There are at least 3 sides to every story...

1963 is memorable for several reasons. My parents got married in October of that year and President John F. Kennedy visited Ireland for 4 days in June. During that visit, President Kennedy and the Irish Taoiseach Sean Lemass ignited a flame of cooperation and economic ambition that started the transformation of Ireland from a relatively newly independent state highly dependent on agriculture to today, 60 years on, where Ireland is ranked #1 for economic performance and #3 for business efficiency in the IWD World Competitive Rankings.

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Focusing on that single event in Irish/American history, I’d love to share 3 perspectives to that story and perhaps there are others you can share…

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The macro economic perspective…?This week at events commemorating this historical visit, Simon Coveney shared the positive impact of a 60 year enduring economic partnership on the economic fundamentals of Ireland. CEO of American Chamber Ireland, Mark Redmond echoed the employment impact where American companies employ 200,000 people directly and 176,000 indirectly in Ireland but, equally, Irish companies employ 100,000 people across all 50 States of America with 6,500 Irish companies having a US base.

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The perspective of the diaspora… In an event at the historic Iveagh House that took place on June 27th, 2023,?60 years to the hour that President Kennedy addressed an audience in the exact room, US Ambassador to Ireland, Claire Cronin shared her perspective as a proud Bostonian with Irish heritage reinforcing the symbiotic partnership that persists between our countries and our peoples. And, on Thursday, Irish born innovator Patrick Collison , co-founder of Stripe and Cyber psychologist, thought leader and author of ‘The Cyber effect’ (a must read!), Prof. Mary Aiken were among a coterie of distinguished speakers who enthralled a privileged audience (including myself) at the Kennedy Summer School #JFKMoonshot event at Trinity College Business School.

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A personal perspective… As a child, one of my favourite things to do on a wet winter day when I was stuck indoors was to leaf through the many photo albums at our house, asking my mom about the people in various photographs. In one of those albums,?I was particularly taken with a photograph of a man standing up in an open-top car on Eyre Square – frankly as a mechanic’s daughter I was probably more fascinated by the car than the man, but when I asked my mother anyway she explained that it was a photograph of President Kennedy’s visit to Galway on June 29th, 1963, and I learned about the sad events in Dallas that occurred exactly one month after my parents’ marriage.?On that Saturday, she was amongst the throng of people in Galway and took the photograph with a camera that had been purchased ahead of the upcoming wedding.?She talked about relatives in America, how she and my father had seriously considered emigrating to Boston to join my uncle Jack, who left Galway in the 1950s and had a successful business in Brookline. I must admit I was a bit disappointed to discover that I missed on being an American which based on my perception of America through TV of the 1970’s seemed very glamourous – all Farrah Fawcett perfect flicky blond hair and adventure.?But she explained that instead of emigrating they decided to stay in Galway and buoyed up by the promise of economic change and opportunity of the early 1970’s, my father started his own business.?This week I listened to the audio archive of JFKs remarks to the people of Galway where he spoke of being able to see Boston from Galway Bay on a good day (if your sight was good enough), of emigration, how nearly everyone in Boston seemed to be from Galway and most poignantly of how so many of his visiting party felt ‘at home’ in Ireland despite being separated by time, generations and thousands of miles.

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Given these perspectives, it is no surprise that my colleagues and I at #FidelityIreland feel ‘at home’ working at Boston founded Fidelity Investments and so many of our US colleagues feel ‘at home’ and connected working with us due to shared heritage and values – a connection that 60 years on from JFK's historic visit is stronger than ever.?We all have a wealth of personal experiences and the stories we tell reflect the lens we see those experiences through.?My advice at work and in personal life when synthesizing any experience, conversation or conflict is to look beyond your personal lens and remember that ‘There are at least 3 sides to every story’….

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To all my friends and colleagues in the US,?Happy Independence Day to you and your families.

#Partnership #Culture #Community #Reflection #july4th #storytelling #leadershipmatters #JFKMoonshot #ambition