[stand856]

It's not every day you get the chance to pick the brain of a man whose real-life rags-to-riches story was turned into a Hollywood movie starring one of America's top actors. But the other day I had the opportunity to spend time with Chris Gardner, subject of the 2006 movie The Pursuit of Happyness, in which Gardner was played by Will Smith.

While attending an unpaid internship program at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981, Gardner spent a year on the streets with his two-year-old son. They took refuge at night in a church shelter or the bathroom of a BART subway station in Oakland, Calif. Nobody at work knew. Gardner eventually won a position as a stockbroker at Dean Witter. Two years later he left for Bear Stearns BSC), where he became a top earner. In 1987, he founded his own brokerage firm, Gardner Rich,in Chicago. Today, Gardner is a multimillionaire, a motivational speaker, a philanthropist, and an international businessman who is about to launch a private equity fund that will invest solely in South Africa. His partner in the fund? Nelson Mandela. Not bad for a guy who, six years before founding his own brokerage firm, was "fighting, scratching, and crawling my way out of the gutter with a baby on my back."

"Passion is Everything&quot

Gardner is a magnificent speaker and has an engaging personality -- qualities all business professionals would crave. But what's behind his success? What is the one thing -- the one secret -- that helped him change his life? "It's passion," he told me. "Passion is everything. In fact, you've got to be borderline fanatical about what you do." Gardner says he was fortunate to find something he truly loved, something where he couldn't wait for the sun to rise so he could do it again. His advice to entrepreneurs and those seeking a career change? "Be bold enough to find the one thing that you are passionate about. It might not be what you were trained to do. But be bold enough to do the one thing. Nobody needs to dig it but you."

Gardner wanted to be "world-class at something." For him, that something was being a stockbroker. For you, finding something you are passionate about will make the difference in how engaging you become as a communicator and as a leader. If you love what you do, you'll eagerly share the story behind it with boundless enthusiasm.

Passion is not teachable. As a communications coach, I can help clients craft and deliver a powerful story, but I can't create passion. But it's passion that separates the electrifying presenters from the average ones. I'm absolutely convinced of it. As a former television journalist, I've interviewed thousands of spokespeople and personally coached hundreds of others in my current profession. Donald Trump once said: "Without passion, you have no energy -- and without energy, you have nothing." Your listeners want to be in the presence of someone with energy, a person who greets people with a smile and an abundance of enthusiasm. Passion is not something you necessarily verbalize, but it shows. When Gardner walked into Dean Witter after having slept in a subway station the night before, he only wanted to leave one impression on his co-workers. "All they needed to know is that I would light it up day after day. Passion is not something you have to talk about. People feel it. They see it just as clearly as the color of your eyes, baby."

Coffee and Commitment

I have spent the last several years interviewing inspiring leaders, and I can say without hesitation that passion is the No. 1 quality that sets them apart. In many ways, my talk with Gardner reminds me of a conversation I once had with Starbucks (NasdaqGS:SBUX - News) Chairman Howard Schultz. Like Gardner, Schultz used the word "passion" throughout our entire conversation. But remarkably, the word "coffee" was rarely spoken. You see, for Schultz, coffee is not his passion. Instead, Schultz says, he is passionate about creating a workplace that "treats people with dignity and respect;" a workplace environment that his father never had the opportunity to experience. The coffee product offers the means to help Schultz fulfill his passion. In much the same way, stock trading and commissions offered Gardner the means to fulfill his passion, which was to give his son something he never had -- a father.

Passion is the foundation of effective communication. Dig deep to discover your core purpose, your true passion. Once you connect to it, use it as fuel to build a rapport with your audience -- recruiters, managers, employees, etc. Your presentations, pitches, speeches, and all forms of business communication will be more engaging than ever. Nearly everyone has room to increase what I call the "passion quotient" -- the level of passion you exhibit as a speaker. The higher your passion quotient, the more likely you are to connect with people. Chris Gardner's passion fueled his determination in the face of overwhelming odds and obstacles. Take the time to imagine where harnessing your passion can take you.

[jackdaniels]

WOW, it is so true...
Many people that i;ve met have that kind of attitude..
they are very passionate about what they talk, what they believe, what they think, etc.
Even the owner of the insurance chain that i work for (which i don like) is like that. The guy talks and talks and you can feel the energy in every single word. He drives a Lamborgini and like other 6 2007 mercedes Benz, they are the worst busines owners towards the client and their own employees.
The treat us bad and they rip off their customers then they play the nice propaganda and decieve everyone..
But passion is for sure between every single act they do....

[Young Spark]

Let me be the first to tell you... the movie: 2 thumbs up, very well organized and I enjoyed it from start to end.

But really, this guy is really an inspiration... him and the person who founded Paul Mitchell systems... he apparently was broke and homeless and turned into a multi-millionaire or so he said on Donny Deutshe (the "Big Idea" show on CNBC.)

Anyway, he founded Patron and all of that (which is a frenzy among the hip-hop music industry now.) Gotta give it to these 2, they are what makes the world today.

[roadtoharvard]

The movie was ok but didn't really depict the true story of Mr. Gardner. The movie leaves out several unsavory passages including:

From the Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardener:

a) Drug Use and dealing of said drugs. p. 164
b) Sexual escapades with a stripper while he had a wife chapter 8

That being said i think that it is good that he is an inspiration for some people if it aides their lives. I just think they should read his book to get a better understanding of who the man really is.

[IAAM]

Good points roadtoharvard. Maybe if some of those incidents were mentioned in the movie, more would have been able to relate. But as it was, we were only allowed to see the water down version.

Interesting concept how bad situations can either make or break a person. All depends on how they use it.

Good movie though. Type that'll make you wanna go out there and make something good happen.

[zoobie]

Great! Thanks for sharing!

That's the attitude!

[Young Spark]

a) Drug Use and dealing of said drugs. p. 164
b) Sexual escapades with a stripper while he had a wife chapter 8

Would you really want mainstream America see the "downfalls" of everything. It focused on "progress" --- the focus of the movie was to show that one person (no matter how broke, poor, homeless you are) --- you can do whatever you want to if you put your mind to it.

[sniping4dummies]

a) Drug Use and dealing of said drugs. p. 164
b) Sexual escapades with a stripper while he had a wife chapter 8

Honestly, that's none of your business. Who cares what the guy did in his personal time. Sometimes people do what they have to do to get ahead - I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it's just none of anyone elses business, and it shouldn't degrade from the fact that they WERE clawing their way up from the bottom.

The reason everything is sooooo messed up in american culture and politics today is because it's gotten to the point where people are more interested in either:

1. becoming some shmuck working for the man and bending over whenever uncle sam wants to ramrod

2. buying things they can't afford and building enormous debt

3. total burn out who never accomplishes anything

It's like 99% of freaking people I meet. We should appreciate men like Gardner, regardless of the choices that he made that young men commonly make. The difference is that he got out and things got better - almost everybody else keeps doing the same old same old and stays in the same rhythm. I've seen/heard the stories over and over: drugs, rehab, stuck in a job, whatever. Gardner had a problem and he did what he had to do to fix it. Most people have problems and do what they have to do to not take responsibility for them.

[roadtoharvard]

Originally Posted by sniping4dummies

Honestly, that's none of your business. Who cares what the guy did in his personal time. Sometimes people do what they have to do to get ahead - I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it's just none of anyone elses business, and it shouldn't degrade from the fact that they WERE clawing their way up from the bottom.

The reason everything is sooooo messed up in american culture and politics today is because it's gotten to the point where people are more interested in either:

1. becoming some shmuck working for the man and bending over whenever uncle sam wants to ramrod

2. buying things they can't afford and building enormous debt

3. total burn out who never accomplishes anything

It's like 99% of freaking people I meet. We should appreciate men like Gardner, regardless of the choices that he made that young men commonly make. The difference is that he got out and things got better - almost everybody else keeps doing the same old same old and stays in the same rhythm. I've seen/heard the stories over and over: drugs, rehab, stuck in a job, whatever. Gardner had a problem and he did what he had to do to fix it. Most people have problems and do what they have to do to not take responsibility for them.

I appreciate his struggle to get out of poverty but to me it does not justify illegal actions. There are many stories of people getting out of poverty through efforts that don't involve illegal actions. When i posted i said that i just wanted people to know the real Mr. Gardner (as it was depicted in his own autobiography) not the watered down version that was portrayed in his movie.

As to your other comment

Originally Posted by sniping4dummies

1. becoming some shmuck working for the man and bending over whenever uncle sam wants to ramrod

That's a highly insulting comment. Chances are your parents worked a 9-5 job. How would they feel about you saying something like that? What about the other people in the world who don't even get a chance to work that 9-5? You should be grateful the opportunity even exists where you live because some don't even get the chance if they wanted to. Finally, there is no dishonor in working a job for someone else. The people who work these jobs make society run. Painting them all as shmucks is immature and ungrateful.

[roadtoharvard]

Originally Posted by Young Spark

Would you really want mainstream America see the "downfalls" of everything. It focused on "progress" --- the focus of the movie was to show that one person (no matter how broke, poor, homeless you are) --- you can do whatever you want to if you put your mind to it.

Yes i would. Omitting aspects is the equivalent of lying. I have faith enough in people to think that they would be able to appreciate his struggle even more knowing that he's in no way infallible.