I won the ovarian lottery.
Born to a family that believed in hard work, progress, improvement, and resilience.
I have a loving family. And an extended family that shows up. There were almost 20 of us at Ellington’s U7 hockey game last week. Showing up in a cold arena supporting her on the Ice.
Emily Dugas looked at me and said with a tear in her eye, “I hope you know how special this is.” I know now. I didn’t realize it when I was growing up.
Scan out a bit more – I was born in Canada, a liberal-capitalist democratic nation, with the ability for forward progression.
It is why my family, in three generations transitioned, from the farm to the boardroom. (by the way we need more farmers and blue collar workers and I love those businesses even more in a world of mass disinformation and AI).
I did none of that.
Robert Glazer wrote today about fundamental attribution error, a well-documented psychological bias where we attribute our successes to internal factors—our talent, hard work, or intelligence—while blaming failures on external forces beyond our control.
Your environment has so much more influence on your trajectory than anything else.
You still have to move the ball downfield. Control the controllables. But your environment and the relationships you spend time with will be primarily responsible for your lot in life.
As I reflect on the influence of my dad (Merv Symes) and the extended family, It is abundantly clear that I got to start on the 90 yard line. I’ve known that for quite some time. I”m grateful.
It’s humbling, liberating, and inspiring.
