To read “Prove Them Wrong” Part 1, click here.
I was talking to Jerry Williamson, a longtime friend and client, recently when the subject of proving naysayers wrong came up. He shared a personal story that revealed his own struggles to prove his critics wrong.
When Jerry was a junior in high school he spent all his time excelling in sports and math, his favorite subject in school. There never seemed to be enough time for him to focus on English, a subject he did not care for. His lack of enthusiasm was reflected in his average grades, as he did only what was necessary for him to get into college and continue his flourishing athletic career. His English teacher became so frustrated with him that one day she told him, “You will never be successful in life.”
Well, Jerry went on to college, where he continued to excel at sports and capitalized on his math skills by getting a degree in architecture. Immediately after graduating, he landed a job as an architect at a firm in Bethesda that was designing many of the public schools in Montgomery County at the time.
In his early 30s, still with the same firm, Jerry was named the head of the team tasked with designing the brand new high school we know as Churchill High School. Once they had a design that they liked, his team would meet with the county school board and get their input, then meet with the head of the Churchill English Department to review the plans for that wing of the school.
After a successful meeting with the school board, Jerry headed to the meeting with the head of the English Department. Who should he see walking towards the conference room but his old high school English teacher, now the head of the English Department at Churchill High School. She looked at him and said, “I think I know you.” Jerry replied, “Yes, you do. I’m Jerry Williamson and you taught me English.”
She quickly asked him, “Do you remember what I told you?” Jerry said that he did still remember. His former teacher then told him how worried she had been that it would affect him the wrong way and how she had tried to periodically check up on him during his career to see if he was doing alright. Jerry told her not to worry, that her comments had actually served as motivation for him.
They went into the meeting and Jerry introduced his team and began his presentation, eloquently describing the plans. A few minutes into his excellent presentation, his former teacher blurted out that “no one should have to go through this.” A member of his team looked at Jerry and quietly asked him what she meant. He winked and said, “I’ll tell you later.”
As many of you know, Jerry would go on to be the partner at Danac Corporation which, at the time they hired him, was the largest full-service commercial real estate firm in the area. He later started his own extremely successful firm, the Williamson Group.
I imagine wherever his former English teacher is today, she would be proud of how he turned out, and proud of how wrong she was in her early assessment of him.
Have a great weekend,
Ro