I Was a Refugee From Post-WWII Europe. Today, My Green Card Reminds Me That My Success Was Never Guaranteed. It was only an entry ticket to the great game.
This story appears in the June 2022 issue of BIZ Experiences. Subscribe »
This was my ticket to the game.
That's what I think every time I see my green card ("Form I-151"), issued in New Orleans in 1950 when I was a 3-year-old refugee from post-World War II Europe. The "soup bowl" haircut was courtesy of a former Royal Yugoslav artillery officer; he answered my mother's shipboard plea for a "barber" when she thought my long hair might leave me mistaken for a girl. It brings to mind a truism: There is always a solution to every problem, but not necessarily the best solution.
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At various times in my long career working in consulting, holding gubernatorial and presidential government appointments, and as the CEO of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, I have paused to look at that old green card and consider what it meant. Obtaining it was not a guarantee of success. It was also not a lottery ticket, where winning is a matter of chance. Instead, it was more profound than that. It was an opportunity — an entry ticket into a great game. The rest was always up to me.
Opportunity is a powerful motivator. It drives more than one million people from around the world, often at great risk to life, to attempt to enter the United States every year. I was among the very fortunate ones. But of course, no matter where they are born, everyone has their own version of the opportunity that matters most. It is their first big job, or their first small client. It is someone willing to hear them out.
We cannot always create opportunity ourselves, just as I could not have forced America to let me in. Someone, at some point, must give us the chance. But here is what I have learned is within our control: We can always work, striving to obtain the education, experience, and qualifications that make us stronger. This way, when we are fortunate enough to get a ticket to the big game, we are prepared to play and win.
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