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Lesson #5: Don’t Forget Where You Came From

Article Overview: “As busy as I am wherever I am, I try to get out and walk the streets,” says Gardner, “to remember how far I’ve come and appreciate every baby step of the way.”

Lesson #5: Don’t Forget Where You Came From

“As busy as I am wherever I am, I try to get out and walk the streets,” says Gardner, “to remember how far I’ve come and appreciate every baby step of the way.”

As far as Gardner has come and as much money as he has made, what has perhaps most distinguished him professionally has been the contribution he has made back into communities. “I went to some very successful business people when I was trying to open the doors of my company, and none of them would give me the time of day,” he recalls. “I made a promise to myself and to God. I said, ‘God, if you ever let me get to a certain level, I am not going to be like that.’”

Gardner has kept his promise and has striven hard to remain available and accessible. Early on, he got involved in a Chicago-based program designed to help young people obtain internships with financial services companies and learn the basics of exchanges, insurance, banking, money management and brokering. “The coolest thing in the world is walking up the street in Chicago, New York or San Francisco and having someone say ‘Hey, you might not remember me, but thank you for helping me get in the business,’” says Gardner. “That was 12 or 14 years ago. These kids have graduated from college and gone to law school or gotten their MBAs and are running departments in some of the biggest financial institutions on Wall Street.”

In addition to helping young people get their start in business, Gardner’s firm has initiated an awards program for the Teacher or Education Support Professional of the Year. Although he never graduated high school, Gardner had always been impacted by the teachers he had. “When my high school teacher Mrs. Mertz found out I was reading beyond my grade level, she brought me magazine articles and took me to see Handel’s Messiah,” recalls Gardner. “ Once she found out I had a light on in my head, she turned the wattage up. Everybody who’s doing anything positive in life had a teacher who turned the wattage up and wouldn’t let them turn it down.”

The first of Gardner’s awards went to Sandy McBrayer, who taught homeless children in San Diego and she proceeded to use the award money to start community-college scholarships and supply school equipment for her students. “I can’t think of a better way to honor my mom and lift her up than helping educators,” says Gardner. “The biggest part of her soul was to teach.”

Gardner’s road to success was a long and difficult one, which made it all the more easy for him to understand what it takes to get there. “You know how mountains get moved?” asks Gardner. “Everyone who can move a couple, move a couple. Those who can move rocks, move rocks. Those who can move boulders, move boulders. That’s how mountains get moved. If every one of us did everything we could, I believe we would be in a different world.”

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Article Tags: awards program, baby step, chicago new york, doors, education support, financial institutions, financial services companies, god, handels messiah, high school teacher, law school, magazine articles, mbas, money management, mrs mertz, san francisco, successful business people, time of day, wall street, wattage



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