photo courtesy LA Times and AP
Years ago, I worked with someone who was a self-described Charles Dickens aficionado and an all around savant in the realm of British Literature. Clearly, he was out of his element and far from his passion in the world of something as mundane as the construction of compensation and reward programs in the financial services world. I can readily identify with his dilemma. Although a considerable amount of time has passed by, I continue to recall how he would intermittently hurl at me, the question, “have you no intellectual curiosity?” He found it somewhat confounding that I could be so absorbed in what I was doing without comparing it to the limitless offerings of real intellectual pursuits outside the seemingly silly confines of our narrowly-defined corporate careers. This all took place within the realm of high humor and hours of yucks. However, years later, this began to seriously resonate with me – I got that and now continue to have this as my contemporary modus operandi, and happily so.
It is with this thought as a backdrop, I welcomed a good deal of appreciative pondering yesterday of the careers of two famous contemporary women and the paths of their intellectual curiosity. I found myself considering how tremendously accomplished they both are in their two highly-divergent worlds.
In the morning, I sat about 5 feet away from George Lucas and Melody Hobson who were having breakfast at the same time as I was. As I thought about this, I first spent time considering the genius of Mr. Lucas, creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones epics. Later in the day, I began to recall the history of Ms. Hobson as I connected with the articles I’d read about her own stellar lifeline and very impressive list of accomplishments. This is where I began to ponder… perhaps the two women couldn’t be more different at first glance.
If you read Melody Hobson’s biography, you’ll note that she is a thoroughly modern woman of seemingly irrepressible drive and accomplishment. Taking a stroll through her upbringing, education and career, might just leave you feeling quite a bit like a slacker, yes indeed. Head of a large investment company and Chairman of Dreamworks are only two of her current titles. And, while in fact, Alice’s career trajectory is somewhat similar, the two have taken not only different roads, but have been highly successful, but in entirely different genrés. What they do have in common however, is drive, determination, focus and staying power.
These two women are actually of two different generations as well, having 25 years between them. I certainly have the utmost respect and appreciation for the road that Ms. Hobson has taken, rising to the pinnacle of corporate achievement. Her accomplishments are nothing short of astonishing.
I am, however, because of my own predilections and “intellectual curiosity”, not surprisingly, more enamored and enthralled with the road that Alice has taken. Why? Because it reflects a curiosity, interest and respect for the welfare of humanity and the land, areas where some of my own passions lie. There is certainly no disrespect intended here for Ms. Hobson’s work and dedication to her career. It is just that it is interesting to consider how diverse the world of women’s work can be.
We food-interested people all know that yesterday at the White House, Alice Waters was among a distinguished group of recipients of a National Humanities Medal for 2015.
This, for me anyway, invites considerable awe-inspired consideration – and begs the question, can a single person develop a singular vision of how dangerously wrong-headed a corridor of the business world can go off-the-charts-awry and profoundly influence something as blanketing and basic as how a country eats? Apparently so. ….. And, can that person go ahead and build her own inborn impulses into a grass-roots populist movement with a burgeoning, power all its own?
I can think of a dozen industries in this country where the energy of unchecked amorality combined with the capitalist momentum has lead to disastrous results. Let’s not go into all that. Let’s just stay in the food genré. What perhaps began somewhat innocently as a movement toward convenience foods and economies of scale has lead us, say, since the 1950s, into a country of sugar, preservative and unnatural-ingredient, hormone and poison-laced, not to mention inhumane, food products and production methods, that if you take an informal survey in your grocery store at any given time, is likely to give you shudders – and send you into a life-long search for self-correcting measures. Alice bravely took this on – and, beginning with the soil and toil in her own garden. Her own impulses sprouted a movement.
I have written about Alice on this blog before and there is certainly no reason to regurgitate her career path here. There is plenty of material out there for you to consider.
Let’s just say that Alice, from the suburbs of New Jersey, to UC Berkeley, to the backroads of France and back to California has built herself a construct to humanize the eating experience in this country, showcasing the importance of taking “eating” back from the hands of corporate abomination.
While we continue to have the corporate side of the food business cannabalizing the efforts of once-noble endeavors – as in this week’s announcement of Perdue buying the venerable Niman Ranch operation, there is now an ever-growing army of resisters and re-definers, perhaps spawned by Alice herself, who dedicate themselves to the exact opposite of this trend.
As I sit here combing through my own ever-knawing intellectual curiosity, I say, kudos to you both, Melody and Alice, you are two gems in the world of women’s work and pursuit of tremendous accomplishment – and in so, an inspiration to us all.