Guess who gave this response when asked what the best advice he ever got was?Unless you saw the article in Fortune magazine I doubt you would guess it was Microsoft billionaire, Bill Gates. I know I would not have because I would think someone so successful would say the best advice he got was more directly business focused. But as a mom I am really struck by both the simplicity of it and the power of it. To me the point isn’t so much that his parents just put him in a bunch of activities. I see it as guiding my children to develop as many aspects of themselves as they can and to stick with the ones that are challenging and not give up. I like remembering that I can be strategic and set standards for my family around participating in diverse activities. We have said things like you will play so many different types of sports and you will master one of them. We also expect challenges and failures and strategize how we are going to deal with them ahead of time. As I am writing this I am bubbling with just how rich the “advice” from Mr. Gates is. Let me know what you are thinking and I will add more in my next blog.
“Well, my dad and my mom were great at encouraging me as a kid to do things that I wasn't good at, to go out for a lot of different sports like swimming, football, soccer, and I didn't know why. At the time I thought it was kind of pointless, but it ended up really exposing me to leadership opportunities and showing me that I wasn't good at a lot of things, instead of sticking to things that I was comfortable with. It was fantastic, and now some of those activities I cherish. They had to stick to it because I pushed back a lot, but it was fantastic advice.” (Fortune, July 2008)
Gertrude
