COVER STORY
Chris’ rich baritone laugh, and it’s a
deep full-bellied one, resonates around
the room at the memory of the
diminutive Pope in his fire-red loafers.
A stickler for age-old Vatican customs,
Pope Benedict wore red shoes to
symbolise the blood of martyrdom for
Christ and Catholic martyrs, and
evidently to break the ice when meeting
a towering, nervous hulk of a man last
in a line of meet and greets.“That means, hey man, relax, I’m just
the Pope. And what the Pope has, is
humility,” he says, spreading his arms
like wings.Chris was impressed, but not overly
surprised, as he finds large doses of
humility in most of the world leaders
and decision-makers he meets.
“Humility. I will never forget meeting
Nelson Mandela, humility. The Pope,
humility. Dr Maya Angelou, humility.
They all have it, man.”It’s a characteristic distinctly evident in
Chris’ own persona — in a man wholistens, engages and speaks from the
heart, and has that special knack of
making each individual in the room
feel exceptional.Reclining in his chair, dressed in a
designer suit, expensive shoes and a
shirt with purple hues to match his
undoubtedly designer socks, this hugely
successful businessman, net worth
estimated at US$60 million, is clearly
comfortable in his skin. But this is also
a man who hasn’t forgotten what it’s
like to have nothing: nothing, except a
dream and a Plan A.His journey from homelessness to
penthouse and from ambitious CEO to
the global inspirational speaker he is
today is well documented. His 2006
autobiography, The Pursuit of
Happyness (and yes, it is Happyness
with a Y, as written on the door of the
childcare drop-in he used for his
toddler son Christopher Jr) tells of
harrowing nights spent sleeping rough,
his child often strapped to his back as
he juggles homelessness with aninternship at brokerage firm Dean
Witter Reynolds.The New York Times bestseller became a
film, Chris working hands on as an
associate producer and featuring as a
blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the
final scene. It’s a mostly factual
account, with Will Smith portraying
Chris, while Smith’s son Jaden plays the
role of five-year-old Christopher Jr, a
little poetic licence taken because in
reality Christopher Jr was just 14
months old and in nappies, when“I failed so many times, but
from all of those failures, I was
able to use them, and learn
something. Failure is ok;
quitting is not. Quitting can
become a habit.” – Chris Gardner