Diamonds on the Floor

Haitian–American singer Wyclef Jean warms our hearts this New Year’s with this recent answer to an interviewer’s question:

How did your life change when you moved to Brooklyn [from Haiti]

It was like day and night. The small village I was raised in didn’t have electricity -- no light, no nothing. My parents came and got me when I was 9, and I can still remember what it was like to see those headlights.

Landing at JFK for the first time, can you imagine?

I looked out the window and couldn’t see nothing but lights. They were so glaring that I said to my brother, “Man, we’ve arrived in the city of diamonds. This place is so rich, it’s nothing but diamonds on the floor!”

It can be easy to forget, Readers. Lots of things are there to distract us. The stress of the job hunt. The bustle of the holidays. The demands of your current job.

But for many immigrants, and for all of us fortunate enough to be born here, this is the land with diamonds on the floor.

Don’t let yourself forget that we are the best educated, healthiest, best fed and best traveled generation in history. And the opportunities that we have when it comes to work really are unprecedented: to chose our own job, to pursue our own career, to pursue our own happiness.

That’s really tremendously different than the way our ancestors lived, and even far removed from the experience of most of our fellow human beings on the planet today.

So, even if you’re going through a tough time this year end, and especially if you’re not, please take a moment to celebrate the extraordinary good fortune we all have to be here in the here and now.

Because celebrating our successes -- spiking the ball in the end zone, high–fiving after the home run, raising our arms in victory at the finish line -- is something we don’t do enough in business and our careers here in America. And celebrating is important because it reminds us of what has enabled us to get to where we are today.

Which brings me to the close of this year’s newsletter, our fifth year in business here at TheLadders.com…

John D. Rockefeller was the world’s richest man in his day and undoubtedly had much to celebrate. But what was actually his “most joyful holiday of the year?”

You can find out in this clipping from the September 27, 1922 New York Times (click on the image to see a larger version):



Yes, John D. Rockefeller’s “most joyful holiday of the year” was the day he got his first job as a lowly clerk in a produce warehouse, and he celebrated that day for the rest of his life.

It’s funny how those earliest experiences can leave the most lasting impression. It wasn’t my first job, but my first raise that I’ll always remember. I was a cook at a Perkin’s Restaurant (kind of like a Denny’s for you non-Midwesterners) all through high school. About 4 months after I started, I got a raise from $4.25 / hour to the princely sum of $4.50 / hour.

Even writing these words right now, the biggest, stupidest grin is breaking out on my face as I think about how happy I was with everything that raise signified: that I could get ahead, that I was doing well, and that I could actually make money out there in the real world!

So… whatever you’re celebrating this New Year’s, Readers, whether it’s your first job, or a 25-cent raise, or something even more substantial, I congratulate you and wish you the heartiest best for a healthy, happy, successful and prosperous New Year.

I’ll see you next Monday for the beginning of my sixth year of writing this newsletter. I’m very, very grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to help over 2 million subscribers over the years get into their next great job faster and I hope to help you do the same in 2008!

Warmest Regards,

Marc Cenedella
Founder & CEO
TheLadders.com, Inc.