Oh, the Places You'll Go

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." – e.e. cummings

It's been a while since we have attended a graduation. 

On Saturday Daniel's youngest sister graduated summa cum laude with her associates degree. 

Next step: bachelors. 

We are very proud of Emily, but even more so since she went the non-traditional route and took a full load of night classes while maintaining her full-time position in a marketing department. 

Not an easy achievement.

From the commencement address we learned that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

...and Walt Disney was let go from a newspaper for "not having enough imagination."

If you want something bad enough and you work hard enough, you can achieve it. 

Even if other people think you can't.

Congratulations Emily!!!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

"If Christopher Columbus has turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him either." - Unknown Author

One Cup At A Time

I am in the process of reading "Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built A Company One Cup At A Time." It is a pretty amazing story about how Starbucks was able to convert a nation into true coffee lovers.

During parts of the story you think about just how lucky the company was, but in reality it took a man (Howard Shultz) with a certainty of a dream, a love for a product and endless energy and perserverance to do the converting. 

This book is full of inspiration. Every chapter begins with a quote such as "Some men see things the way they are and say 'Why?' I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?'" - George Benard Shaw.

One thing that really impressed me about Starbucks is the fact that they value their employees and they have pride in their product. In 1994 coffee prices rose dramatically due to a frost in Brazil. This affected Starbucks tremendously. But instead of selling a lesser product or hiking the prices or both, Starbucks continued to buy only the best coffee beans and only raised prices minimally.

Starbucks has been able to create brand awareness in a non-traditional way. Instead of marketing the Starbucks brand and spending money on advertising, they focused on educating a nation about good coffee. They also created an environment that was not work and was not home (a third place).

"We never set out to build a brand. Our goal was to build a great company, one that stood for something, one that valued the authenticity of its product and the passion of its people." - Howard Shultz. It is truly refreshing to know that companies exist that put an emphasis on values.

David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy is an icon in the advertising world. He grew up in England and came to America where he would become the one of the greatest advertising men of all time.

This quick interview of Ogilvy gives a glipse of how he started out. In this interview he comments that he really wanted to work for Young & Rubricam but he didn't think he was good enough. So at age 38, with little advertising experience, he started his own agency. This is inspiring to me because he did not let fear that he was not good enough keep him from what he wanted to do.

Advice from Ogilvy: "Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine."

A Favorite Quote

"Theories of management don’t much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Too often, people are assumed to be empty chess pieces to be moved around by grand viziers, which may explain why so many top managers immerse their calendar time in deal making, restructuring and the latest management fad. How many immerse themselves in the goal of creating an environment where the best, the brightest, the most creative are attracted, retained and, most importantly, unleashed?” – General Colin Powell,