Suzy Cameron

FALL 2021 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 83 MENTAL HEALTH stations, magazines — an influential, diversified media company. In 1987, fresh out of Harvard Business School, having previously done my undergraduate degree at Oxford, I launched a $2.25 billion takeover to bring the company back to the founder’s ideals. Things went wrong right from the start. Other family members sold out, we had too much debt, and three years later when Australia went into recession, we had to file for bankruptcy. I had directly contributed to the loss of control of the family company. I had made the lives of thousands of employees uncertain and had understandably caused ill feelings between some family members and myself. At the Beyond the Crucible podcast, we share stories of people who have gone through their own challenging crucible experiences. I have spoken with a naval officer who lost her husband in a Top Gun training accident; a woman who was hit by a car in her native Taiwan at age 11, leaving her permanently disabled; an orphan who lost both his parents before age 10 and then was abandoned with his siblings by their stepfather just hours after their mother’s funeral; a woman who was abused and abandoned as a child; and a nurse who discovered that he had early- onset Parkinson’s disease. How do you bounce back from such life-altering and challenging crucible experiences? And what should you aim for as you seek to recover? As I can attest, it’s not easy and can take a long time, even years. At the heart of overcoming a crucible experience is the choice you have. You can decide to be angry and bitter and hide under the covers, or decide to take one step at a time and move forward. Often, it’s choosing to use your pain for a key purpose, to forge a way forward that helps others, a purpose beyond ourselves — a life of significance. The naval officer who lost her husband in a training accident helps other widows do more than survive but instead live extraordinary lives. The woman hit by a car as a girl helps people overcome negative self-talk to see their inner strength and beauty. The abandoned orphan now heads up a large global nonprofit dedicated to helping families thrive. The woman who was abused and abandoned as a child now helps others go from tragedy to hope, healing and truth. The nurse with early-onset Parkinson’s now helps others with the disease enjoy the best quality of life they can and has written a book on perseverance. I used my crucible experience to talk about how you can bounce back from crucibles and live a life of significance, a life of purpose dedicated to serving others. All these stories of very different crucible experiences have a common thread. These men and women all chose hope. They decided to use their pain, even sometimes their life-altering physical challenges, in the service of others. In doing so, they found renewed purpose and joy. They discovered that purpose and happiness are not found in material success or fame. Sustainable, life-giving meaning is found elsewhere — in living a life of significance. You cannot inherit a vision. I tried and failed. If it is not your vision, no matter how noble it is, don’t try to make it your vision. I loved and admired my father very much. I admired the legacy and many positive contributions past generations had made to the company and Australia since John Fairfax founded the company in 1841. But, in the years after John Fairfax, Ltd. left family control, I realized that the vision I had for the company was not my vision. My vision is different, based on who I have been designed to be. n Warwick Fairfax is founder of Crucible Leadership. After losing a 150-year-old family business and billions of dollars, he founded the company to harness the learning power of stories and explore the philosophical side of leadership. He is the author of Crucible Leadership: Embrace Your Trials to Lead a Life of Significance (Mount Tabor Media, October 2021) “You cannot inherit a vision. I tried and failed. If it’s not your vision, no matter how noble it is, don’t try to make it your vision.” — WARWICK FAIRFAX Like a food truck, but for your head. Kala Mobile Meditation Studio brings the benefits of meditation and sound therapy to you, just like a food truck. The brainchild of Athena and Maria Stratakis, the mobile studio offers a convenient and restorative space to calm the mind, reconnect with one’s self, and return to the day’s challenges. A customized 35-foot vehicle has 8 meditation rooms or “pods” for individual audio meditation and sound therapy sessions. Each pod is equipped with comfortable built-in seating, noise-canceling headphones, and an interactive tablet where guests can view and select from their menu of original meditation options. “We wanted to bring mindfulness to people who normally would not seek it out, either from time constraints or because of not having been exposed to it,” says Athena. KalaBaltimore.com

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