This past weekend, I picked up a ”Who I Am” and ”Why I Am Here” story that just I couldn’t put down. The title, Make the Impossible Possible (2007) first caught my eye. It’s the story of Bill Strickland and his organization, Manchester Bidwell, a jobs training and community arts program located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.

Having been deeply inspired as a high school student by a ceramics art teacher, Strickland started the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild as a 19-year old in the tumultuous late 1960′s to offer inner-city youth an alternative to the violence and hopelessness of the streets. According to an article in Pittsburgh Magazine (January 2008) citing him as Pittsburgher of the Year, “Strickland wanted to help and figured if Frank Ross’ clay instruction had turned his life around, the same might prove true for other kinds from the North Side.” 

In Make the Impossible Possible, Strickland acknowledges the power of story in growing his organization from one small studio with fifteen inner-city ceramics students to someone who received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant”, has lectured at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has served on the board of the National Endowment for the Arts, and who, along with Manchester Bidwell, has been the subject of three Harvard Business School case studies.

A rich and inspiring read, Make the Impossible Possible includes many stories from Strickland’s life and work. In it, he shares some of his fundamental beliefs:

• People are born into this world as assets, not liabilities. It’s all in the way we treat people (and ourselves) that determines a person’s outcome.
• The sand in the hourglass only flows one way. Stop going through the motions of living – savor each and every day. Life is here and now, not something waiting for you in the future.
• You don’t have to travel far to change the life you’re living. Bill grew up in the Pittsburgh ghetto, four blocks from where he came to build one of the foremost job training centers in the world.

He says, “We all have stories to tell. In fact, we can’t avoid telling them. We tell them every time we interact with another person, form a friendship, interview for a job, fall in love, ask for help, or share a dream. What my experiences prove to me is the more clearly and convincingly you are able to tell your story, the better your chance of attracting the people who can best help you move your story forward, and in whose own stories you can play a productive part.

My story has many versions – one is about clay, one is about orchids, one is about jazz, one is about the center I built out of a dream, and another is about my dream of building similar centers around the world. But underneath all of them lies a simpler, deeper story with a more fundamental message: This is what I stand for; this is who I am. I tell that story every chance I get, and it’s still helping me connect with people who are willing and able to help me enlarge my vision and accomplish my dreams.”

Listen to one or more of the short clips on this site as Bill shares some of the chapters in his story. Be sure to go to the last clip, as he’s finishing up his talk, to hear him share his “Who I Am” and “Why I Am Here” message – and see how his audience responds.

What kind of “Who I Am” and “Why I Am Here” stories are you telling to those who can help you enlarge your vision and accomplish your dreams?

[tags] Bill Strickland, Manchester Bidwell, Manchester Craftsman’s Guild, leadership, storytelling, business narrative, Make the Impossible Possible, Harvard Business School, National Endowment for the Arts, Pittsburgh, MacArthur Foundation [/tags]