The Tree Shaker

Roli grew up in a small village where a typical day included tending cattle, playing games with other boys, and listening to tribe elders tell stories of inspiration.  Roli was also a grandson of the tribal king, but tradition determined that his family branch was ineligible to inherit the throne.  Nevertheless, Roli was well-cared for, and he enjoyed many of the benefits of being tribal royalty.  He began attending school at the age of 7 and would be the first member of his family to learn to read.

Roli’s plan was to gain the necessary skills to become an advisor for the royal house.  He attended a prestigious college that was the only institution of its kind to accept black students.  A year after enrolling, he became involved in a leadership role in the student government. Dissatisfied with the school’s meal quality, he helped organize a protest boycott.  Unfortunately, the school had little tolerance for such demonstrations, and suspended the boycotters, including Roli.  It was his first taste of activism, as well as its potentially serious consequences.

Leaving college without a degree, Roli first secured a job as a night watchman, then as a clerk at a law firm.  There, he made friends with colleagues dedicated to battling racism and advocating for equality.  Roli became increasingly political, marching in a successful protest against an increase in bus fares.  When he saw how fares were lowered in response to the protestors’ efforts, it was moment of true inspiration.

Within a few years, Roli had completed his bachelor’s degree through correspondence courses and had begun studying law.  He also knew his life plans had changed, realizing that he was more interested in a political path fighting for equality than in the privileged life of a royal advisor.  Roli married, had children, and fully immersed himself in a life of fighting for the rights of others.

Roli is a nickname for Rolihlahla, which means “tree shaker” or “troublemaker.”  He never really cared for the name, and enthusiastically accepted the English name given to him in his first year of school.  His schoolmates called him Nelson.  The world knew him as Mandela.

Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela was a talented young man with bright prospects who risked everything to stand up for human rights in the face of oppression.  His efforts and passion for change would see him imprisoned by a tyrannical government for more than 27 years, before world pressures would force a change.  Upon his release, Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected President, serving from 1994 to 1999, and receiving more than 250 honors, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

As the world continues to mourn the loss of Mandela, I thought it would be appropriate to start the New Year celebrating and embracing one of his greatest attributes… his sense of connectedness.  In Africa there is a concept known as Ubuntu, an idea that we accomplish nothing entirely on our own.  Mandela believed that we are human only through the humanity of others.  Our greatest dreams are only achieved through equal measures of our own work and the support of others.

There is no doubt that Mandela was a rare leader who, in a single lifetime, liberated millions of people, thereby empowering them to pursue their own passions and dreams.  But Mandela was the first to admit that, in order for him to achieve even the smallest degree of success, he needed to stand on the shoulders of many great leaders that came before him.

I was in South Africa in the summer of 2013 when Mandela was hospitalized with the illness that would ultimately claim his life.  During that time, I read this simple but eloquent quote from the great leader:  “Men come and men go.  I have come and I will go when my time comes.  What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived.  It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we led.”

As we start 2014, I hope you will embrace the We Are Connected mindset, and realize how each of us is a thread in the tapestry of Mandela’s greatness.  His inspiration paves the way for us all to dream big and make a meaningful impact on the lives of others.  It’s time to shake some trees!

Until next week...

Live Your Dreams

Live to Give

Pedro had an unusual childhood. His father died when he was ten, and as the oldest son, he assumed the responsibility to provide for his family. He dropped out of school and began looking for work. In his country, it was not uncommon for a child to find work in a factory. Wages were low and the hours were long, but Pedro was ambitious and he had a family to feed. After a long day at the factory, Pedro would walk the city streets with a rag and shine shoes for tips. When he saved enough money he purchased some shoe polish and his tips increased. After several years Pedro was able to acquire a small kiosk with a permanent location. Every evening after working in the factory Pedro would shine shoes and people came to respect him for his hard work and punctuality. Life was a struggle but he always wore a smile.

By his late teens, Pedro had become known as a master apprentice. He would regularly teach kids how to survive on the streets by shining shoes. He was sort of a big brother and mentor to dozens of youth living in challenging situations.

In time, Pedro came to have a family of his own, a wife and four children. Six people living in a one-bedroom shanty would have been unbearable if not for the love they felt for one another. Still, Pedro wanted more for his family, and this led to one of the most difficult decisions of his life.

Pedro asked his wife, Maria, to leave the country and find a higher paying job in America. She arrived in New York and was hired to work in a factory. She worked for two years to save enough money to buy a plane ticket for Pedro to join her. Then Pedro made another big sacrifice and left his four children with relatives so he could come to America and begin saving to bring them all together again. Pedro found work in a shoe factory, where his skill and experience with shoes allowed him to excel. He moved into manufacturing, where he made shoes for unique people and events. His shoes were worn by the famous Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, ballet dancers, and even the Smallest Man in the World in the Ringling Brothers Circus. Within two years, Pedro had saved enough money to bring his children to New York for a permanent family reunion.

JP was Pedro’s youngest son, and at age four, he had hardly spent any time with his parents. Pedro made up for this by teaching JP important life lessons about working hard and not forgetting where you come from. JP recalls numerous family trips back to his home country of the Dominican Republic. He never understood why his family traveled with so many suitcases on those trips. He often complained how heavy they were and found it curious that they were so light on the way back to NY. As a teenager, he learned that his father would pack the bags with clothes and supplies for people in his hometown less fortunate than him. This taught JP one of his dad’s favorite lessons firsthand: giving back unconditionally.

Pedro died in the summer of 2000 but his legacy lives on. JP, better known as Juan Casimiro, grew to be one of the world’s leading experts on youth empowerment. He is a Big Brother and mentor to over 100 youth. Juan travels the world, having visited over 30 countries, and never arrives empty-handed. In 2002, Juan started a toy drive to personally deliver toys to deserving children in developing countries. That first year he provided 50 toys to kids, and he knows from experience that one toy often gets shared and passed down to three younger children. Ten years later, the Casimiro Global Foundation has donated over thirty-thousand toys to children all over the world. This year they have a goal of 10,000 toys to benefit 10,000 children in 10 countries.

Remember that everything you do matters. Pedro’s life and lessons impacted his son Juan, who in turn has impacted hundreds of thousands of children all over the world. Their story inspired me to donate to their charity, and I hope you will consider donating toys or funds too:  www.CasimiroGlobalFoundation.org

Many people are looking to attract abundance into their life. Just remember that giving always precedes receiving.  This Holiday season, I give you the gift of the Live to Give Mindset.

Until next week...

Live Your Dreams 

A Doubtful Christmas

As the holidays get into full swing, I decided to offer a different kind of story this week.  It’s the story of a young boy whose mother showed him what staying strong and being resourceful in the face of adversity really means, and it’s presented here in his own words:

“During one summer when I was young, my father sold everything we owned, took all the money and disappeared from our lives.  My mother suddenly found herself alone to care for five boys.  I was the oldest, barely ten years old.  My youngest brother still wore diapers.

“My grandparents welcomed us to their place – eighty acres of rocky hill country, twenty miles from the nearest town.  Grandpa butchered an extra hog that year, and we planted a field of turnips to mature in the cool fall weather.  My mother worked in the fields and cared for us kids while I started fifth grade at school.

“Changes in our lives couldn’t be avoided.  My father had been abusive at times, but he’d always provided for us.  Now, I worried about what might happen, but my mother stayed positive, and assured us that she would keep us together as a family and safe from harm.

“I milked cows before catching the school bus, and did chores after I got home each day.  The younger boys washed dishes, fed chickens and pigs, and carried in firewood.  Six-year-old Jerry was paired with me on a crosscut saw, and we regularly cut wood to heat the house during the winter.

“Our efforts paled in comparison to what our mother did, however.  At one hundred-five pounds, she could swing an axe, manhandle heavy horse-drawn plows, haul hay for the cattle, and harvest crops.  Still, she found time to help us with homework and say prayers with the younger boys.

“As Christmas approached, my mother didn’t seem to smile as much.  She hinted that Santa might have trouble bringing us presents this year.  I considered myself practically grown, so I hid my disappointment.

“One day, my mother took a saw into the forest and returned with a stack of tree limbs.  She left them in the harness room in the barn and refused to tell her curious children what they were for.

“She worked on her project while I was in school, but I peeked when I had a chance. Pieces of wood had been cut into different shapes, then planed and sanded smooth.  Later I found a stack of discs cut from a round oak limb.  She also had started to carve a long piece of hickory, but I couldn’t figure out its purpose.

“She hid everything from us and frustrated my attempts to snoop.  But I saw that she had used nails, glue, and paint from grandpa’s workshop.  I concluded that she had to be making presents.

“When school let out for the holiday, my brothers and I cut a Christmas tree in the forest and dragged it home through the early snow.  The whole family helped decorate it with ornaments, pinecones, and strings of popcorn.  We gathered mistletoe and holly boughs and hung them throughout the house.

“On Christmas morning, we hurried into the living room, and saw that a stack of packages had magically appeared overnight under the tree.  My mother handed out the presents, and my brothers opened packages stuffed with brightly colored trucks, tractors and trains.  Those odd pieces of wood she had handled in secret were assembled and painted to form toys.  The round discs made wheels that rolled, and the trucks and trains carried tiny logs and blocks.  The toys were beautifully crafted, and my siblings were thrilled.  When I tore off the newspaper wrapping my present, I found a hand carved bow and a quiver of arrows.

“Many winters have come and gone since that special holiday – that doubtful Christmas. My mother’s determination and perseverance transformed our poverty into a memorable day filled with delight, and foretold her ability to provide for us.  We were never hungry, and she made sure we got an education.  She taught us faith in our own abilities, and that faith sustains me still.”

The author of this story, Doyle Suit, published his first book this autumn, a novel for young adults called Baker Mountain.  Doyle’s stories are filled with hardships and challenges, but remind us that showing gratitude in the face of adversity will lead to a rewarding life.  This holiday, remember to focus on being grateful for the things you have, and there will be no time to think about what you don’t have!

Until next week...

Live Your Dreams 

Most Likely to Succeed

Kay grew up in a working class neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was a go-getter from day one.  At the age of five, she learned that her family was moving to a new house three miles away (which meant changing schools mid-year), and undertook her first serious negotiation.

Kay told her father how nice it was that they’d have a new home, but explained that she couldn’t move with them, because she needed to finish the year and graduate with her kindergarten class.  She first suggested staying with her grandmother in a neighborhood near her school, to which her father’s answer was, “you’re moving, and that’s that.”  Kay acquiesced, and then responded by asking for an increase in her allowance to cover the fare for her to take the city bus back to her old school.  Kay’s father was stunned by the audacity of his five-year-old daughter’s request, but ultimately said yes. 

The trust that her parents showed by letting her make decisions about her life at a young age helped Kay grow up independent and confident.  She was a competitive student, graduated valedictorian of her high school, and was voted “Most Likely to Succeed.”  

During college, Kay attended a compelling lecture on the world of geosynchronous orbiting satellites.  A few years later, she got a job in a TV studio while working her way through graduate school.  She became increasingly interested in the potential implications of satellite communications on television, and wrote her Master's thesis on the impact programming delivered via satellite could have on governments, cultures, and human rights.

Following a stint as a freelance writer, Kay went to work for UA-Columbia, one of the many small cable television companies attempting to establish itself in America.  At the time, cable television was something of a backwater industry, because the average viewer had no interest in paying for more programming when they already got three networks for free.  Nevertheless, Kay was young, ambitious, and believed in cable’s potential.  She also felt that the capabilities of satellite communications would open up the sharing of knowledge and information around the world, and that cable TV would be the perfect place for it to do so.  Soon, she would have the chance to prove it.

After a few years, Kay’s division was eliminated.  As she considered her next move, Kay came upon the small HBO cable network.  HBO had been a client of Kay’s, and was still sending programs out to regional stations on physical video tapes.  However, the network was advocating loudly for government approval to begin using satellites to transmit their programming.  That same year, the President of The Philippines successfully petitioned to host the third boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in his capital city.  It was one of the most anticipated sporting events ever, and given its location on the other side of the world, it would be the perfect chance to show the power of satellite broadcasting.

In 1975, Kay and HBO transmitted “The Thrilla in Manila” more than 90,000 miles via satellite to a broadcast station in Vero Beach, Florida.  It was the first such broadcast ever, and it was shown to more than 200 senators and congressmen to demonstrate, beyond any doubt, that satellite transmission was the future of television.  The assembled group instantly understood the impact of being able to bring any program into the homes of cable subscribers from anywhere in the world instantaneously, and soon after, the use of satellites for commercial broadcasting was officially sanctioned.

Kay Koplovitz moved forward to co-found the Madison Square Garden Sports Network, becoming the first female network president in television history.  Prior to this, professional sports had only been televised locally, but Kay acquired the rights to broadcast all sporting events from Madison Square Garden, then negotiated contracts with Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the NHL  Gradually, she also introduced other non-sports programming, ultimately re-branding the company as The USA Network.  She was so successful that, twenty years after she started the network, she sold it for over 4 billion dollars!

I had the privilege of meeting Kay two weeks ago when she was inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.  When I asked her to share some advice with my readers, she said, “Set your sights high and pursue your dreams with enthusiasm and boundless energy!”  So take Kay’s advice and aim for the moon, because even if you fall short, you’ll still land among the stars.

Until next week...

Live Your Dreams