Tenacity

I talked to the boss today. Not my supervisor, but the CEO and head of the major corporation Novo1- George Dalton. I went to him prior to christmas and asked for a few minutes of his time- he told me to stop in anytime. I didn't make it in when I wanted- so today after seeing him wandering around the office, I went to see him. Initially, when I asked for some time with him, my thought was to ask him for some career advice. I had been thinking about my corporate career and where I could go with it, if I could figure out how to get into it. [does that make sense?] I have a few business plans that I would like to carry out, perhaps a bit later in life, and thought it might be wise to get into business development. As time went on before I was able to talk with George, the holidays came and went, he ventured to Flordia to see his children. The best things, I've decided, are done on a whim- no significant planning involved.

So, today when I saw George in his pink shirt, I jumped on the chance to talk to him. In the month that surpassed since I first asked for some time, I had been doing some thinking on my own. My art is very important to me. If I can, I would love the opportunity to do what I love for a living and get paid for it- nothing could possibly make my life happier. Since the coffee projects' inception, there have been many stops and starts, plenty of discouragement, plenty of encouragement and lots and lots of thoughts and ideas. I've decided in this month to put forth my all into the project, working steadily, and not giving up. I've been given the golden opportunity to create a collection for someone- and I think I've done it [katie hasn't seen everything yet- I hope to get in there this week to show her]- and they will show it. If I really want this, I really have to work at it, no matter how hard it gets. If I really work hard, then I can turn the collection into my portfolio for admission to MIAD. If I get really lucky, I can get some sort of a scholarship.

So when I told him I wanted some career advice, he described that he was once in the same boat as me- young and confused. However, he was doing what he loved- autonomics, and he stuck with it- because he loved it. He told me that in the race of the tortoise and the hare, he was the tortoise- slow and steady, staying on track- always keeping his goals in sight. He revealed to me his humanity [some CEO's don't have this] when he admitted that he did get discouraged at times... but it was with his personal progress, never the goal, that got him down. He told me he shook it off, picked himself back up, and continuted at the tortoise pace; never wavering or going off track to find the magic bullet. Lots of hard work and tenacity, he said, landed him where he is today. And he still loves what he does. He referred to regular 'work' as prision- if you get up in the morning and you don't want to go to work, its like going to prision- you don't want to be there. Now when you do what you love, he said, you don't think of it as work. You get up every day, excited to get there and start your day and do what you love- because its what you love.

I listened intently, and I knew where my heart was. I told him of my current art project, some future business plans, what I had been advised to do in regards to the business plan and realized that I already knew how the conversation was going to end. Lots of hard work, just stay on the tortoise's route- you'll get there eventually, if that's what you want. Have tenacity. I think I knew all along, but I just needed someone outside of my immediate bubble to tell me so.

Thanks, George. I truly do appreciate it.

01/16/07 ***update***
So I won't forget or lose sight of the lesson learned...