her institutionalization. Charlie eventually moved to a school for paupers.
• In 1913, after working in the theatre, Chaplin is hired in his first film role by Mack Sennett who ran Keystone Film Company. Accustomed to the theatre, Chaplin had a hard time adjusting to the demands of film and his performance in Making a Living is considered to be a failure. Sennett admitted that he regret hiring Chaplin but is persuaded to give him another chance. Chaplin eventually grows to become one of the biggest stars at Keystone.
• During the first world war, Chaplin is criticized for not enlisting in the army however he had and was denied entry due to his small stature (5'5”) and for being underweight.
• Politically, Chaplin was a liberal. J. Edgar Hoover is reported to have accused Chaplin of being a communist and ordered that the FBI keep secret files on the film star. Hoover and the Immigration and Naturalization Service eventually denied Chaplin reentry into the US when Chaplin vacationed in the UK in 1952. Chaplin was forced to give up his residence in the United States and eventually settled in Switzerland.

 
REFLECTION
 
I've included a scene from The Great Dictator that expresses many of Chaplin's personal and political beliefs. It seems the world continues to struggle to achieve the message contained within this Oscar winning monologue.
 

Just Speed Up The Boat

"Join in the new game that's sweeping the country. It's called Bureaucracy! Everybody stands in a circle. The first person to do anything loses." - Javier Pascal Salcedo

"In any bureaucracy, paperwork increases as you spend more and more time reporting on the less and less you are doing" (reference)

Story Line: Just speed up the boat
 

As with many stories in Friday Reflections, this one happened Once Upon a Time.

The boss of a rather large global group had flown in from another state and summoned his local team to discuss a project the team had initiated that had shown great results in their department.

The boss went through standard customary motions as happens in many meetings, and after showing a lot of interest in the project told the three team members in attendance, “Your work is revolutionary and you have gotten great results in your environment. But now there is a similar initiative by a very large support group that they call Company Wide Excellence. They have not been able to show progress with many more resources, and you guys are making them look bad.”

The boss continued, “It is time you let go of your project to them and concentrate on other work.” 

The newest employee in the group, who coincidentally was also in his first job after graduation, told the boss, “We can work with them to explore scaling our work to speed up Company Wide Excellence”

The boss, a little annoyed at naïvete of the young man said, “You don’t understand. You guys are like a speed boat going against a super tanker. They can crush you. Do you understand what I am saying?”

The young man, not being savvy in understanding the hidden message said “Yes, we understand. All that we have to do is speed up so the super tanker can never catch us.”

Sequel: That young man, after delivering great results to his employer, left and is now owner of a  successful business. And those Corporate Wide Excellence folks? After creating a massive bureaucracy which was dissolved a few years later, they are retired or working at other places.

Many men go fishing all their lives...

 
Point to Ponder

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.”

-Henry David Thoreau
 

Storyline - by Rajiv Shah

Bruce Lee dedicated his life to pursuing an understanding of the body, mind, and spirit within martial arts. He pushed the boundaries of traditional techniques and the limits of his own body. The results were evident in his physique, his strength, and ability to lay an opponent on the floor with the most economical and explosive martial arts the world has seen. His legacy to push the martial arts out of forms and into what he believed to be a fluid, formless, and rigorously simple process of fighting still influences fighters across multiple disciplines around the world.

In an early scene in “Enter the Dragon,” Bruce is coaching a young fighter with his technique. He tells the student to kick him. The student throws out a kick without much thought, as he probably has done hundreds of times. Lee moves toward his pupil and says, “What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content. Try again.”

This time when they square up, the student is bubbling with irritation. He throws a kick, this time with more force. Again, Lee moves towards his young student, “I said emotional content, not anger.”

This time they face off and the student kicks, and kicks. Bruce smiles in approval, “that's it” and asks, “how did it feel to you?”

The student's eyes glaze over, “let me think ...” he says.

SMACK! Bruce Lee bops him on the head, “Don't think! Feel...”
 

Reflection

I find this scene particularly revealing, as it illustrates a challenge we all have faced. How many times do we do things without knowing why we are doing them, or execute them for reasons that have no resonance?

What we do decide to engage with should fill us with purpose. When we feel purpose it will be effortless to suffuse our work with 'emotional content.'

How do you feel about what you do? Why? Assess your answers and see if you can find ways to apply your energies towards filling work with meaning.