Month: March 2014

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Connections

clem and kennedy
Clem Taylor (background) with Ted Kennedy, early in Clem’s career.

I lost a good friend this week, Clem Taylor. The world lost a “good” man and a great storyteller.  Clem was an award-winning producer for 60 Minutes, no doubt his dream job. Clem loved “the news” and he loved “the story” and had a long and rewarding career in broadcast journalism. Looking around the room yesterday, at an overflowing crowd of people, I saw many icons of the industry. It was like the “who’s who in broadcast news”.   Clem’s stories have touched millions of people over the years. He was a connector of people and a curious lover of life. His life threw a large net.

I’ve known Clem for over 40’s years. There aren’t many people in my life that I’ve known as long as Clem.  Clem was a family friend of Tom’s from Doylestown, PA.  I met him in the early ‘70’s, when was I was living in Santa Barbara, California. Tom’s brother Tim had driven out to the West Coast with Clem and his BC college buddy, Steve Kolbe during spring break one year.  We always stayed in touch with Clem, he made sure of it, and my mind is full of memories of the times that I got to spend with him. He always brought a smile to my face.

In a way, meeting Clem was a huge twist of fate in my life and Tom’s and it led to the “big break” in our careers.  When we moved back to the East Coast after graduating from Brooks, Clem connected us with his father, Adrian Taylor.  Adrian had also just gone “back East” after living in the San Francisco area and working as an art director in advertising.  He had taken a job as art director of Travel & Leisure Magazine in New York City and Clem, knowing that Tom and I wanted to shoot for magazines, made the connection happen. That connection changed the course of our lives in a richly rewarding way.  With Adrian’s encouragement and his willingness to take a chance on two young kids straight out of school, we learned and grew under his mentorship.  That first meeting with Clem was a fateful day.

The thing is, what I remember most about Clem is that I always had a good time with him.  He was fun to be around and incredibly interesting to have a conversation with. I have a lot of memories of Clem that have accumulated over the years but it’s the simple and sometimes silly ones that seem to surface in my head. But isn’t that what life is made of – the everyday moments?  Clem knew that and his stories reflected that.

As I get older, I realize that life is all about our connections with people.  Some of our connections may be short lived and some may last through the years, but I’m sure that each person who enters our lives is meant to play their part.  Yesterday, I saw a lot of old friends who I hadn’t seen in decades.  We all “caught up” on those missing decades and shared regret on letting the years slip by.  But we shared a connection through Clem and always will.

The last line in one of my favorite movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, is a quote by Mark Twain: “No man is a failure who has friends”.  Clem, you’ve got George Bailey beat as the “richest man in town”.

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Commitment

Commitment is everything.  It’s what makes us get things done.  It’s what makes relationships work.

Gail in bamboo hut in hill tribe village, northern Thailand
Gail in bamboo hut in hill tribe village, northern Thailand

It’s what makes us not give up, no matter how bleak it may look at times. It’s what gets us to stay focused on “the story” and be true to ourselves.

To some people, commitment can be frightening.  Their heads are filled with negative “what if” thoughts of failure that hold them back.  So, they plod along through life letting things happen to them instead of going after what they want. Those are the people who let resistance win.

I’ve always been a determined and committed person – if I say I’m going to do something, you can count on me to do it.  It’s tough sometimes though, to stay committed to myself and to what my true purpose is – it’s far too easy to get caught up with the regular flow of work and life.  But every now and then I get an idea for a creative project that just won’t go away.   When I finally decide to stop ignoring the idea and do something, I have a mechanism I use to help me make the commitment – I tell someone about it.  I’m the type of person that feels, once I’ve told someone I’m going to do something, then I have to do it – just to save face.  I call it “forced accountability.”

Seth Godin writes today about commitment: “One way to play in the digital age is to appeal to those that browse, the window shoppers, the mass audience that can’t and won’t commit.  The alternative is to focus on impact, not numbers and impact comes from commitment. “ He says: “ price is more than an exchange of coins. Price is a story.” Essentially, Godin is saying that in our noisy digital world, where ideas and content are free – we’ve got to be better, to make an impact.  In order to connect with the buyers on an emotional level, we’ve got to be “better than free”.

Every commitment that I’ve ever made has come with tremendous personal growth.  When I traveled around the world a couple of years ago making a feature length documentary, Opening Our Eyes, I not only challenged myself physically and creatively, but spiritually as well and I feel that I became a better person because of it.  I would not have been able to endure the hardships of that journey, nor the intense workload of post production had I not been committed to the idea.

What are you willing to commit to?  Commitment may be frightening, but without it, you may be spending your later years wondering, “what if I had”

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Let the Good Times Roll (Laissez les bons temps rouler)

If there is one thing I’ve learned from a lifetime of travel, it’s that the more you immerse yourself into the culture of where you are, the more rewarding the experience will be.

This past weekend I flew to New Orleans for a friend’s big birthday bash weekend. 100 of her friends traveled to the Big Easy”Cajun musician playing accordian, New Orleans, Louisiana from all over the world to her help celebrate her 50th in a way that only this city can offer. Most of the activities stayed clear of the French Quarter and the tourist scene and took place in parts of the city that felt “real”.  You can’t help but feel the deep culture and history of this city, once you get yourself beyond the “sleaze”.

We had a couple of memorable dinners but one stands out in my mind, not just for the incredible cuisine, but also because of the company that evening. I was seated between a very distinguished young man from South Africa and a writer from Los Angeles. Across from me was an Italian who was living in London and a couple from Mississippi.  Some folks I had met 10 years ago at the 40th birthday bash. The conversations were diverse and entertaining.

After dinner our group left the restaurant and formed our own parade in typical New Orleans style.  Two NOLA cops on motorcycles led us and a second line band as we marched a few blocks to our next stop. It was a first for me – to be dancing up a New Orleans street, along with 100 other folks enjoying the moment.  It was pure happiness and not just for our group but for all those who came out of their houses or restaurants and bars to watch our small parade go by. I enjoyed every bit of that 4-block walk and it is etched in my mind forever.  And that’s the sort of thing that separates a city like New Orleans from a city like “Vegas”.

I was blissfully exhausted when I boarded my flight home Sunday night. When I ordered a glass of wine, the flight attendant happily announced that the man in 1 A is buying everyone on board a drink tonight. He was getting married and wanted to celebrate with his fellow passengers.  Le bon temps continued to roll.