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This week we are delighted to highlight a real life ‘success story’ – Chris Gardner – whose dogged persistence stands as a testament to the spirit of ‘just keep showing up.’ A great life story – later documented in a riveting film. I think you’ll really enjoy. Here goes.
One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is when the hiring manager at Dean Witter says “Jay, how many times have you seen Chris?” to which Jay replies “Oh I don’t know, one too many apparently”. The movie is called The Pursuit of Happyness, intentionally spelled incorrectly, and it is based on the true story of Chris Gardner’s rags to riches life.
In the interview scene, Chris shows up without a dress shirt and with paint stains from having painted his apartment that morning. He had been arrested for failure to pay parking tickets and had run from the police station to this interview. After some basic questions about his background, he is asked “Chris, what would you say if a guy walked in for an interview without a shirt on, and I hired him?” To which Chris considered the question and answered, “He must have had on some really nice pants.” To this, the hiring manager, Jay, and another manager started laughing, and ultimately, he was hired.
It was clear that Chris had shown them what they were really looking for in an employee. Not just the great sense of humor and making the best of a difficult situation, but the fact that he kept showing up, no matter what. He showed up every day to try to get Jay’s attention and potentially an interview. He showed up even without a dress shirt because he had no time to return home and clean up first. Once he got the job, he showed up from early in the morning until late at night, even though there was no pay initially. Eventually, he became one of the top trainees and was hired full time. He later went on to start his own firm that he sold and then started another firm.
During much of the time prior to getting hired full time, he experienced homelessness, with his toddler son in tow. When I heard this week’s theme of “Keep Showing Up”, Chris Gardner was the first person who came to mind. Having personally been involved in the financial world on a commission basis and passing my securities licenses, I was able to relate to Mr. Gardner’s “exit interview” when they told him he was hired full time. When asked “so, was it as easy as it looked?” referring to his rise from trainee to successful broker, he answered “No sir, it wasn’t”, while choking back tears.
After leaving the interview, you can hear Will Smith, who played Gardner, narrating “This part of my life…this little part…is called happiness”. He then walks outside and is but one person in a sea of people walking down the sidewalk in the city. However, you can see him clapping his hands in joy for the fact that all of his efforts, all of the times he kept showing up had finally paid off, and in a big way. Chris’s mother had told him when he was a kid “You can only depend on yourself, the cavalry ain’t coming”.
Prior to his stockbroker career, Gardner had enlisted in the US Navy, and served for four years as a medical specialist in Camp Lejeune. In more recent years, he bought a Ferrari from Michael Jordan and created a $50 million fund for low-income housing and employment opportunities in San Francisco. Chris Gardner is a living example of what happens when you ‘Keep Showing Up.’
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