Look Beyond Where You Can See

Look Beyond Where You Can See
By Mark McKenzie
May 21, 2009
The story of Erik Weihenmayer is very inspiring. On May 25, 2001, Erik Weihenmayer became the first blind man in history to reach the summit of the world's highest peak - Mount Everest. And on September 5, 2002, when he stood on top of Mt. Kosciusko in Australia, Weihenmayer completed his 7-year quest to climb the Seven Summits - the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, joining only 100 mountaineers who have accomplished that feat. At age 33, he was also one of the youngest. In Touch the Top of the World, Erik recalls his struggle to push past the limits placed on him by his blindness. Like, Erik, if you want to touch the top of life or the world you have to be prepare push past the challenges you are confronted. You have to be positive. You have to look beyond where you can see. You have to look beyond your dreams, and the plain truth is that you can only see beyond your dreams when and only when, you have turned your dreams into reality.

It could take answering your boss’ telephone to make the difference, as it did for me, you never know. A few years ago I realized the depth of my dissatisfaction with my job. I was in a dead-end job and I was ready to push the snooze button on my career. I was dissatisfied with my job because I was not using my skills, especially the ones I enjoyed using the most, and most importantly my contribution was not recognized. I began to extricate myself from career derailment by finding someone to serve as my career coach and mentor. I started to prepare a new resume and explore new avenues for employment. Shortly after, I was making contact with people who I knew could help me find a better job. I believe the politically correct terminology for this is called “networking.” It worked! Soon I had the best job in the world! In one move I had secured the opportunity to live and work overseas in a beautiful Caribbean Islands as a financial sector regulator.

Given the current global financial sector crisis and the economic recession, how many jobseekers consider financial regulation and supervision as career or profession? What do financial regulators do? All I can say at that time my new job was best in the world. I was happy to get up in the morning and go to. In my new job I was doing very well. I never gave second thoughts on whether there was a better job out there for me. I never entertained the notion that I could do even better than I was doing. I listen to Chris Gardner, author of The Pursuit of Happyness and Start Where You Are, in an interview on CNN the other day saying there is no need for Plan B. His point being if it is Plan B it is not good enough. It is very simple we all remember Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt from the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Do we remember the athletes who competed against Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt? Most of us don’t but they were all outstanding athletes but Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt are not just outstanding they are extraordinary. Chris Gardner’s comment on Plan B makes perfect sense.

It is funny how easily we settle for Plan B. I had the perfect job and I was happy perhaps even afraid to explore the world outside my comfort zone to see what is on the outside until a stroke of luck dramatically change my life and propel my career to a completely different level. This is the story I really want to share today. I was in the right place at the right time! We talk about luck and being in the right place sometimes very loosely. It is not luck when you see an opportunity and you make use of the opportunity to better yourself and the lives of others around you. That is smartness and assertiveness! An opportunity however should be noted is like a double edged sword. If you get an opportunity to lead and you perform well you are likely be trusted with leadership roles. On the other hand if you perform poorly, you may not get a second chance.

Let us called it luck and being in the right place at the right time. All I did, I answered my boss’ telephone one day around lunchtime towards the end of 2000. In an office I am generally very annoyed by the constant ringing of telephones and that was the reason I dialled the number to pick up my boss’ telephone. Many businesses today uses completely automated systems for handling customer issues along with telephone voicemails. I have not found a single person who tells me they enjoy the experience of wading through touch tone menus to find answers to their needs or constantly calling business places only to automated voicemails. I hate those systems! There is advertisement by Virgin Mobile Canada that I love. The key line in the ad is “Dial our 1-800-number and you will reach actually human!’ I just love that ad as it hit to core of “are you missing out?” when you try reaching large corporations today. Back in 2000 when I answered the telephone on the other end was a gentleman calling from an international agency in Washington who wanted to visit my firm to meet with my boss about participating in a special project.

I should mention that one of my life long career goals had always been to work with one of the Washington Institutions. My passion was driven by the fact that as boy growing up Jamaica I always heard that the reason the Jamaican dollar was devaluing was because of structural adjustment programmes recommended by one of the Washington Institutions. The reason never made much sense to me so I wanted to work in policy formulation at one of the Washington Institutions to get a better understanding of the matter. Little did I know how the single act of answering my boss’ telephone would alter my career and lead to the fulfillment I have experience in my career up to this point in my life. When I answered the telephone I promised the gentleman that I would speak with my boss when he returns from lunch and I would call him back in Washington. As promised I spoke with my boss and I called back the gentleman.

Shortly, thereafter the gentleman and his colleague visited for meeting with my boss and I was invited to join in the discussion. My boss assigned me as the local coordinator for the special project. In early 2001, my employers and the international agency hosted a meeting of representatives of all the small countries to participate a global project. It was at that meeting that I had another stroke of luck or happened to be in the right place at the right time. One of the participants was the managing director of the regulatory agency in the picturesque British Virgin Islands, and who would later offered me a job to head up the policy research and statistics unit of the regulatory agency in his country. The rest for me is history. As result, I have travelled to some of the most beautiful places and met some of the most wonderful people in the world.

In my family I was amongst the first to get a university education and that speak volumes to the distances I have travelled and taken my family name. Back in the 1970s as boy growing up with my grandmother, uncles and cousins in Manchester, Jamaica in a rural farming district called Mount Prospect sitting on top of the Don Figueroa Mountain when I look out the most I could see beyond the beautiful St. Elizabeth Plains was the Caribbean Sea on a very clear day. My grandmother and uncles were farmers. Some my cousins are farmers today. At the end my undergrad studies my sociologist professor told me it was a good thing I moved to Kingston to attend high school. To touch the top of life or the top of the world my experiences have taught me to push past the challenges that I am confronted by. I have learnt to see and look beyond where I can see. I have learnt to look beyond my dreams and turn my dreams into reality. Whenever I get the opportunity to return to my grandmother’s house in Mount Prospect and I lookout I no longer just see the Caribbean Sea but even on a foggy day I can see what is beyond it because I have gone beyond. When I answered my boss’ telephone back in 2000, I had no idea it would have impacted my career development the way it did. The careers doors and opportunities that have been opened up for me as result are countless. I can only suggest that in your search for a new job or your quest for career satisfaction that you remain optimistic. Just like Erik Weihenmayer struggle to push past the limits placed on him by his blindness to touch the top of Seven Summits of the World, you can do it.