Power Point: Appreciate adversity
“Adversity builds character.”
– Charlotte Sellers, my mother, who died a year ago today, told me this constantly when I was growing up. I try not to use Postcards as a platform to get too personal, but if you’ll permit today–to pay a tribute to her–I’d appreciate that. She was 87 and forceful and generous and beautiful until the end. My closest friend.
Marrying my father in 1944, she thought that she couldn’t have children—and after “the miracle,” as they always called me, arrived, they spent the first year dealing with my illnesses and doubting that I would survive. Well, I did. And I do think that adversity–in infancy for me and within a loving marriage for my parents–made us all stronger and wiser than we otherwise might have been. My dad, Dr. Walter Sellers, soon to be 88, is doing well generally but having a rough day today. So this Postcard is for him as much as it is for my mother and me.
Charlotte would have been very proud of this posting. Despite all the adversity we all deal with on a daily basis, it most assuredly creates character on which we can build a more solid foundation for both our personal as well as our professional lives!
I know for a fact that Charlotte and Wally are very proud of you, Pattie.
I knew Charlotte, and I only hope that I am as hip and well read at 87 as she was. She died before this blog’s debut – she would have been one of its biggest fans (and sharpest critics!)
Interestingly enough, my mom also constantly spoke of building character. Her line was ‘doing things you don’t want to do builds character’ and I often find myself using her line. Daily I am building character because being without her is something I don’t want to do. Even though our moms cannot be with us forever… for always they remain in our hearts. I think your tribute was beautiful.
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Patricia Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Can Meg Whitman Save California?", Melinda Gates ("The $100 Billion Woman"), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). And she has broken ground with insightful pieces on career management issues such as ego ("Get Over Yourself!"), and "Charisma: Do You Need It? Can You Get It?" Pattie chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. And she has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" cover package since its launch in 1998. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big consumer brand companies.
Pattie, this is so lovely. My best to you and your dad!