May Oswald be a mentor to us all

I was reminded of one of my favourite quotes in life when reading through an old travel journal from the mid 90's (before starting Right Sleeve). While on this backpacking trip in Asia, I read voraciously as I was in the right mindset to absorb new ideas. One of the best books I read was Roald Dahl's My Uncle Oswald.

I am a big believer in passion. I know that there are many pragmatic things that get in the way of leading a passionate life ("I have to work at this boring job so I can pay the mortgage", "I would really love to do xyz, but it would be too risky", etc). This is what makes us human - a natural aversion to risk and change.

Any successful person in business, politics, education, and life in general possesses many special attributes. However, without passion for what they do, nothing else really matters. I am not defining success in monetary terms (i.e., a stressed out worker bee who makes $10 million and hates what he/she does is not a successful person). I define it in the joie de vivre sense. If you have passion, everything else comes easily. If you lack passion, the rest is a slog.

Back to Oswald ... the following passage is written from the perspective of Oswald's risk averse nephew:

"I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be".

From a business sense, look at the most memorable companies in the world (or your neighbourhood) today. Take Starbucks or Google on the world stage or how about the kookie, irreverent local coffee shop in your neighbourhood. A friend of mine, Cam Heaps, started the Steam Whistle brewing company in Toronto because he was (white hot) passionate about beer. The rest is history. He has built a solid business while competing against the monster breweries and the multitude of craft labels in Canada. His passion drives the business day in and day out, against all sorts of odds. Without passion, I shudder to think where Cam would be today.

May Oswald be a mentor to us all.