A friend of mine recently wrote this letter to his employees in his monthly address. This is so well written and so timely that I felt I had to post it here for all to read. I do not want to spoil it by saying any more.
CEO Message – July
In difficult times our character is tested, whether personally or with regard to our business or our career. Some of us show the depth of our will to survive, to overcome – to persevere. One of the most moving examples of this – one that touched me in a personal way, was the recent passing of actress Farrah Fawcett – after a long and arduous fight with cancer.
I had the occasion to meet and spend a few hours with Farrah Fawcett in the late 1980’s in New York. We met at a famous designer shoe store – Susan Bennis-Warren Edwards – where they designed and sold interesting - and frankly, expensive - men’s and women’s shoes. It was the kind of place where you went and hung around – looking – sipping wine or champagne and feeling like you were pretty special to be able to pay usurious amounts of money for shoes.
In any event, Farrah was in the store one day when I went in to look around for boots. Men’s was on one side – Ladies on the other – separated by plush couches and chairs. As she was looking for shoes she turned around and noticed I was looking at her (who could blame me) and she smiled that famous smile – and said – ‘what do ya think of these’? - holding up a pair of impossibly high heeled sandals…
I was temporarily awestruck and unable to speak – but after a second or so – I told her what I thought – probably giving her more information than she wanted – but surprisingly she thought I was funny and said – ‘come on you’re gonna help me find some shoes.’ Of course, I said – ‘absolutely!’
We spent the next two hours drinking a couple of glasses of wine, watching her try on shoe after shoe – kidding around with the staff – and just having a tremendous amount of fun. She was so beautiful; she shined – and she was as nice as you could ever hope anyone to be. When she was finished looking and had bought about 8 pair (these shoes in 1988 where about $675 a pair), she thanked me for helping her and spending the afternoon – and gave me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. What a day.
I decided that such luck deserved a pair of boots for myself – I picked out the ones I wanted and when I handed over my credit card the clerk said there was no charge – Farrah had told them that she would buy me which ever shoes I picked. And she did. I hated getting rid of those boots a few years later..
Everyone knows how sick Farrah Fawcett had become in the last few years, fighting metastatic cancer. The recent documentary of her fight made by her friend Alana Stewart was on television a few weeks ago, and I was so incredibly moved by the courage and strength that Farrah exhibited in the face of such tremendous obstacles.
Farrah’s message of fighting as hard as she could to survive, to cling on to life -was stellar; her unwillingness to not, according to her friends and Doctors, succumb to fear – was inspiring.
She lost her battle with cancer the other day, but she leaves a legacy in my mind much more important than her 30 years of fame and notoriety. She showed us all that no one, no matter how rich or beautiful or famous can escape the horror of cancer if it touches their lives – and she showed us that you don’t have to give up – you don’t have to give in – that life is worth fighting the good fight for– especially for the people and the things that you love.
In our own lives we’d all do well to follow her lead. Not only in relation to sickness – but in our business lives as well.
2009 is a year of obstacles – it’s a year where we need to resolve to fight to survive and overcome. We don’t quit. We don’t walk away. We face our enemy – we stare it down – we find a way. We improvise. We don’t live in fear – fear is our very worst enemy.
We fight for something - or we fight for nothing.
As you think about your own lives; what you care about, what you love, what you want to accomplish – think about how what we fight for in our lives helps define and give meaning to the life we lead.
Ask yourself, as Farrah challenged her audience in her final weeks……what are YOU fighting for?
