I’ve gotten plenty of well-intentioned bad advice because family and friends wanted to see me succeed on their terms.
- “The Lord is calling you to be a pastor.” – My dad.
- “Well, will you have God give me a call because I didn’t get the message.” I said.
- “Developers have nine lives and they go bankrupt in between.” – A wealthy patron responded to me when I said I wanted to rebuild low-income neighborhoods.
- I took this one to heart because I come from nothing and felt I only had one shot to “make it” from a financial perspective.
- This still stings seeing the dearth of housing today.
- “Why is someone like you wasting your time on something like this?” – Business school dean
- A dean told me this after presenting a business plan in the 1990s.
- Publicly listed Tyco Fire and Security would become what I envisioned in the 2000s.
- The “…like you…” ate me up because I never thought of myself as brown, just capable, willing, and creative.
- “Why are you flying so high, Icarus? You’re going to get burned.” – Close friend
- After sharing my vision board with all the plans I had, this is the ‘support’ I got.
There is no video montage with the “Eye of the Tiger” playing in the background.
I lost precious years letting others’ good intentions get in the way of my path.
Make sure you choose your path and get to work.
