[Adapted from: Range. How Generalist Triumph in a Specialized World. – David Epstein.]
Frances Hesselbein was a woman born in November 1, 1915 (near the end of World War I). She was born in an era where women’s right was something that have to be fought for, where the value of the women folks was still tied to home and hearth.
If her name is not familiar to you, then the organisation she helped to grow, cultivate and drag into the early 20th century maybe more well known to you.
She is the CEO of the Girl Scouts during 1977 to 1990. She passed away at the age of 107, in December 11, 2022.
If you were to trace her life stories and map her journey, you will find a dark horse. Someone who according to any old or modern day “wisdom”, should never have been able to reach her level of contributions and reputation.
She was described as woman who is content with a simple life, humble yet able to tackle any problem thrown her way (once you can get her committed) with zeal and ingenuity.
“Frances never graudated from college, but she recieved twenty-three honoarary doctorates, a saber given to her by the U.S. Military Academy for teaching leadership courses, and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian award in the United States).”
Summarized from page 152 of Range. How Generalist Triumph in a Specialized World. – David Epstein.
Frances grew up while World War 2 was simmering in the background, yet to erupt. Her father passed away when she was seventeen and as the eldest of three children, she made a deathbed promise to take care of the family.
She dropped out of school and started working as an admin assistant at a department store.
Generated with Adobe Firefly. Ref: https://firefly.adobe.com/
She got her first break at 34 years old when she was 1st introduced to a leadership role for the town’s Girl Scout troop. By then she was married and have a son. Her husband was a photographer working for the Navy and also a human rights activist.
From there, her performance and the support of her husband and their network, landed her more Girl Scout roles, until she was asked to chair the United Way Campaign. In a time where the opportunity was not given to a female, she was able to convince the president of the campaign and the company that she was a suitable candidate.
Her pivotal moment came in 1976, when she was already 61 years old.
Generated with Adobe Firefly. Ref: https://firefly.adobe.com/
The late 1960s and early 1970s was a time period where societies and the world undergo very drastic changes. This is the time of the third industrial revolution (electronics and nuclear technologies have emerged and were changing the ways of work, creation/production and commerce).
The Girl Scout as an organisation was not doing very well because they were not helping the girls prepare for a society that has changed and was still changing. Membership was dropping and Frances’ job was to become the next CEO and help revive the organisation.
Generated with Adobe Firefly. Ref: https://firefly.adobe.com/
Like all new problems that come her way, once she was committed to it, she began to study and roll out ways to tackle the issues that proper management trained professionals will be hesitant to utilise as strategies.
She solved the critical hard problems instead of tackling simpler but less critical ones. (Leaders who wants to look good in the short-term normally avoid the hard problems and go solve simple problems that can score visual points).
Frances drilled down to the root of the issues (majority of the girl scouts in her time period were middle-class white girls). She altered the call to action encouraging girls of diverse races, cultures and backgrounds (e.g., girls from single-parent households) to join the organisation.
She begun to modernise everything from the girl scout mission statements to the merit badges. Some of the new badges included under her leadership were the math and personal computing badges.
She also dared to make the hard decisions to sell off girl scout camp grounds that were no longer getting enough usage with the reduced membership numbers, which clashed with the emotional nostalgia of the senior volunteers and staff.
However, these changes reshaped the Girl Scouts whose minitory membership tripled under her leadership. The Girl Scout cookie business also grew to generate $300 million a year.
Generated with Adobe Firefly. Ref: https://firefly.adobe.com/
These achievements demonstrated to others her leadership capabilities, which caused other important opportunities to flow her way. She has established her business clout.
Frances’ life tells of an important lesson.
Don’t judge someone in a moment in time. The true capabilities and contributions someone can bring to the world can only be revealed overtime.
In an era when people are conditioned by social media to make quick judgements, remember that multimedia which produces digital content, is a domain of illusions & education (we create content to influence and manipulate the senses).
Generated with Adobe Firefly. Ref: https://firefly.adobe.com/
Learn to see the world clearly and learn to be kind to each other. When you are kind, you are able to hold back judgement, and thus see and understand the world clearer, overtime.
Some quotes from psychologist Herminia Ibarra: “We learn who we are by living, and not before… sometimes we need to first act then think… and we learn who we are in practice, not in theory.“
If Frances was judged early in her life as being a college drop-out who happens to be a mom, no one may have given her opportunities. Thankfully there are people out there who can see out of the box. Who go against social norms and resist common psychological behavior to pigeonhole people into “designated” roles.
Generated with Adobe Firefly. Ref: https://firefly.adobe.com/
It is simple to judge/assess different humans as though they are machines who should fit certain “required specifications”. If they check all or most of the boxes, then they should be allowed to perform certain roles in society. “Check these boxes and go business school for MBA and you can be a leader” etc. But real world doesn’t work like that.
Believing a checklist can provide the answer to an evolving world creates a self-imposed illusion.
Frances have enough kind people in her circle during her beginnings that saw her potential, who pushed opportunities to her, paired with the right timings, and her own hard work, she creates her own breakthroughs.
So learn to disregard any labels given to you, by those who do not yet see you…
Just because someone has limited perspective of what you can do, does not mean you should limit yourself to fit their view.
Because come on. You are You. They are them. Why should their careless words matter?
Be the right kind of limited editions – the ones who have combinations of abilities that create an Unique person.
Rather than the other kind of limited editions – who are truly limited in how they can understand and solve the world.
Generated with Adobe Firefly. Ref: https://firefly.adobe.com/
Start to figure out who you really are. If you have been thinking too much, stop. Start doing instead.
If you don’t know what you can do yet, volunteer and help others. Learn to see the world from different perspectives, even from the eyes of those you feel needs more help.
One day, you will figure out your real purpose and capabilities.
If you consistently build yourself up > when the time comes + with the right people + you have a good combination of Unique capabilities = You can then play a part in making the people, society or the world around you… a better place.
Creating your own miracle.
Generated with Adobe Firefly. Ref: https://firefly.adobe.com/