The pursuit of Chris Gardner

Chris Gardner is somewhere in Chicago on a mobile phone line that fades in and out as the connection is made.

But as soon as he hears that the movie based on his story and best-selling book – The Pursuit of Happyness – was recently on television in Australia, his laugh comes through as clear as crystal.

“Man, that is so cool. I’m big in Australia. I’m huge!”

He laughs again.

You’ve just released your second book Start where you are – was it easy to follow up your original book?

The first book, The Pursuit of Happyness, has been translated into 16 languages and as a result I heard from people all over the world who were asking me the same questions: “Why didn’t you quit? What made you think you could do it? Why did you keep going forward?”.

About a year ago the questions started changing to “what would you be doing now?".  What I have had a chance to do in the new book is tell a number of stories from my own life and from a number of people who have inspired me as to why I kept going forward and more precisely what I would be doing now in this exact environment.

We bought the book out in May, we hit the New York Times best-sellers list at number nine and we got up to eight. Then we fell off the list and came back at number 13 and now we are about to hit it again in a big way.

You know what is most important though? I often have to remember something that Dr Maya Angelou told me. From the very beginning she told me to forget about numbers and focus on the fact that people have connected with your book and your book is helping to change people’s lives – after you do that, all these other things will happen.

And when Dr Angelou tells you anything, the only thing for you to say is “Yes mam, got it!”.

What have been the lessons you have learnt from your experiences?

Baby steps count too. When you are doing something you are passionate about and when you are doing something that is bigger than yourself then the baby steps count too, as long as you are going forward.

We all take strides when we are clear and certain and there are no obstructions. But you have to take baby steps when you don’t know. Dr Martin Luther King put it best for me once when he said you may not see the entire staircase or where it leads but you have got to take the first step.

How has the response of the public to your story made an impact on your life?

Let me answer it this way. The coolest thing in the world is to hear from people all over the globe who say “thank you for sharing and now I know if you did that, then I can do this”. Whatever this is in their lives, that is the coolest thing in the world.

What is your advice for people going through tough times at the moment?

I would be doing something I was truly passionate about. I would be doing something that is bigger than me and no one else could see me accomplishing but me.

The Pursuit of Happyness, the book and the movie, was never about money. It was about a man who was committed to giving his son something that he never had, which was a father. 

That’s priceless. That’s doing something bigger than yourself and that is exactly what I would be doing right now.

I have to tell you, as chaotic and as turbulent as these times are right now, this is a great time to be asking yourself some very big questions. What is really important to me? What is it that I will not compromise or negotiate on? Do my children know me? Those are some very big questions.

I had a conversation recently with a good friend of mine, a big money manager in New York city who has fallen on some challenges. He said to me – and it hurt me to hear him say it – “I don’t know if my wife loves me. She didn’t sign up for this. She signed up for the house in Greenwich, summer in the Hamptons and private flights to Aspen and now I need to tell her she has to take a train to the city”.

I told him the first thing he needs to do is get a new wife. That’s the first thing he needs to do. [Laughs]

This is the time to be asking yourself some very big questions. Another part of this whole scenario right now is that a lot of us, for instance, allowed what we do to define who we are. But guess what? You just got laid off, downsized and fired and you don’t do it anymore – now who are you? Those are very big questions.

A lot of us, honestly, allowed our net worth to get confused with our self-worth. Your net worth is going to fluctuate but your self worth should only appreciate. This is a great time for those questions.

It’s certainly an interesting time, I’ll give you that.

[Laughs] That’s right, you won’t get bored!

How then do you define the true measure of wealth, if it is not the net worth that so many seek?

For me, money is the least significant aspect of wealth. I am healthy, as a single parent I have raised two children who have become special young people and I am in a position to do work that reflects my values.

What is next for you?

Television. It’s all about television, baby. I can’t tell you anything that you could actually write, but stay tuned. There is something special that we are working on that I can’t say a lot about, but it will involve names that you know and everybody in Australia knows. That is all I can say.

While we are on rumours, is it true that you own the Ferrari that Michael Jordan once owned?

I got rid of that car – that piece of crap. You know what happened? I bought the car from Michael because he is a tall guy and I am a tall guy and he had some modifications made to the car at the factory in Italy, that if I wanted to have the same modifications made would have cost me an extra $50,000.

So I bought it from him. But a few years ago I went to the Ferrari drivers school in Italy and they taught me how to drive the Ferrari properly. I will never get in a Ferrari again. Have you ever been in a car doing 200 miles per hour and the next turn you make is at 20 miles per hour? No thank you. You are thinking ‘brake, down shift, brake, down shift’, but before you do it in your head you are already in the turn.

I am into airbags now. [Laughs].

I actually drive the world’s dirtiest Bentley now. That’s the problem with it being dirty – when you finally get the chance to get some toys you do not have time and what you learn is that time is the ultimate luxury. Funny how you learn these things.

And the final rumour about you – did you make Oprah Winfrey cry?

She made me cry first. We are sitting there and talking and she is looking into your eyes and you are looking into her eyes…

The first half hour of the show she was talking to Will Smith, then in the second half hour she says ‘let’s meet the real Chris Gardner’ and I came out.

I knew this could potentially get emotional. For 27 minutes I was so cold. It was 27 minutes until she did one of those things that only Oprah can do. She said “there’s someone here who wants to say thank you” and she brought out my first intern from 20 years ago that we put through business school.

When that young woman came out and said “thank you”, that was it, I was crying like a baby. I told Oprah that there ain’t no crying on Wall Street. Well, not then. Everyone on Wall Street is crying now! [Laughs] I started this whole thing.

Thanks for your time – and good luck for the new television show.

No problems. Hey, you know I’m going to be coming to Australia just as soon as I get invited. [Laughs]

I would love to come Down Under. You must introduce me to this girl named Sheila!

[Big laugh].

There are a few of them. You will be here a while.

That’s OK. As soon as I get my invitation I will be on the way.

At a glance

Name: Chris Gardner

Position: Founder and CEO of Gardner Rich & Co

Age: 55

Author: Gardner wrote The Pursuit of Happyness based on his experiences overcoming tough financial circumstances to develop his own stock broking career

Latest book: Start where you are