LUNCH WITH CHRIS GARDNER,
Owner and CEO of Christopher Gardner International Holdings
Chris Gardner delivered a compelling and highly motivational speech to a sold-out audience at the Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax on Thursday, June 19. He told the crowd that the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, was a fairly accurate representation of his life, except that his son was 14 months old when they used to sleep anywhere they could, even in bus stations. Gardner talked about how he went broke and had no support while pursuing his dream of becoming a successful stockbroker – a dream he had been nurturing since he met a successful man driving a Ferrari, who identified himself as a stockbroker when asked about what he was doing for a living.
A group of youths enjoying the lunchion with Chris Gardner
Gordon Doe, BBI with Chris Gardner
Harriet Michel greeting Chris Gardner
Gardner stressed the importance of being focused and persistent and he emphasized that education is important but, as one of his mentors told him, it’s not people with MBAs who build great companies, it’s the PSDs “That’s poor, smart and with a deep desire to be wealthy.” Gardner also joked about owning just two suits while working for Dean Witter Reynolds, one grey and one black. “People would say, Chris Gardner is re-enacting the Civil War.” he told a laughing crowd. During his tenure at Dean Witter, he recounted how he grabbed the attention of a gentleman who used to come regularly to pick up his girlfriend. That man, who happened to be a senior officer at Bear Stearns (one of the top firms in Wall Street at that time), was impressed by Gardner’s strong work ethic. Gadrner said, “He whispered to me ‘You don’t belong here. Why don’t come and work for me?’ ” A couple of weeks later, Gardner left Dean Witter to work for Bear Stearns, where he became a top earner.
When asked by an attendee about some temptation to forgo his relation with God because of all of the hardship he had to endure with his son, Gardner responded swiftly by saying he, at times, had lost faith in himself but never with God. During his career at Bear Stearns, Gardner also had to deal with what is common for most African-Americans – racism – although he prefers to call it “placism”. He believes that if you do not have anything to give in return to society, such as education, money, influence, no one will want to do business with you and therefore that issue is colourless. Finally, Gardner stressed that his biggest accomplishment was not the fortune he made himself, but the fact that he was always there for his children.