Own Your Happyness: A Q&A With Chris Gardner

If you believe that ideas and attitude can change a life, then this interview is for you. My guest, Chris Gardner, is the subject of The Pursuit of Happyness, the #1 New York Times bestseller and Oscar-nominated film starring Will Smith. After reading this Q&A, my hope is that you’ll feel bold enough to pursue all the happyness and success that Chris has achieved.

Born to a childhood of poverty and violence, Chris overcame daunting odds to become a world-class stock broker and the founder of Gardner Rich, a Chicago brokerage firm. In the interview, we focus on what it means to be “world class” and draw on principles from Chris’s second book, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.

If you want to be world class at sales, entrepreneurship or anything you love, read on. Or, if you just want to know why I’m spelling happyness with a “y,” we’ll cover that too.

Jayna Cooke: Today, how would you answer your two favorite research questions: What do you do, and how do you do it?

Chris Gardner: I am trying to create the next Chris Gardners. I’ve been doing it over the last 10 years and have spoken in over 80 countries.

I’ve been talking to a lot of young people, especially here in America. I let them know that the people who they’re competing with for opportunities live all over the place. They’re probably not in your city, state, or country, they are hungry, and they are grinding! Some of the things that a lot of us take for granted, these people don’t.

You want be young and have fun, that’s great. But while you’re having fun, someone you don’t see is studying and preparing. You might end up working for that person.

Read the rest on Forbes.