20 years ago I graduated from university to enter my career, having no idea of what life had in store for me. Now in middle age, I find myself reflecting more and more on my professional journey, where I have been, where I am, where I plan to go and who I have met along the way. This contemplation has prompted me to ask the following questions about myself, my clientele and my practice:
“Am I gaining real value other than dollars from my clients?”
“Are my clients also my mentors?”
On December 9, 2010, at age 87, a great Canadian and friend left us. His name was George Vari and he was one of my mentors. After hearing of his passing Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrote of him: “This remarkable Canadian will be mourned and missed.” George as he preferred to be called, made Canada his home after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. His life since his arrival on our shores was remarkable to say the least. With no money in his pocket, he turned a personal vision into a living reality and legacy that all Canadians benefit from.
George made his mark in international real estate development. Just to name a few of his many building accomplishments were Paris’ Tour Montparnesse, six of the pavilions at Expo 67 in Montreal, and Moscow’s Hotel Cosmos. For his great contribution to our society in both his business and his renowned philanthropic work, George was recognized and appointed to the Order of Canada and to France’s Legion d’Honneur.
I was very fortunate to have personally known this man of character, not for his wealth or the great accolades he had received. I knew him as a great Canadian because he was a great teacher. We each have had these people enter our lives, who make an important contribution in us which we carry for the rest of our lives. George was just one of those individuals for those of us who chose to recognize and experience his wisdom.
One of George’s greatest strengths was his belief in investing his time and energy into people, to help them find their own purpose so they could then make their own meaningful contributions back to our society. In the late 1980s, George and his wife Helen chose to invest time and energy in me. The greatest lesson I had ever learned from George, that was far more valuable than anything material, occurred back in 1994. I had arrived at George’s office to discuss his portfolio. George was at his desk looking a little puzzled.
Earlier that day George had talked with an able bodied man on the street, panhandling for money. He had been asking himself why this man who had been born in Canada, that George considered “the best country in the whole wide world”, who had been offered so many opportunities, how could this man’s life have turned out this way?
George shared with me that he was asking himself this question because he felt that he had come to this country late in life and was able to make a life for himself and why had so many others not taken the opportunities given to them to make something for themselves. George would often share his gratitude for this country be saying: “I came to Canada with nothing and Canada gave me everything.” It were these questions that George was asking that turned me, the professional advisor into the student of a person who had lived a full and complete life.
As we talked, I asked George a very innocent question. I asked him when he was a little boy what had he dreamed of doing with his life? George shared with me that when he was very young he dreamed passionately about building around the world.
Then he joked that in his family engineers were not considered ‘real men’. His father said ‘real men’ became lawyers and doctors. But George then shared with me that he had decided that he was going to chart his own destiny and become an engineer and realize his inner calling to build.
Every great vision needs its muse and George’s was Helen, the true love of his life. Both George and Helen had embarked on a journey together in this country and enjoyed what life had in stored for them. Most importantly, they both felt a great inner need to give back and help the next generation make their own contributions to our society.
They accomplished this by creating the George and Helen Vari Foundation as a vehicle for much of their charitable works in Canada and internationally by making considerable endowments to universities.
As we finished our conversation that day, I asked George if he had felt that he had accomplished his vision that he had set out when he was a young man? George smiled and then said: Yes.
I turned to him and said: “Thank you. You have given me a great gift today by sharing insight into why you have achieved so much. You had a great vision that drew you to achieving it and you had been very fortunate to have found the right life partner to enjoy and experience this with.”
That is what made all the difference from taking an ordinary life and making it extraordinary. I have always felt honoured that George had spent those hours with me and shared his insights that had been gained from a life well lived. That day George taught me a valuable life lesson that if you value something, you will be inclined to direct you energies towards it. If you don’t, you won’t.
George was a true citizen of this world, who understood his obligations to this world, to make it a better place. Through his mentorship that day, the lens I saw my world through, greatly improved. Our society has so few Wise Men and Women to be positive role models for the next generation, with George’s passing, there will be one less but he is not the last.
Isaac Newton said it best: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” I choose to close this column with the same questions I began with, by asking you:
“Are you gaining value other than dollars from your clients?”
“Are your clients also your mentors?”
Life is just too short for it to be all about the money.
