Spectator
NovaNewsNow.com
Carol Ann Cole makes one of her biggest marks with the soothing touch of a thumb.
The former Wilmot girl who worked her way from an entry-level typist job to being among the first female vice presidents at Bell Canada admits she relies more on soft ‘people’ skills more than formal education.
They used to call her the country bumpkin in the boardroom because she was the high school grad from rural Nova Scotia, she says. As it turned out the little lessons she learned here have made a big impact on countless lives.
Using a pewter heart as her talisman, Cole has raised more than $1 million for cancer research. In partnership with OceanArt Pewter, the Nova Scotian company that first designed the signature pendants, she has sold more than 220,000 Comfort Hearts to people all over the world.
These little pieces of pewter began life as ‘worry hearts,’ a heart shaped pendant imprinted by a thumb. Rubbing this imprint in times of trouble offers a comfort that one is not alone, that others have gone down this road before.
Down That Road
And Cole has gone down cancer road, a few times. First in 1992 when she and her mother battled breast cancer together. Cole survived, but sadly her mother lost the fight less than a year later. Then 14 years later, Cole was diagnosed with skin cancer. And again in 2008, her breast cancer returned.
“Cancer shows you who you really are, it allowed me to be more open and honest about who I am,” she said. “People have dreams and once you are diagnosed with cancer, it changes things.”
She added that staring into the unfathomable depths of that darkness has forced her to dig deep inside herself and find strength and hope she never realized she had.
The big things we think matter -- money, influence, education -- aren’t so important. She remembers one of her life changing moments took place in Toronto, when she noticed a fellow patient during a radiation treatment.
“She came in carrying a briefcase and wearing a business suit,” Cole said. “When the treatment was over, she put the suit back on, picked up the briefcase and went back to work.”
Like her fellow cancer patient, Cole had spent nearly 30 years of her life vying for a spot as one of the first female executives. But cancer moved her to leave this workaholic lifestyle behind and begin listening to the wisdom of her heart and her body.
Cole says one of her new favorite expressions is, “Here’s your cancer, keep the change.” Cancer may end some things, but it opens new doors and directions if you are brave enough to walk through them, she said.
Lessons of Hope
Now thriving, she continues to turn her darkest days into lessons of hope for others. In 1994 she took an early retirement package from Bell, and a few months later transformed OceanArt Pewter’s worry hearts into hope for a cure and dedicated the project to the memory of her mother.
In 2001, Cole was awarded the Order of Canada for this Comfort Heart Initiative. She’s the author of three books, with many awards to her credit, Cole says one of the biggest lessons of her life has been finding that no one is ‘just’ anything.
“I’ve removed ‘just’ from my vocabulary, no one is ‘just’ a volunteer, or ‘just’ a high school graduate,” she said. “Everybody matters. Sometimes all people need is a pat on the back and the knowledge you are willing to help. It doesn’t have to be big -- little things matter.”
Most of the time it’s not the big things we do that matter, it’s little things that make the most difference to people, she said. It was this knowledge of soft skills that helped move her up the corporate ladder, but paying it forward turns out to be its own reward.
She added that no one knows what secret worries other people carry on their shoulders, so taking the time to offer encouragement through a pat on the back, or being nice twice can make a world of difference.
Remembering Names
High on Cole’s list of the little soft skills that really matter are remembering people’s names and not interrupting when another person is speaking.
While knowing the soft skills of listening, caring, sharing, and helping may have served her well enough in the corporate world, it has surpassed the first milestones during her second career as an author and motivational speaker.
At the beginning of her corporate career in 1981, Cole said she had about 300 names to remember. At the height of her Bell career, this list had grown to 3,000 names.
These days the number has reached the hundreds of thousands.
For more information on Carol Ann Cole visit http://www.carolanncole.com