Oppurtunity Maker….

Today on my Grandfather’s (William E. Ryan Sr.) birthday, I had lunch with a former Professor and current Friend. The topic was reviewing my development of my values, vision statement &, mission statement. We came to the conclusion based on my written words and mental rambling that my Mission is to be an “Opportunity Maker” 

As usual I researched what this means in the wired world of the internet. After Googling the term “Opportunity Maker” I was amused as well as felt a bit of irony to see the top search item. It was this book here: The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development By Ari Kaplan.. You might think why is this ironic? Well recent soul searching has found me with the desire to chase my suppressed dream of becoming a Lawyer. As you can see from the title of the book how appropriate my lunch time conversation coordinates with this use of “Opportunity Maker”

For further detail review the book’s description:

This book is designed to help you harness your potential for business development and empower your legal career from law school through partnership. It provides techniques for defining your personal brand, leveraging your creativity, and maximizing your success. Rainmakers, public relations experts, elected officials, marketing masters, in-house counsel, business executives, career advisers, associates, law students, and others who have walked in your shoes offer perspective on issues ranging from networking, mentoring, and blogging to hosting your own television show, starting a charity, and getting published. Each chapter addresses genuine strategies for connecting with people and establishing meaningful professional relationships.

What I find most interesting is that the term I was at a loss for this afternoon was “Rainmaker”. Which is what I think would be most appropriate as a descriptor for what I wanted in my mission statement as a synonym for opportunity maker. I feel that my nature & nurture has brought me to this point. I think that the characteristics I am drawn to in people and the values I hold important to myself make up the DNA of a person meant for Corporate Law.

What are these values I continue to reference with vagueness? Well I am glad you asked. Here are the 5 core values and the 5 supporting values that I have identified.

 

Core Value: Achievement Winning Problem solving Doing things successfully Sense of accomplishment	Supporting Value: Adventure Risk taking Entrepreneurship Challenging Experiences Trail Blazer
Core Value: Discipline Self Control Commitment Hard working Determination	Supporting Value: Responsibility Accountable for results Reliable Dependable Liable personal initiative
Core Value: Friendship Close Relationships Unity Partnership Mutual Appreciation	Supporting Value: Family Happiness Relations being together Community Team work Sense of belonging
Core Value: Integrity Honesty Standing up for beliefs Courage Candor	Supporting Value: Quality 1st Class Maintain High standards Having real worth Do it right the first time
Core Value: Personal Development Commitment to learning Pushing limits Utilize and improve potential	Supporting Value: Advancement Opportunity to improve Progress Upward mobility Promotions

If you overlay my values with the people that I admire, you will begin to see the composite of how I see myself.  

Name:	Because:	Stood For:	Difference Made:
1. Warren Buffet	Motivating, Dedicated, Focused	Capitalism	World’s Richest Man
2. William E Ryan Sr.	Protective Father, Networker, Strong, Charismatic, Sharp mind	Family, Strength, Truth	Rock of the Family
3. JFK	Irish Catholic, Charismatic, Leader, Change maker	Brought people together to fight for a common cause	Sent a man to the moon, President, Broke the WASP President chain, Cuba
4. Bill Parcells	Ability to turnaround losing cultures/operations Develops Performance	Discipline, Hard work, team building, hazard Mgmt	Rebuilt 4 teams to a winning culture
5. Richard Branson	Took Risk, Failed, Rebuilt himself	Entrepreneur	Record Label, Airline, Author, Plane to the moon

How do these two matrixes align? How would I define myself in the search of my “Mission Statement”? The same way Merriam-Webster dictionary does (option 3):

rain *mak *er

Show Spelled Pronunciation [reyn-mey-ker]

–noun

1.	(among American Indians) a medicine man who by various rituals and incantations seeks to cause rain.

2.	a person who induces rainfall by using various scientific techniques, as the seeding of clouds with silver iodide crystals from an airplane.

3.	Slang. an executive or lawyer with exceptional ability to attract clients, use political connections, increase profits, whose influence can initiate progress or ensure success, etc.: The president has several rainmakers among his advisers.

 I always thought I wanted to be an Investment Banker in M&A. I read every book, watched every movie and looked under every rock to understand the life of an Investment Banker. None of it scared me away. It actually made me more passionate about my childhood dream. I have been carrying this torch from the first time I watched “Pretty Woman” with my Mother. I saw the look in her eyes of the thought of a girl making her way from the difficulties of city streets to finding her fairytale in life of love & success. As a comic is infected with laughter as a child, I was infected that day with the M&A/Rainmaker Dream…

In the pursuit of this dream some might say I have taken a wandering road. First out of undergrad I stay in Upstate New York instead of finding a finance job in Manhattan. Second I move to California to pursue my MBA, once again shunning NYC. I went to UCI, not UCLA because I felt the culture was the best fit for me. After successfully chasing down my MBA which I thought would be the keys to the castle of M&A luxury, I find myself with the keys but no door.

This recession has closed many doors and has forced me to re-evaluate my intestinal fortitude to see my dream through until the end. With this recession’s cause as well as most devastated sector being financials, I do not see it growing back to the gluten stature it once was. Well at least not in the near future to enable me to pursue traditional career path of Banking at this point in my professional career. So what does that mean to me? Well less jobs because of more unemployed experience talent along with more MBA graduates. Needless to say more regulation by the government to establish safety nets with the intention to prevent this type of financial meltdown in the future. How do I stay a step ahead of these dominos as the layers of onion continue to be peeled back? How do I do this on my terms? LAW SCHOOL!!

As did my two matrixes came together, so did these economic factors for me. More regulation means more OPPORTUNITY! What are life’s constants? LAWS, death & taxes. How are all three of these constants always changing? They are based on the interoperation of the people that use them and protect them. They are applied by the logic and constructive arguments set by the best and brightest in the field. This is why there will be an influx need for Lawyers in these coming years. Especially in M&A while the banks redefine themselves through the new layers of regulation.

The irony of all of this is that I write this post on the Birthday Day of William E. Ryan Sr. a person I greatly admired. For the same reasons of why I want to be a Corporate Lawyer: dedication, determination, rainmaking ability and trail blazing legacy.

I leave you with this. No matter what your dream is, no matter how long your path is. Stick with it and do it on your terms. The purpose of one’s mission statement is to become the person you want to be. So no matter the goal, no matter the challenge; keep your vision statement in mind to ensure you keep your eye on YOUR prize. I might not have the most conventional way of doing things, but I have a drive and a focus that I feel is unmatched when I decide to do something.

Starbucks 2008

As I prepare for my CFA Level I exam, which will be my next entry of my never ending pursuit of knowledge, degrees and pure overall achievements (The nanny nanny poo poo finger wagging of look what I did).  I learn that I do actually have the ability constructively study.  It only took my 8 standardize tests (NASD Series 7, Series 66, NYS & California Life and Health Insurance Licenses, SAT, ACT, & GMAT) and two college degrees (BS from Lalley at RPI & MBA from Merage at UCI) to figure out what gets me to learn.  

I need to lock myself away in Starbucks like a child.  I have to be without toys, TV, Internet and reality for hours on end.  I used to remember when my life seemed so easy and simple.  When there was an endless supply of ice cream and nobody to tell me to slow down.  I could go out all hours of the night drinking and fucking until the sun came up with zero accountability.  I wouldn’t get much done the next day, but who cares we had 5 years to figure out what we wanted to do in undergrad.  Play time was here and now! “Sleep away” college as I like to call it was amazing.  I grew up so fast at the age of 17 that I actually went in reverse for awhile, pure physics really.  What goes up must come crashing down. 

It only took me 11 years to gain the confidence to change that inner desire to be responsible, to an actual plan in motion.  Is it scary? Yes.  Is it frustrating? Yes. Is it right? Yes, but probably a bit late. 

After years of starring at myself glassy eyed overweight in the mirrors of the Ruck bomb off my ass sometimes alone and most times with a buddy.  All I saw was this child looking to break out and step up to be a man.  This plan was noble at 3am on Tuesday with Kells the Bartender, Fridge the Bouncer and endless supply of Car Bombs to enrage that inner fire.  But low and behold 11am came on that Wednesday all was forgotten and self-deprecation kicked in.  Why did I drink so much? Who was that girl? Was she really that hot? This hang over says probably not…am I going to do that again? And what is that smell? Cigarettes, booze, & chicken wings baked into my hair and clothes… YUM! (Yes these were the days of our lives .. before the cigarette band)

After sleeping through my morning classes I would wake up recharged and ready to go again.  Looking for that next innocent (or playing innocent) college girl that would fall victim to a few too many shots and a witty joke.  This cycle stayed for years even though it would disappear and reappear like a hemorrhoid.  Each time it was getting a little messier and a lot itchier.  Until I realized that if I quit my bad habits this could all go away.  Go away is a little to strong of a word, because there will be those blow outs with “The Circus” where we try to relive the Heeyyyyy day!  But there was no longer a need for late night Mexican & pizza or beer on a Tuesday night.  Because we all know that would only do damage to my insides for the days to come. 

Those days always create the next excuse or setbacks allowing me to conveniently hide and defer my self-proclaimed responsibility.   I do let impulse and arrogance get the best of me.  I truly feel that I am superman at times thinking I will manage everything.  Getting to a game, helping a friend, Acing an exam, being the most social and getting the most reading done….. all while keeping a smile on my face and not yawning a stitch because I only have this 24 hour allotted clock of sand to accomplish everything. 

I have realized that all those years not wanting to be my parents, I have become them.  I have the ability to still correct those mistakes, but it will take me finally parenting myself.  I need structure, I need a challenge and I need to feel content.  I have been at my best in team sports or when my pride was publicly on the line.  Always when I felt I had to prove something to someone.   Waiting for that voice of responsibility to stand up and say that’s enough or congrats.  You have done enough, you need to move on.  Oh and that parental figure that I expected to keep me in check.   

Well, that voice not telling me to stop what I am doing, because it has become glutinous and unnecessary.  Was my own voice.. I didn’t have the confidence to stand up to myself and hold my hand to the fire as I did everyone else.  I felt it was important to be the center of attention to be the clown, to be the drunkest, to be the crudest or to be the best.  For what?  A pat on the back and a 100 lbs of beer gut.  What did I prove? Who did I prove it too? I proved that I had taken my eye off the ball with the ability to hide in plain sight. 

I started this blog in search for change.  Especially this evening, as I began to open my eyes to the other world of social networks the coffee shop patrons.  I sat in Starbucks studying away but seeing faces & hearing stories as people perched in the chairs as a regular part of their day. 

I would like to say things are the same but they are so ever slightly changing.  What was taboo for me to do at 17 as I entered undergrad, I began to hear children today in high school discuss their entry into that world.  This world is growing up much faster day by day.  These girls who are barely sophomores in HS talk away about their freshman year.  Of how they have matured so much in these past 12 months.  How they don’t want to be friends with that girl who got “Ass Fucked” by a senior before the end of her freshman year. 

In pure amazement I listened as they talked and planned the future as if they just figured it all out.  Only to realize in 11 years they still won’t have figured it out.  They will become the girl who tried the “Taboo” and figured out it wasn’t that bad.  It might not be for them, but it was not so shameful. 

As for me…. The ruck wasn’t that bad, those nights still so hazey.  I had found out a lot about myself and know I can win any day in a boat race.  But I am also starting to figure out what it is I value.  Most things before were taken for granted.. Now I want to stop and smell the roses.  Am I going to throttle down..HELL NO.. I might just do the opposite.  This time with a plan! Along with a set of goals that I personally hold myself accountable

Also… that smell of cigarettes has been replace….I now come home smelling like a roasted coffee beans.. As much as times change.. they are still the same..