Hungry

In answering my question, “Why is it that so many immigrants to Canada turn out to be highly successful in business and in the professions?”, my friend Victor Ndihokubwayo got me thinking about one of the key ingredients of success.

“Well,” he began, in his gentle Rwandan accent. (Victor prefaces nearly every explanation with “Well,”.) “If you want to succeed, you need to think like an immigrant!” When I asked him to explain himself, he went on to point out that many immigrants to Canada, particularly from third-world countries, arrive with the clothing on their backs and not much more. “They’re hungry, they have no choice but to sacrifice and work hard. In the old country, if you weren’t industrious and diligent, you simply wouldn’t survive.”

Apparently it works for Victor– he is a rising star in Canada’s Department of Justice.

My friend Peter Irani arrived from Lebanon with a suitcase and nothing else and was glad to get a job as a dishwasher. He retired recently as the head of operations of a major hospital, having turned around several hospital food services from money pits to profit centers. Among Peter’s innovations were insisting on Five Star quality meals, running a popular bakery next to the cafeteria, and offering a catering service out of the hospital kitchen, transforming the hospital food experience from a gloppy grey loser to a sparkling, award-winning, modern business that actually generated income for the hospital. Quite a bit, actually.

And when I asked Peter what he thought about Victor’s statement, he just laughed. “Of course! Exactly!”

I could go on with story after story of friends who got off the boat with only the clothes they were wearing, took whatever job they could find, and parlayed skill and determination into successful businesses and careers.

Of course, the secret is not that these people were immigrants, but that they were hungry. Without the luxury of well-placed parents or being the fourth generation in a family of professionals, they simply had to make it work. They came looking for a better life and they understood that nobody was going to hand it to them. They needed to sacrifice, to pursue the goal with fierce determination.

Readers well know that I hammer away on the Principle of Alignment, and the notion of Giftings. All well and good, because pursuing your Giftings is the surest way to success. But if there is a supercharger of success, it’s hunger. As so many immigrants to Canada teach us, there’s nothing that can power success like literally having your life depend upon it.