Dare in Oregon !

In November 2009, I had the great honor to be named "Quebec young Haitian personality of the year" by the JCCH in a lavish ceremony here in Montreal! It gave me the opportunity to meet some great leaders, to make the front page of the paper version of the business newspaper  Les Affaires, and to have the article on their online blog  about leadership. 

More importantly, the JCCH asked me to give a presentation inspired by their 2009 year's theme: "Dare", ("Osez", in French).  


I don't like to tell people what to do so there was no way I was going to come up with Welby's 10 commandments! Nevertheless, it gave me the opportunity to look back on my professional and personal contributions; and share some observations about what continue to help me grow and dare.

7 observations - not a recipe - to dare!

1. Set your own rules: I know it's obvious, until you realize that the ready-made life that we grow to accept is all about complying and fitting in. I consistently grow, when I remember, that I can be an active agent in setting major rules to run my life that influence everything else. 

2. Baby steps: I found that for me, it worked better and helped me to focus when I chose fewer projects, goals and abandoned multi-tasking. It goes with our anxiety about death, and our fear of suffering to try to get everything we want, think we need, right now, right away. But it usually feeds on itself and the nutrition you will get from such a diet is poor at best.  Whenever I observed myself rushing through life, unable to stop (and trust me the urge to rush is always there!), I always gain a lot of insight when noticing my equal ability to slow down and chew for just a little bit longer.

3. No permission = constructive disobedience: As with setting your own rules (ironically!) resist the urge to ask for permission when you feel your creative fire growing. I've applied this consistently and in the long run never regretted disobeying to rules that didn't fit in order to create something better. The world needs that courage from you... and you need it too!

4. Accepting your differences: Because I traveled around the world, connecting with  a variety of cultures; and because I work in a field where, as a person with black skin, I tend to stand out, I could have decided to foster a mentality of victim-hood. It would have been easy to see one of my differences from most of my peers as a vulnerability. The truth is that we all have aspects of who we are that makes us unique expression of the world's subtle and obvious creativity. For most of those unique traits, there is something profound in not only accepting and embracing who you are, particularly what makes you different, but actually make it a strength.

5. A mindset of service and of giving allows you to transcend fear and pain. I didn't invent this, but it's been a fundamental drive, guiding the accomplishments (small and bigger) that I am the most proud of. 

6. Everything you want to create, always happen in your head first, but then you must get it out of your head and on a piece of paper. Curisouly, if then you just let your idea sit there and don't do anything about it, 2 things can happen. Either it will go back in your head and create clusters, or it will go visit someone else and you will see its concrete manifestation while you are eating ice cream on a hot summer day...

7. Listen, pay attention, observe... and start again. Your mindset then is about learning from people, events, situation, conflicts, bad news, your body, etc. It boost empathy for yourself and from that energy, you realize you have nothing to loose, you are here to learn and to give. 

 I look at this and it looks all too obvious. Still, it made and continue to make a major difference in my daily contribution. At least when I remember I can always observe, remain objective and open  to my experience of being human. 

I concluded by telling the story of a Stu Rassmusen who proved that to dare is a way to live your life with authenticity, against all odds.