Need some inspiration? I just finished watching a video on TED by Bill Strickland, President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation and its subsidiaries, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Bidwell Training Center.The video is a slide show of the Guild narrated by Bill with Herbie Hancock on stage playing piano in the background.
I became familiar with Bill and his work when I worked as an arts administrator in arts education and later the performing arts for a state arts agency and then two non-profits and then a city arts agency. When I came upon this video tonight I hesitated to watch it as I’m no longer in the arts (I am director of a homeless shelter) and thought it would have little relevance to my life and work now. I was wrong.
Among Bill Strickland’s beliefs:
People are born into this world as assets, not liabilities. It’s all in the way we treat people (and ourselves) that determines a person’s outcome.
The sand in the hourglass flows only one way. Stop going through the motions of living–savor each and every day. Life is here and now, not something waiting for you in the future.
You don’t have to travel far to change the life you’re living. Bill grew up in the Pittsburgh ghetto, four blocks from where he came to build one of the foremost job training centers in the world. He now speaks before CEOs and political leaders, church congregations and civic leaders. You only need to change your thinking to remake your world.
Here are some quotes from the video that I personally found relevant and inspiring:
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“If you want to help people that other people have given up on, you need to look like the solution and not the problem.”
- “The only thing wrong with poor people is they don’t have any money.”
- “The way you think about people often determines their behavior.”
- “What we discovered if you have to give them flowers and sunlight and good food and expectations (and Herbie’s music) and you can cure a spiritual cancer.”
- “If you treat children like human beings there’s no reason they can’t behave that way.”
- “The children will become like the people who teach them.”
- “You have to change the way people see themselves before you can change their behavior.”
- “You must be prepared to act on your dreams just in case they come true.”
Do yourself a favor and watch this video (the whole thing!). If you’re someone with a desire to change the world (in a small or a large way), this will lift you up and maybe stoke your creative fire.
Video:
Rebuilding America, one slide show at a time: Bill Strickland on TED.com
With subtle accompaniment by longtime friend Herbie Hancock, and a slide show that has opened the minds (and pocketbooks) of CEOs across the country, artist and youth activist Bill Strickland tells a quiet and astonishing tale of redemption through arts, music and unlikely partnerships. (Recorded February 2002 in Monterey, California. Duration: 35:28.)
Book:
Make the Impossible Possible by Bill Strickland
“Bill Strickland is a genius, because he sees the inherent genius in everyone. Bill’s ability to inspire hope is powerful, universal, and world changing. Make the Impossible Possible will show you how you can achieve even your wildest dreams. Bravo!”
—Jeff Skoll, first president of eBay, founder and chairman, Skoll Foundation
“Are you yearning to pursue what others say is an unrealistic or impractical dream? This is the book for you. By telling his remarkable story, Bill Strickland shows us that an impossible notion is just an idea nobody had the guts to try. With great flair and amazing range—you’ll read about jazz, pottery, airplanes, even orchids!—he reveals how each of us can change our part of the world. Like the man who wrote it, this book is inspired and inspiring.” —Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of A Whole New Mind
“One of the most innovative social enterprise thinkers I have ever met. The ‘Strickland’ thought process is that of a highly trained jazz musician, coupled with a keen business sense . . . He is definitely one of my major heroes.”
—Quincy Jones
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