The first time I saw the picture posted to this blog was several years ago when I attended a lecture by Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat. He used this image to remind us Americans how privileged we are and how hungry the rest of the world is to better itself.
The picture shows young Guinean students who have walked for miles to study under the dim parking lot lights at the airport in Conakry. These faint lights were among the only few in the electricity-starved capital that were sure to be on. Only about 20% of Guinea's 10 million people had electricity, and even that was supplied from a system that experienced frequent power cuts. Students longing to better themselves discovered that the airport was one of the few places where the lighting was guaranteed.
After learning of these inspired and self-motivated students, the first thing that I did was to reflect on my days of high school and ask myself the question. Would I have walked miles in the dark for the opportunity to sit on a cement block and study under a dim light? My truthful answer is no way. Would your children?
Yesterday, I had my first book signing since the launch of Welcome to the Big Leagues. It occurred at the Barnes & Noble in San Mateo at the Hillsdale Mall. It's a grand location that had plenty of foot traffic. This put my faith back into brick and mortar stores, as there were many shoppers who stayed and enjoyed the experience for several hours. The fact that there's a Starbuck's inside also supported this. (Note: E-book and online sales have cannibalized in-store sales by 50%. I believe the sales ratio will remain constant from here).
I was on site during the early afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Engaging with customers and watching people of all ages smile or become gratified when finding their ideal book. Observing the enthusiasm and joyfulness that children showed for books was also very refreshing to see.
Then it finally happened, I was approached by a personable and sophisticated mother with her 11 year-old son, Benjamin. I had mentioned that my target audience for Welcome to the Big Leagues was the new college graduate, summer intern and corporate rookie. After chatting for a short period and answering a few questions, we talked more about Chapter 7 that expands beyond the corporate world and focuses on a person's overall wellbeing.
Moments later, she was convinced that my book would be a good read for Benjamin. I was instantly bewildered by that and began to quickly reflect on my use of swear words, knowing that a couple didn't get edited out. (I always try to keep swear words away from children, a mission ever since reading The Catcher in the Rye back in high school. To this day, I am sickened by what people write on or carve into public walls).
She had mentioned that Benjamin recently finished Steve Job's biography, a book that's on my own reading list, and that he was an avid reader. I was blown away by that comment. At 11 years-old, I read books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Back then, I loved the Ford Mustang but you couldn't have paid me enough to read a book on Lee Iacocca.
I signed the new book for Benjamin and for the remainder of the day thought about what type of influence it would have on this ripening mind. In Welcome to the Big Leagues, I do teach many inspiring and important things like being the best that you can be ... a good humanitarian, continued learning, mental and physical health, facing fears and failure, budgeting and avoiding predatory lenders, and so much more. All great matters to teach today's youth, but I seriously never considered nor imagined reaching a young audience.
Yesterday, the Barnes & Noble team had told me that the author who was featured during the prior day did extremely well. In fact when I do the math, his sales where nearly five times greater than mine. When I asked the team what the other author's book was about, they said "Vampires".
My take from this is that there are many readers out there who are zestful for "the thirst for blood", as opposed to those few outliers like Benjamin and the students of Guinea with "the thirst for knowledge".
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