For the Hive: My Imprint

My Imprint: I am going to cheat only because I am the first to write for this Hive and I didn’t want to influence anyone else (positively or negatively). I am going to describe the imprint others have had on me and therefore influenced the hope of the imprint I will leave behind.

My Mother – Ida Glasser Jacobovici -

My mother, who is a constant source of inspiration to me, a woman who is full of life (at 96), who possesses strong beliefs and is a loving human being, struggles with her sense of self-worth since the” R” word; retirement.

My mother has never been and will never be a victim of what she thought of as a “product of her culture”, yet a huge part of her identity is tied up with being born and raised in Romania between 1919 and 1950.

Her family influenced her identity as a woman, mother, and wife but her “social worth” was formed by a culture that measured your intelligence with schools, marks and degrees and your worth by the job and job title (as well as income). It was a shock to me when I visited my mother’s city of birth to see the headstones in the cemetery place the individual’s title, Doctor, Professor, Engineer, or Lawyer ahead of their name. And for those who didn’t have a title, the omission stood out in contrast.

My mother opened my eyes to the need to address a very culturally based measurement of a person’s value; being employed. She worked six days a week at the hospital, took care of a family and a home at the same time. Retirement did not come easily. As she became a Grandmother the joy is there but she measures her worth according to her past responsibilities; taking care of a husband, children, a household and contributing financially with her paycheck. Now, her children are adults, the household responsibilities have shifted to others, and her pension is her sole means of financial contribution.

Although she was influenced by her environment to define employment in a particular way, the professional she became was all hers.

When life circumstances influenced her choice of career, she adapted. She had always wanted to be a doctor but when that was not an option, she became a biochemist in a hospital setting. When, against all odds, my mother became the head of her biochemistry lab in a major hospital in Montreal, Canada, she became my first business coach. She modeled for me that once we are committed to a job, we take that commitment on responsibly and passionately.

She treated the requisitions of patients she received not as pieces of paper but as individual human beings. She sought to provide the doctors with the most accurate information from which they could form the best diagnosis and treatment. She would take pictures of unique crystals she saw in the microscope. She trained college students and medical staff. She loved what she did and she strove to be the best at what she did.

When I was deciding what my future professional life would look like, my mother told me to find my passion, learn, train and grow in that profession and the rest will fall into place.

My father – Joseph Jacobovici (of blessed memory) -

I miss being face to face with my Dad as he would teach me through stories; how to be in the world and how to be the best person I can be. His voice sounded from the heart. He walked the walk and he was the best example of “authenticity” that I have ever come across. He taught me that I don't have to give up my values to succeed in life. He taught me how to see the potential in everything and not let negativity rob me of being able to see and experience the positive.

Mistakes were something to learn from. He would say, "The difference between a fool and a wise person is that, although they both make mistakes, a fool repeats it while the wise person learns from it."

My Dad's criteria for what career I should choose was passion. "First choose what you love, what you feel passionate about, and then how you do it will fall into place."

It doesn't matter if my Dad is no longer with me because he still inspires me. He still gives me advice. He still speaks to me. I still hear his stories. Each challenge, each situation, each decision, brings up a different story that guides me.

Viktor Frankl - Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, 1905 - 1997

Hero is defined as someone “of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his or her brave deeds and noble qualities; a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal." Viktor Frankl fits this definition in every sense.

I was lucky to have parents that instilled in me a will to live a meaningful life. Through Viktor Frankl I discovered a language with which I could communicate that outlook. When I was training to become a therapist, I was challenged to articulate what kind of therapist I would be. After learning about Viktor Frankl, his life and his works, I knew that an important corner stone had been laid.

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”
Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

While in pursuit of his medical studies, a peer supported Frankl’s passionate gift for psychiatry and philosophy. Drawn to behavioral psychology as well, Dr. Frankl studied the teachings of both Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, all the while staging his own very important, very different theory: Logotherapy.

After surviving the Holocaust and losing his family, which he describes in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he returned to life with his foundation tested and beliefs strained. Though the road to recovery was long, he found the inner strength to continue to live out his meaning; by helping others find theirs.

I leave you with this Viktor Frankl quote that helped me put my entrepreneurial goals in perspective.

“Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it”

- Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

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