Field of Dreams - Lessons from my Father on his Birthday

My dad’s favourite movie is Field of Dreams. He gets very reflective every year on his birthday and today, as he’s celebrating his 60th, I thought it was a good time to get reflective with him. My dad has spent decades building his dream both with his career and his family. In the wake of COVID, as intense and scary as times have been, I have gotten to see an even deeper side to my dad as our whole family has been bubbling together. I’ve been able to see a fuller picture of the results of his relentless pursuit of passion throughout his family life and career.  

In 1996, daughter number 5, my youngest sister Molly was born and Jerry McGuire hit theatres.  My dad had a deep realization watching Tom Cruise in this role – his love of sports and marketing could be brought together into one career. Growing up, I never watched him take the Cuba Gooding “Show me the money” approach at work but, more so the “show me how I can make a greater impact and help others pursue their passions” approach. In this same year, he became the owner of a Junior A hockey team and told everyone he topped up having 5 daughters with bringing on 25 new sons. More people to mentor, to care about, to help succeed.  This depth of caring is what has made him so successful as the advisor that so many have been lucky to have.

Watching him work was exciting for my sisters and I – constantly building something from nothing – repeatedly lying in bed at night thinking of the next big thing, to then wake up and drive us to school in the morning leading us through backseat brainstorming sessions, fueling our creativity through his own.  

As we grew up one by one, my 4 sisters and I adopted his caring, creative and passionate approach and ran with it. Whatever we were excited about, our dad not only supported it – he wanted to be our co-pilot, our sous chef, our first mate. He always wanted to get right into the weeds of an idea with us, and once we were excited about something he would wake up everyday with a printed out list of all the things he had thought about during the night that could help support our idea.

We saw the same dedication with his clients – flying to Turin, Italy for the Olympics to support them while crashing on an air mattress on the floor for a week. Bringing in two teenage hockey players to live with us for years and treating them like sons to this day. Every time my dad works with someone new he always starts with the first questions being – but what makes you tick? What causes do you care about? What do you want your legacy to be? Who can I connect you with that can help? He has helped so many talented athletes expand their potential by building their own legacies rooted in family, charity and community.

As his second oldest daughter and fellow entrepreneur, not a day has gone by where my dad hasn’t called me to find out about the latest things I was working on while giving me ideas of how to set myself apart – advice which always centered around me truly just being myself. My dad encouraged me when I wanted to quit my cushy corporate job and practiced with me when I pitched my first major retailers. As always he convinced me to get creative and ADD VISUALS (one of his favourite pieces of presentation advice). These sorts of skills led me to feel comfortable presenting to powerhouse people and speaking on television, eventually even presenting and pitching business side by side.

My four sisters have pursued very different career paths, yet my dad has remained heavily involved, passionate and supportive every step of the way always challenging, never pressuring. He’s been a parent who wanted the best for us but never by telling us what “the best” for us was but by being there once we figured it out ourselves.

As a new parent myself, with a 6-month old son at home, I think about how I can encourage my son in that way – being his biggest fan and pushing him to just be THE MOST himself possible; to find out what wakes him up excited in the morning, to approach things in a way that has never been done before and to not be afraid to do so – to live fearlessly, authentically and with a positive outlook.

Since March 14th, my entire family has been in quarantine together at the “field of dreams” that my dad and my mom, his partner in crime, built – the farm they transformed into a home and a haven for all of us – five daughters, including our significant others, our kids, all continuing to grow different careers that make us happy and fulfilled.

Now, my dad, with his 4th grandchild on the way, still keeps that passion as alive as ever, but with what seems to be a slightly different more mature perspective, do what you love, surround yourself with those you love and do so with engaged passion. I see him now at 60, calm, talking about how lucky he is everyday. He has taught me that feeling fulfilled and building your dreams bit by bit by following that inner fire is the best way to create a successful career and a successful life. So on his 60th birthday this is what I believe my dad’s advice would be to anyone building their career, be completely YOU, don’t be afraid to think outside the box, be courageous and curious, and remember that building your dream career and life doesn’t take a day, but if you follow your passion and support the passion of those around you, you can build your own field of dreams.