Chris Gardner: The homeless man who became a multi-millionaire investor

When Chris Gardner and his young son were sleeping rough on the floor of a public toilet, he could never have dreamt that his life story would be turned into a hit Hollywood movie.

It was back in the early 1980s that Mr Gardner, then aged 27, and his toddler son were homeless for a year in San Francisco.

Enrolled on a low-paid trainee scheme at a stock brokerage, he didn't have enough money to raise the deposit to rent an apartment.

So Mr Gardner, who was estranged from his partner, and Chris Jr would instead sleep wherever they could.

In addition to the toilet at a railway station, they'd bed down in parks, at a church shelter, or under his desk at work after everyone else had gone home.

They ate in soup kitchens, and what little money he had was spent on putting his son in day nursery so he could go to work.

Despite this adversity, Mr Gardner thrived in his job. A natural at selling stocks and shares, at the end of his training period his firm, Dean Witter Reynolds (DWR), made him a full employee.

Finally able to rent a home for himself and his son, his career then rapidly ascended into the stratosphere, and in 1987 he opened his own investment firm, Gardner Rich.

Hollywood comes calling

Today Mr Gardner, 62, is worth an estimated $60m (£48m), travels the world as a motivational speaker, and sponsors a number of homeless charities and organisations that combat violence against women.

Mr Gardner's autobiography was turned into a hit movie

Add the fact that Mr Gardner had a very troubled childhood, and served time in prison immediately before the internship at DWR, and you can understand why Hollywood came calling when he was writing his best-selling autobiography The Pursuit of Happyness (the misspelling is deliberate).

The movie of the same name was released in 2006, and Will Smith was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Mr Gardner.

Looking back on his life, Mr Gardner tells the BBC that he "wouldn't change anything".

"I went through pain as a child so my children wouldn't have to," he says. "I made a decision as a five-year-old boy that my kids will know who their father is.

"The rest of my destiny came forward because I made the right choices."

Inspirational mother

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr Gardner never knew his real father.

Instead he was brought up in poverty by his mother Bettye Jean and a physically abusive, alcoholic stepfather.

Chris Gardner with Will Smith, who played him on the big screen

There was also a period spent in a foster home after his mother, in a fit of despair, tried to kill her partner.

Despite the woes of his childhood, Mr Gardner says his mum was an inspiration.

"I have one of those old-fashioned mothers who told me every single day, 'Son, you can do or be anything that you want to do or be.'

"And I believed it, I bought into it 100%."

He adds that one day as a child he was watching a college basketball game on TV when he commented that one of the players would make a million dollars.

"My mum said, 'Son, one day it will be you who'll make a million dollars.' Until she said those words the thought had never entered my mind."

Chance encounter

The million dollars didn't arrive immediately however, and after graduating from high school he spent four years in the US Navy.

After an honourable discharge in 1974 Mr Gardner moved to San Francisco where he started selling medical equipment.

His life then changed completely when he saw a man parking his red Ferrari one day, and Mr Gardner asked him what he did for a living.

Mr Gardner and his son saw some tough times in San Francisco

The man was a stockbroker called Bob Bridges, and after the two got talking, Mr Gardner expressed an interest in joining the industry.

They met again, and Mr Bridges helped Mr Gardner secure an interview for an internship.

However, in the days before the interview at DWR Mr Gardner was arrested and jailed for non-payment of parking tickets.

He was ultimately able to make the interview, but only in the clothes he was wearing when he was arrested, which included trainers and a vest.

Despite the scruffy attire, his sense of drive and enthusiasm was enough to get him the job.

Re-evaluating life

Six years after the release of the movie, Mr Gardner's life changed again in 2012 when his wife died from cancer aged just 55.

It made him re-evaluate what he wanted to do for a living, and after three highly successful decades in finance he decided on a complete career change.

"Some of the last conversations [my wife and I] had were her saying to me, 'Now that we can see how truly short life can be, what will you do with the rest of your life?'

Mr Gardner has built a new career as a motivational speaker

"When you have that conversation, that changes everything. I've said that if you're not doing something that you're passionate about, you're compromising yourself every single day."

So realising that he didn't want to work in investment banking any longer, he reinvented himself as a motivational speaker and author.

'Amazing testament'

He now spends 200 days a year travelling the world speaking to packed audiences in more than 50 countries.

Scott Burns, a director at US investment firm Morningstar, says that Mr Gardner "is just an amazing testament of fortitude".

He adds: "You can be down and out, but only as down as you let yourself be."

Mr Gardner believes he disproves the theory that we are all products of our childhood environment.

"According to that school of thought I should become another alcoholic, wife-beating, child-abusing, illiterate loser."

Instead he says he made his own positive choices thanks to the love of his mother and support from other people.

"I chose light, from my mother, and from others with whom I don't share a single drop of blood, and I embraced it."

Original article from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38144980

Plan versus Reality

Mistakes Are Good When You Learn From Them

Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.”

Edison replied very confidently, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb.”

Brooklyn Bridge

This is a real life story of engineer John Roebling building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA back in 1870. The bridge was completed in 1883, after 13 years.

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to talk or walk.

“We told them so.” “Crazy men and their crazy dreams.” “It’s foolish to chase wild visions.”

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built.

In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task.

As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife’s arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

The Butterfly That Couldn't Fly

One day a small gap appeared in the cocoon, through which the butterfly had to appear. A boy, who accidentally passed by, stopped and watched how the butterfly was trying to get out of the cocoon. It took a lot of time, the butterfly was trying very hard, and the gap was as little as before. It seemed that the power would leave the butterfly soon.

The boy decided to help the butterfly. He took a penknife and cut the cocoon. The butterfly immediately got out, but its body was weak and feeble, and the wings were barely moving.

The boy continued to watch the butterfly, thinking that now its wings would spread and its would fly. However, that did not happen.

The rest of its life the butterfly had to drag its weak body and wings that weren't spread. It was unable to fly, because the boy did not realize that an effort to enter through the narrow gap of the cocoon was necessary for the butterfly, so that the life-giving fluid would move from the body to the butterfly’s wings and that the butterfly could fly. Life forced the butterfly to leave its shell hardly, so that it would become stronger and would be able to grow and develop.

If we were allowed to live without meeting difficulties, we would not be viable. Life gives us challenges to make us stronger.

We Are Never Defeated

Cycle Of Success

Never Give Up

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