When the Tough Get Going

“There is no plan B for passion,” Chris Gardner ­­­writes in his new book, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in the Pursuit of Happyness (Amistad; $26.99). It’s more than a slogan or positive affirmation. For Gardner it’s been the driving force by which he has defied the social imprint set by an absentee father and an abusive, alcoholic step-father and lifted himself out of homelessness. “I knew I was going to be world-class at something,” he often says. Gardner discovered that his calling was in the world of finance. After perfecting his skills at two major financial services firms, first at Dean Witter Reynolds in a low-paying training program, and then at Bear Stearns, Gardner used $10,000 to launch his own brokerage firm, Gardner Rich L.L.C., and operated out of his home in Chicago. Today, some 22 years later, he’s a smash success. Combined revenues for his ventures, including book sales and speaking engagements, are expected to exceed $10 million for 2009.

As he continues to expand his business empire with his latest project–the development of a private equity fund in South Africa–Gardner has allocated time to  encourage professionals to focus less on the economic downturn and more on where and how they can fashion opportunities. He urges individuals to become “your own stimulus package. If you’re not willing to take a risk on yourself, what will you take a risk on?” Whether you’re a displaced corporate executive or a struggling entrepreneur, Gardner shares his thoughts on how you can take control of your destiny, stay the course, and write your own happy ending.

One of the things I will never forget is what it felt like to be on a subway in New York City [late last year]. I’m going from Wall Street to midtown at 1 p.m. Normally, the train would be empty, but on this day it was full–jam-packed. I’m thinking, “Wow, this is unusual.” A guy recognizes me. “Hey, are you Chris Gardner?” “Yeah.” The conversation starts and it turns out that I’m on the train with the first wave of 55,000 folks to get laid off from Citigroup.

I looked around and everybody had little white boxes with their coffee mugs, pictures of their families, and house plants, and now they’ve got to go home and tell the wife or husband and the landlord they don’t have a job. As I realized who was on the train I started to talk a little bit louder to this guy and said, “You’ve lost your job but you have not lost your skills, talents, or expertise. Skills, talents, and expertise are transferable.” So even if you’re not going to find a job, let’s try and find an opportunity where you can transfer your skills. Knowledge is portable. Everything you learned on your job, when you walk out the door you take with you.

The need for external validation is what has become a major problem. We’ve allowed what we do to define who we are. You fought for that title. You needed that title, now you got laid off and have to look yourself in the mirror and ask, “Who am I?”

How you get over that is to accept that what you do does not define who you are. You have to separate your net worth from your self-worth. Your net worth is going to fluctuate–as it should. That’s what net worth does, but your self-worth should only appreciate. That’s where a lot of us got mixed up big time.

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with a friend who honestly said that he didn’t know if his wife loved him because he had lost his job. She had signed up for the house in Greenwich,  summers in the Hamptons, and private flights to Aspen. Now he’s got to tell her she’s got to take the train. My advice to him was to get a new wife. Maya Angelou once said to me that a lot of us have been living for a long time in exile in a place called things. And now that the things are gone, we don’t know who we are or where we belong. The truth of the matter is you can begin anew. You can start where you are.

I am so tired of everybody crying.  It’s your turn, player! I had my time, and nobody was crying for me. But I kept focused and kept working, through all the rough times, through homelessness. And I was doing something I was truly passionate about.

The beauty of this time is that it should be your awakening. Who are you going to be when [the market] does turn up? Are you going to

be the same person you were, with the same values? Or are you going to use this time to say, “What’s really important to me? What’s non-negotiable? What do I really want to do with my life?”

Will you have to take some risks? Absolutely! But you can take some smart risks. I assess and manage risk. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this? What do I really care about?” What is your “Why” besides the money? I can walk away from money. It’s one of the most powerful things in the world to be able to say no thank you to money. Not everybody can do that. I’ve had to learn to be able to do that. Has it cost me money? Sure, but at the end of the day, I went home and went to sleep peacefully. If your goal is to get all the money you can, then you’re willing to do business with anybody.
One of the most important decisions I made this year was that as an organization, we were not going to participate in the recession. We absolutely refuse to. Does that mean we are not aware of it?

No. Some of our customers have had their assets under management cut in half. So if it affects our customers it affects us. But we are not getting involved in this massive panic about the economy. This is what we are going to do: Stay real focused on our core business. We are going to continue to invest in the technology we need to add value and service to our customers. And this is probably the best time for a small shop like ours to add talent.

We have recently signed some employment contracts with some guys who 18 months ago would not have talked to me. They were big shots at Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros., and Bear Stearns–and guess what? I’m starting to look real good at some good prices. As value investors are picking up stock and bond investments at “real values,” we are finding real values in people. This is the best time to build a team, but I’m not hiring just anybody who’s looking for a job. I’m looking for people who want an opportunity to help build a business. Gardner Rich is a brand. Right now, we are all about content. I’m hiring candidates who say, “I see where I can add value to your efforts in this area and some expertise that you don’t have on your team right now,” or “I could help round out your team.” Those are people we want to talk to.

This economy could turn in a year or two–in the cycle of economics, it’s a short time. The focus needs to be on what I need to prepare myself to participate at a meaningful level in the way that I choose. You don’t have to do something new. You can do what you’ve been doing but better, smarter, and with more commitment. This is that time. This is a beautiful time.

This story originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.