You know I'm a big fan of Carol Williams, who runs an advertising agency that bills almost $400 million annually and is a role model to women of color everywhere.
When I heard her in February, earlier this year, she had a similar talk to what she gave at a small business symposium in Oakland recently.
The most memorable quote from her talk? I think she paraphrased it, but it went something like this:
Excellence is...
CARING more than others think is wise.
RISKING more than others think is safe.
DREAMING more than others think is practical.
EXPECTING more than others think is possible.
Ms. Williams also talked about the importance of building teams, and that she would have never been able to get to the position she is in now without her staff of employees and advisors.
She also said that we should all pick and choose our clients and customers, and that we will naturally gravitate to those who are dedicated to our success as much as we are dedicated to their success.
She had had some difficulty with a client and she heard through the grapevine that some people were saying, "That Carol Williams... did you hear that she fired a multi-million dollar client because they didn't see eye to eye?"
To which she responded to edify our audience, "Not only have I fired one of those, I've fired *three* [multi-million dollar clients]."
She also has trademarked the tagline "Whose eyes are you looking through when you view the world? ..." and encouraged us with a story about twins who were opposites: one was always hot, the other was always cold; one was always hungry when the other was thirsty, and one was a pessimist, while the other was an optimist.
On Christmas, the twins woke up to their presents, and the parents checked in a few hours later. Pessimist twin, who received a huge stack of presents, was crying and whining that all of his fancy toys and designer clothing and terrific books and new shiny widgets were going to get broken or stepped on, and he didn't feel like he could use anything because they would all be destroyed or someone would be jealous that he received such nice gifts.
Next door, optimist twin, who had a "mound of steaming hot horse poop" in his bedroom, was grinning, whistling away and industriously digging through the pile with his bare hands.
Astounded, his parents asked him what he was doing, and he answered, "Mom. Dad. Don' you see all this horse sh*t? There's definitely a pony around here somewhere."
Ms. Williams' point is that we all choose how we look at the events in our lives, and if need be, we can go over, around, or through obstacles so that we can each find our own pony "and ride off into the sunset."
Thanks Carol! You made our day!
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