The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’

Interviewee Name: Mike DeSousa

Website: http://www.mikedesousa.ca

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Mike DeSousa:  I am a Career Social Media specialist who helps recruiters & employers find superior employee talent FAST using Social Media.  As well, I am a Public Speaker who trains Non-Profit Agency staff on how to market their job-seeking clients, helping them to find work FAST.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Mike DeSousa: My work is based on the personal aspects of my life; I see them as both revolving around helping others. I consider myself the same person in my personal life and in the other aspects.  I actually seek to integrate them together, which my wife doesn’t appreciate — she looks at work as something she does outside of her personal life, and believes in keeping them separate.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Mike DeSousa:

1. Work your buns off
2. Give yourself a lofty, challenging goal — don’t set the bar too low
3. Out-strategize others
4. Ask more of yourself & set tight deadlines
5. Tie in your daily activities towards your long-term goals & reward yourself each time you complete  a tiny step

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

Mike DeSousa: Reading, learning, surfing the net, working on my passion (“Public Speaking”). No ‘downtime’ for this guy. Sometimes watch some movies, though I’d rather do something active than escape to the “mind candy of TV”.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Mike DeSousa: I make connections between different areas that I read; stream-of-consciousness thinking. Forced Morphological Connections — generating categories of aspects of different things & recombining them into something new.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Mike DeSousa:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

It reminds me of our decision-making process for life “decisionism,” and reminds me of the life decisions that I’ve reached… Being a contrarian, I also choose to take the path that “was grassy and wanted wear”. Given that Robert Frost also suffered with depressions, it feels that both him and his words speak to me.  Personally, I rhyme like Dr. Seuss!

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Mike DeSousa: My definition of success is making a difference in others’ lives, reaching your personal goals, making the world a better place, and working towards the flexibility to make your own choices through financial independence.  The formula for success? No one has the same formula — each one has to find their own personal formula based on their strengths, needs, interests, etc.  My personal formula entails hard work, strategic thinking, creating value for others, having an unquentionable thirst for knowledge, discipline, pursuing your passion, and following your strengths.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Mike DeSousa: I used an existing media (Social Media) and apply it into a new arena.  I researched and ‘power-learned’ this new area, developed innovative workshops, my Brand, started presenting at Conferences, building relationships, and helping others. I’d find opportunities found me in proportion to the amount that I helped others and took a sincere interest in them, giving without expecting something in return, listening to others with my Heart/Brain/Gut/Soul, identified areas of value & gaps for them, offering them solutions, and tieing in my Value Proposition to their needs while focusing on the benefits for them.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Mike DeSousa: Identify exactly what you want that is “play” and fun that also pays the bills (your end goal), help others achieve theirs, wake up early to work towards your goal, tie in your daily goals to your end goal, become an expert through reading/watching YouTube videos/doing, market yourself, and have fun. Do what you love that also pays the bills or that can help you pay the bills.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Mike DeSousa:

1. Jesus Christ:  I’d say “teach me”
2. Alexander The Great:  “What was your secret to getting men to follow you?”
3. Winston Churchill:  “What led to your greatness as a speech-writer and orator?”
4. My (recently deceased) Dad: Tell me your life story and that of our family
5. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Pierre Trudeau, or Brian Mulroney: What were your secrets to winning in politics?

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Mike DeSousa: Either of the following three…

1. The Bible (no one single story — the impact of cumulative parables, interlinked for a common message of Love
2. The Little Prince, for its simplicity and many parables, that takes on new meaning with each life event that you experience
3. The Art of War, on winning, outworking, and out-strategizing everyone.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the two years? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

Mike DeSousa:

Five Books:

1. One of Winston Churchill’s
2. Compendium of Marvel Super Heroes origins in English & Spanish
3. Learning Mandarin/Cantonese
4. Learn Yoga & Chinese
5. Some comedy book

• Movie: The Shawshank Redemption
• Music CD: With my MacBook & iPhone with satellite capabilities & iTune, I’d download unlimited music selections
• One Suitcase: Sunlight-powered satellite MacBook tripped out with a lot of software titles to learn, laptop with extended battery life, mosquito net, mosquito-free clothes, solar-powered iPhone with satellite wifi connectivity, soccer ball, weather-appropriate clothes
• Travel on case: Soap, Razor, nail clipper, nail file, pen, anti-mosquito device

For the two years  I’d spend the time learning (languages, tai chi/yoga, history), playing soccer, dancing, listening to music, playing music (forgot to mention a harmonica & a flute), Skyping/Google Circling Friends, contacting Invisible Mentors, journaling, developing a portfolio of products & services, reading comic books, becoming an expert on investments… I would be doing what I love to do, rather than pandering to the audience of viewers; one must remain authentic.  “To thy self be true”.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Mike DeSousa: Being of service to others.  It makes me so happy to know that I have helped to “unstick” someone from a state of complacency or a limiting belief, and that I have given them hope, taught them new knowledge, and motivated them to develop new skills and use one of my ideas to propel themself forward in life.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Mike DeSousa: I learn, help people, speak professionally, listen to music, think, feel, swim….

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Mike DeSousa: 1,000,000 more wishes, of course!

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Mike DeSousa: I use my strengths to help others discover and act upon their talents and strengths.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Interviewee Name: Patty DeDominic

Company Name: DeDominic & Associates

Website: http://dedominic.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’m a businesswoman and an entrepreneur. Now I make my living as a professional coach and I guide high achieving professionals and organizations in making major transitions for themselves and their organizations.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

It is a challenge. I have three sons and five grandchildren and I try to spend time with them, talk to them online, and in person. Our grandson lives with us right now, he’s a college sophomore and he’s on summer vacation so we have the opportunity to make some positive impacts in our grandson’s life and we love that. My three sons are grown now but I try to stay in touch with them. For a number of years until 2006 my oldest son worked with me in my company and it was really wonderful to watch him grow. He eventually became president of one of my companies. I loved working with him until we sold our organization in 2006.

It does take a lot to juggle personal relationships and family life. I think communication and sharing your dreams and sharing your values with a person in your life – in my case would that be my mate – takes work and effort.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Be the change you wish to see, and that was one of my wonderful Gandhi quote.
2. A Margaret Mead quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
3. The third one would be to follow your passions. Stay in your genius zone you will be more effective.
4. Don’t neglect your fitness because it’s important. Not carrying around an extra 50 pounds is going to make a difference in your energy level and your overall self-esteem, at least it did for me.
5. Always surround yourself with people who are extraordinary. I try to do that in the people I have as clients, employees, business colleagues and I look for people who are passionate, with high personal integrity, and high moral character, who want to do something that’s meaningful for themselves and for their communities. That kind of theme runs through my network, and I believe that my network and other people’s network is a very powerful tool to help you have a much better life. It makes living so wonderful to be able to share it with other extraordinary people who can help each other.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time how do you spend it?

I love walking in the hills with my dogs and sometimes with my friends and clients. I love taking hikes. It’s a great way to stay fit and to enjoy sunshine and to think. For me it is better than a golf game.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I get great ideas from my friends. I read and I try to learn a lot from other successful people.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

There are two. One is a beautiful quote by a Chinese philosopher, Lao-tzu, “The journey of a thousand miles must begin beneath one’s feet.” I realized that when I needed to make changes in my life I needed to start where I was. It doesn’t do any good to wish for a miracle to happen. It would be great to win the lottery, but I’m not going to hold my breath until that happens so I must start where I am. The other quote is one that I put in my own book, How I Lost It, “Every day I make time to enjoy the beauty of a fit lifestyle with friends, animals and nature.” And I love that quote because it’s mine and an affirmation for a good life.

Note from Avil: the older translation of the Lao-tzu quote, and the more accurate one is above, but the more popular one is, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

By being able to work and do the things you want to do with great people, and to be able to make a difference for yourself and others.

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

The formula for success includes thinking about what you want to accomplish, and believing that you can accomplish it, so it’s conceive, believe and receive and that’s getting help from other people. Receiving success is doing it and making it happen.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

There were many: I had to study, I had mentors, I had to believe that I could do it, I had to experiment and practice, make mistakes and learn. So those are the steps, it’s conceive, believe, receive, and achieve. Being grateful is an important part of being successful. I think you must be grateful for the things you have that you have been given.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

If you are starting out as an entrepreneur, I would say to surround yourself with extraordinary people, get crystal clear about what your goals and objectives are then work hard to accomplish it. It’s trial and error. It’s progress and not perfection, and always keep learning.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

1. Gandhi because I’d like to know more about how he visualized the world.
2. Margaret Thatcher because I always admired what she did for the world as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
3. I’d like to meet John Kennedy because I think he was a role model for a lot of people in many ways and his vision to put man on the moon was an extraordinary, brave, and bold accomplishment.
4. I would like to meet Jesus Christ and I would like to know if there is anything else I should be doing in my life, and see if he had any additional guidance for me. I try to talk to him frequently, but right now it’s sort of a one-way conversation.
5. I’d like to meet Lady Gaga. I think her audacity is just amazing and I think she and some other contemporary female recording artists are making business history and I would just love to learn a little bit more about what her business goals and strategies are.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. My father had me read it as a child and I learned a lot from it and I think my interpersonal skills and my ability to relate to other people were guided by Dale Carnegie’s philosophy about learning about other people, trying to help others with their objectives, and that’s how you get your own objectives met as well.

Avil Beckford: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

1. Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants. It’s just a great book, I just finished reading it.
2. Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: I really love what he has to say.
3. Dan Pink’s Free Agent Nation: It was a really interesting discussion about what’s changing in the job market today.
4. Two of my own books: How I Lost It (99pounds.com) and Make it Real (makeitrealsystems.com) which just came out. I would like to read those books, make them better, then when I get off the deserted island I’d like to share them with the world.

Avil Beckford: What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Midnight in Paris the new Woody Allen movie is just great and the music CD would be anything by Annie Lennox.

If you cannot view Midnight in Paris YouTube movies trailer please click here.

If you cannot view the Annie Lennox YouTube video please click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Every day! Being able to learn new things and interacting with great people.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

By surrounding myself with great people, reading, being with my animals and with people I love.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

The end of wars.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I enjoy the beauty and a fit lifestyle with friends, animal and nature.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Interviewee Name: Carol Roberts, Professional Speaker & Marketing Communications Consultant

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Carol Roberts:  I am a marketing and business development professional. I’ve enjoyed making contributions in community development and international development and that has been my passion and it’s really been a humbling and phenomenal experience to make a difference in my community and in the business world. That’s my endeavour, my initiative in life, is to make a difference using the gifts that I’ve been given.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Carol Roberts: I’m very intentional about doing what I love for a living. If I’m doing what I love, and it’s meaningful, giving back to the community, it’s all encompassing. So I really make sure they are in better alignment with my value system and what I do for work and for my personal life as well. And I try to spend quality time with family and friends, quality time on the job, quality time having fun. I like to salsa dance so I make sure that I can carve time out to do those things, and actually what they end up doing is recharging your fuel to do meaningful work by taking that time out to have fun.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Carol Roberts:

1. God and I are a majority.
2. Be true to yourself. You can lie to people, but you cannot lie to yourself. You shouldn’t like to people but you should be honest with yourself.
3. Embrace reality.
4. Leaders are learners.
5. Look for the lessons in everything – good, bad, indifferent, disappointing, exceptional. Look for the lessons and always try to understand people and draw wisdom.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

Carol Roberts: I spend it reading, I love reading, I love learning, I love discovery. I love salsa dancing – that sense of freedom. I love visiting museums, anything beholding beauty, traveling, just taking a walk down the street, sitting in a cafe in the summer taking in the sounds and the people around me.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Carol Roberts: Some of the times you have a thought that pops into your head so I always carry a notebook, so whenever something creative comes into my mind I have a catchall that I can go back and read on Saturday mornings so I use a little notebook to capture creative ideas. I also go to someplace beautiful like a nice park, museum, a garden to inspire me to generate great ideas. I look for things of beauty, I buy flowers, and again I do my morning dump of things in my brain so I can clear the mental clutter so the creativity can come forth.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Carol Roberts: “The soul never thinks without a picture,” by Aristotle and I think we owe it to ourselves to be visionary, to think of things that are not and bring them into existence and that’s the core of creativity. I like that quote and it’s one that is a personal mantra with me.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

Carol Roberts: Success for me is being the best version of myself, taking all that I’ve been given and using it to an optimal degree. It is also being in the centre of God’s will for my life, at one with the Spirit, prayerful, and having a peace of mind. I think anybody can tell you they know when they were not in alignment with their true self when they don’t have peace about things. When you have utter peace, and you know that you are doing things for the right reason, for the right person, for the right situation, and you are doing your best, I think that’s the best form of success that you can experience. And also to know that you are making progress in everything, whether it’s in your character, on the material plane, but just to know that you are improving along the way.

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Carol Roberts: My formula is simple, love God, seek His pleasure, use my gifts to serve others, have fun along the way and be grateful.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Carol Roberts: It’s called pure grit – hard work, tenacity, patience, asking a lot of questions, being committed to learning, having a sense of wonder and awe, and just get in there and do it like Nike says, don’t hesitate, get in there.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Carol Roberts: You have to have a strong sense that you love what you are doing for a living. I think you do yourself a disservice when you do things half-heartedly. Passion is the fuel for just about everything. Loving what you do, being passionate, tenacious and patient. And also people don’t mention this in the business world but being loving and respectful. I think you have to bring love into the workplace, it’s an organic word and it’s kind of touchy-feely, but to value your employees or value your peers, colleagues, you need a full measure of love that you bring to the table.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Carol Roberts:

1. I’d like to meet Jesus, and I know that’s very spiritual and I would say to him, “I love You. Thank You for keeping me all this time and giving me all the things You have given me.”
2. I’d like to meet Oprah because I think she is a remarkable woman. And I would say to her, “Who are you?” because people can best tell you who they are. I would also ask her what drives and motivates her. It’s really lovely to seek to understand people because you honour them by trying to understand the core of who they are.
3. The other person is the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
4. Nelson Mandela because I like his grace under fire.
5. I like Warren Buffett because he is a simple, smart man. He uses practical principles to optimize his knowledge on investments, and he doesn’t buy anything he doesn’t know. He lives in the same house and doesn’t live above his means. I like his sense of principles and I like the way he lives his life, married to the same woman, loves the same woman.
6. I like Tyler Perry another person who is an “overcomer”, who has built an empire, but much more than that, held on to his faith and has a moral compass, and has a strong sense of integrity.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Carol Roberts: It’s the Bible. It’s complete, it’s inspiring, inexhaustible, encouraging. Every time I read it I get something new. I love the allegory, I love the wisdom. It’s my guiding principles for living my life and I like its teaching, message for God’s love for us and the fact that reading the Bible gives us a glimpse of the God that we serve. There is no other book that has impacted me like the Bible.

Avil Beckford: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

Carol Roberts: That is a hard one because I love books.

1. Definitely the Bible.
2. I like the 48 Laws of Power because it’s a dense book.
3. The Opposable Mind by Roger L. Martin is probably one of my most delicious reads.
4. I probably would read some poetry, maybe the Complete Works of Shakespeare.
5. I would also read a biography like Mother Teresa.
6. I would also read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

Avil Beckford: What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Carol Roberts: There are so many movies that I love. I really love the movie Gone With the Wind because there are so many characters, situations in that movie that you can study character development, and score. It’s a fascinating movie about the self and change and revolution. The CD would have to be a gospel CD, anything by Marvin Sapp.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Carol Roberts: Everything, everything – children, dogs, animals, change, absolutely everything about life fascinates me. The speed of change, I came from an era that had typewriters, now we’ve got iPads. The stretch and speed of change is just fascinating.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Carol Roberts: I nurture my soul through prayer and meditation – reading scripture and meditating on God’s word is the only thing that can really fill me up. I love spending time in the Word and I get profound knowledge of not only myself but a profound knowledge of God. I feel the closest when I am reading the scripture. And I love nature. When I go places where there is a lot of trees and greenery, or the fall when you see the changing colours of the leaves, to me all of that is awe-inspiring. That really nurtures my soul. I don’t have to say a word, I can just look at a vista, see a picture, and it connects to my spirit.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Carol Roberts: I would definitely wish for world peace because it’s needed. I would wish for a world where [people] could get along with one another and celebrate our differences because how different would it be to be in a world where we are not at war with one another. I think it’s a lot of people’s wish that we could have world peace but I would really like to know in this lifetime what this would be like and feel like. I would like to delight my creator with my excellence.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Carol Roberts: I’m happy when I’m connecting with people, and it’s meaningful dialogue in terms of when it’s helping them to achieve something, building capacity. I’m happiest when I’m serving. I’m happiest when I’m reading. I’m happiest when I’m sharing fellowship with my fellow Christians.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Here is Part Two of Donna Whitney’s interview and I hope that you’ve had the time to digest Part One. I know that it’s a lot of content but it’s loaded with solid information that you can use. After I transcribed Donna’s interview, I realized that it was the first time that anyone had really mapped out their career path for all to see. The “Tell me a little bit about yourself” is very detailed and has a lot of depth. It was interesting to see how someone moved from one role to the next and sometimes the reasons for the decision. Instead of trying to summarize it and taking out germane information, I have included it at the end and called it Anatomy of  a Career. You get a glimpse of Donna the pioneer, who gets a sense that something is going to take off so she positions herself to take advantage of the the upcoming change. After you’ve read her interview, and especially the Anatomy of a Career you will feel as if you know her. And that’s what I am trying to do with the Invisible Mentor, I want you to get to know the interviewees, and learn from them.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Every step of the way. Every single aspect of my professional life is my personal life, and every single aspect of my personal life is my professional life. I think leaders, their values and what they stand for, who they are from 5:00 pm to 9:00 am the next day matters. Who I am in my personal life ought to be the same, and my values ought to be consistent with my professional life.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

I wouldn’t say that I’ve had many major regrets, but there are an awful lot of things that I regret. I would have loved my husband to be the only man that I ever dated. And, I think it would have been good if I hadn’t spent so much time on the music side, and invested a lot more time in technology sooner. I don’t know if I could call these regrets, but if I could then that would be it.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Speak less listen more
2. Be gracious, turn the other cheek
3. It’s okay to be last, there is no shame in being last
4. If you can be a light for someone be that light
5. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

I love baking bread from scratch, not a bread machine. The stuff that takes 1 ½ weeks to make, I love doing that.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I don’t ever do it alone, I always include people.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

“What if you believe that what you really believe is real, what difference would it make?” Dr. Del Tackett

How do you define success?

Being in adherence to the value system and the truth that you know and believe. It’s living your life in accordance with what you know to be true.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Serving.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

I took risks and I wasn’t afraid to say what I knew to be true, and I wasn’t afraid to give over the spotlight when appropriate.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Experiment, try different things, see where things go because it will never go the way you expect it to, and be true to yourself.

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

1. Jesus Christ and I would say thank you
2. Apostle Paul and I would want to be instructed by him. He was a profound writer and a huge hero of the faith, and I would love to hear and understand, and ask him to explain some of the things he said in the scriptures
3. John Calvin
4. Mother Teresa and I would love to listen and hear what she had to say
5. Helen Keller and I would not have much to say to her, I would just want to listen. Her wisdom and perspective on things would be profound

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply? Did you have an emotional or intellectual attachment to this book? Why?

I would say that it’s the Bible because it’s a pretty impactful book.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

1. The Bible
2. A book with a rubber dingy
3. The Iliad
4. War and Peace
5. A book by Ray Bradbury, something I haven’t read yet by him

Have you read any books that inspired you to start a business, service or invent “something”? If yes, which book?

The Bible changed my heart, there are certain parts that really moved me.

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

The movie would be The Gospel According to John and the music CD, I would take my iPod with stuff that I liked and stuff that I had never listened to.

What excites you about life?

The prospect of what comes after.

How do you nurture your soul?

Keep myself in proper perspective, that it’s not about me.

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

That every wish that I wish would come true.

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I’m serving.

Anatomy of a Career

When I was a little girl I wanted to be either a singer or a nun. I opted for the singing since that was easier to do than try to be perfect. I started singing when I was six or seven years old. I was a pretty rebellious kid and I was out of control. I started smoking when I was 11 years old and started going to bars when I was 12.

I started off my career in rock bands back in the 80s when I was 16 singing in bars. I found out quickly that being five feet three inches and 110 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes did not fit the profile of somebody who would be hugely successful with her talents alone. In that industry in the 80s was pretty nasty actually, the whole agent scene, bar scene was not a welcoming or supportive environment.

I met my first agent when I was 16 and taking vocal training. I walked into his office, and this was well before there were personal computers. In his office, he had this massive wooden desk with a telephone and a photocopy joke with a baby and a smelly diaper, which said, “Agents are like diapers, they’re always on your ass and usually full of shit.” Pardon my language, this was my introduction to the music industry, this was what the music scene was going to be like.

He had told me to bring in my demo tape, which I did, and I sat down and he put it into the tape player and walked out of the room. I sat there and listened to my own demo tape, when he came back into the room he sat down and looked to see if the tape was finished.

He said, “That was great”

I said, “Okay,”

“Let’s talk business. How short will you wear your skirt?”

I replied, “I’m16 years old, I’m selling my voice not my body.”

“You’re a smart girl, that’s a good answer. Have you thought about modeling?”

I’m five feet three inches, I’m not a model so I was taken aback, but I wasn’t stupid either so I said, “Well, I’m only going to model for the right bathing suit at the worst, you understand that, right?”

“Oh you’re such a smart girl, such a smart girl. Have you ever thought of doing European pictures, no one here will ever see them? $1,500 a picture.”

That’s a lot of money now, mind back in the 80s when I’m 16 years old, and my idea of full-time work is McDonald’s. I realized what he was saying so I thanked him for his time and got up and walked out of his office. I left music, and after that it was really hard for me. When you have no life experience and you’ve lived on the planet for only 16 years your own context of who you are is bound up on what little life experience you have, so walking away from music, for me was hugely tragic, because it was all I ever understood. I was never a really good student, so that whole experience really threw me for a loop and I decided then that I didn’t want to be what the pop culture would have me be. I didn’t want to be stupid, and I didn’t want to be a dumb girl, and I didn’t want to be a sex object.

That was all I ever wanted was to be in music, and all they ever wanted from me was to be something that I wasn’t. So when I quit music, my whole little world view was shaken, I mean it seems so silly now, because it was so many years ago but it was a really tragic event for me. A couple of years passed and I found myself moving away from the music side, and I found myself working behind the bar.

I bar tended for about eight years, and the bar life is entirely different when you are behind the bar than when you’re in front, and bar tending terrified me. It terrified me because I would see the same people coming in every weekend doing the same thing, beating themselves up, destroying their lives, and for some reason they seemed to think that this was appealing, and being a bar tender you learned to say the right things to earn tips. I never learned anybody’s name, I certainly learned what they drank and I probably still know what they drink to this very day. And bar tending convinced me to not drink. I completely avoided the night scene during the years when most people were discovering it.

Through the bar tending experience I also learned that I wanted to be more than that. So I started studying, pulled my grades up, and graduated with honours. After high school, I took a year off and saved some money, then went to university. I was in Winnipeg at the time, and went to University of Winnipeg, and then I went to Red River College, and I graduated with both a marketing and administration major.

Immediately after school, and while I was still bar tending, I got the sense that this Internet thing was going to take off, and I had no idea what it was about, and a girl friend of mine that came to the pub that I worked at was running a wild bird feed and specialty store so I offered to create a website when one of the first websites were coming out. It had one picture and took half an hour to download. I convinced her to hire me, so I started working at this wild bird feed and specialty shop designing websites and doing the newsletter, and that job launched my career.

As soon as I graduated, I ended up at Rogers Wireless in Winnipeg, and my job there was marketing collateral design, and it had everything to do with the fact that I had designed websites and the newsletter for this small wild bird feed and specialty shop. I did that as a term position while someone was on maternity leave. Also, while I was in college, I took advantage of a mentoring program, and had gotten to know a couple of business leaders in the Winnipeg market. And at the end of the maternity leave position at Rogers, I walked into one of those mentors, and at one of his workplaces he was running a multi-platform service provider called Tronica so they did Sun Microsystems, IBM, Mac. They were one of the few systems integration businesses back in Winnipeg so he took me on as a program manager, whatever that meant, and still to this day I don’t understand what the role was, but I think he saw that I was really ambitious and wanted to help me out so he gave me a job.

I worked there for about six months then Rogers took me back, so I left Tronica. I went into business and corporate so I was supporting major corporate clients such as the provincial government. I did that for about eight months then they stuck me back into the vortex that’s  marketing and I was doing event management, and I would probably still be doing event management to this day because I loved it.

My husband Clinton had always wanted to be a police officer. When I worked in the bar he was a bouncer and we had hooked up and been together for many years. He’d applied to the Winnipeg police at least eight times, and it’s an eight month process to find out that you hadn’t been accepted. He kept applying, and he kept on getting rejected. He decided that he would apply one last time, and this time he decided not to limit himself so he applied to Winnipeg, Calgary, Toronto and also applied to the RCMP. It was so close to it being the end of his dream, I’ll never forget it.

The AT&T Senior Opens where I was coordinating the Senior Opens for Rogers in Winnipeg, it was absolutely nuts. We couldn’t get anybody to drive people around. There were no limos available because of a premier’s convention so I had to go to Ford and get seven Chevy Blazers. I hired all my dad’s friends to drive all these people around because we couldn’t get any chauffeurs. I was short one chauffeur so I was driving people around. This was my job for the week and during the week, my husband Clinton got a call, and he heard that he was hired in Toronto.

So as I’m driving people around, I get word that my life in Winnipeg is now over and we had to move to Toronto. We got married on August 26, 2000 and he left for Toronto August 27^th. He moved early because he had to get sworn in, and he went to the OPC for four months. So for the first four months of my married life, I was apart from my husband. He was here in Toronto and I was in Winnipeg trying to wrap things up for my move to Toronto.

So we moved to Toronto, and Rogers offered me a job but it wasn’t ideal so I ended up moving to another company called Watts, which was in the fulfillment, logistics and distribution business. I knew nothing about fulfillment, logistics and distribution. Watts no longer exists, but while I was there I was doing program development and management, and my client was Rogers. I was at Watts for 18 months then someone from Rogers who had gotten to know me through that work, brought me back to Rogers in 2001.

I joined the business marketing team at One Mount Pleasant. I never really fit into the large corporate organization, and I still don’t fit in. It’s just that I love it here, they treat me good, and I don’t know why they keep me here. I didn’t fit into the corporate marketing niche and I ended up doing new product development stuff, and was really very comfortable with the unknown, the strange, the sort of gray area. They knew it was an interesting skill set but it didn’t really fit anywhere so I got promoted out of marketing into Office of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer), where I worked for David Robinson. So I moved from marketing to engineering.

In the office of the CTO which is an engineering division, I was in a newly created office so I had done Wi-Fi development, I had created the Canadian Hotspot Roaming Alliance with my counterparts from Bell, Telus and Fido which was separate at the time (Rogers now owns Fido) and we started working on a global commerce initiative as well, which was a lot of fun and exciting, but I came to realize very quickly that if Wi-Fi was going to make any sense at all there needed to be some sort of presence within cable because cable was the back of the Internet which would feed all the Internet connections, so I parachuted out of the Office of the CTO into cable marketing and proceeded to work on product management for Wi-Fi within cable marketing.

Being a square peg in a round hole I got motivated out of cable marketing and into sales so I figure I’ve got IT and Finance left, so I’ll probably cover all of Rogers before I am done here.

Now I run a sales engineering team within Rogers Cable selling things like voice and data services into personal properties, so by commercial I mean hotels, student residences, large sports and entertainment facilities. I’m allowed to play where consumer cable products won’t do the trick because they don’t want me competing against the large machines. And that’s sort of what I do now.

What are your thoughts on this interview? What was expected and what was unexpected? What did you learn from Anatomy of a Career? Do you capitalize on the opportunities that come your way? What are 10 takeaways? How can you apply this information? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentorand subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.