Miss-Delectable
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On the Job: Turn adversity into dreams come true - Salt Lake Tribune
When Stephen Hopson was a child, he would beg his mother to take him to a local airfield so he could watch planes take off. After watching them soar overhead, he would immediately run to his mother's car and lay his ear against the hood and wait excitedly for what he says he knew would come: ''The tremendous washing-machine-type vibration.''
As a self-described kid who was ''scrawny, with yellow buckteeth and . . . a monstrous hearing aid box that was strapped around my chest with hearing aid cords that ran up to my ears,'' Hopson had big dreams about one day becoming a pilot.
But as a deaf child, his dreams were supposed to be limited. Pilot a plane without being able to hear?
''I later discovered that deaf pilots had been flying since the 1940s, and I began flight training in 2000,'' he says. ''Many of the flight instructors were not aware that the FAA was allowing deaf pilots to navigate the skies. They couldn't bring themselves to believe it.''
Hopson not only went on to become a private pilot, but a commercial pilot (with restrictions) and made history in 2006 by becoming the first deaf instrument-rated pilot in the world.
Hopson's ''go for it'' attitude has been evident from the time he put his ear to the hood of his mother's car to his high-flying career as a Wall Street bank executive many years later, where he earned great success and money - and one day happily walked away.
That may be hard to fathom, especially as so many Wall Street executives now find themselves being forced to walk away from lucrative and successful careers after the downturn in many companies. But Hopson not only left his job, he did it because he fell asleep on a beach.
Actually, he fell asleep on a beach and had what he describes as a ''powerful thought thundering through my head.''
''The thought was: 'You are destined to be an inspirational speaker and writer, not buying and selling stocks.' Somehow, I knew it was true," he says.
So, six months later, he walked away from Wall Street. His mother responded like most mothers in such a situation: ''Do you have any money saved?'' while his colleagues let him know what an impact he had made on them with his achievements.
"I was the only one in that office who couldn't hear, yet I was outpacing some of them," he says.
Hopson is now indeed a motivational speaker and life coach (Professional Speaker, deaf, author, consultant, Cleveland, Ohio), but admits that starting over "from square one" was "scary and required a great deal of faith."
"As a teen," he recalls, "I'd drive the car down the middle of the highway somewhere in the country, pretending to be a pilot, taking off and landing. Got a couple of speeding tickets that way - it led to a better understanding of what is meant by 'paying the price for your dreams!' "
Hopson's new career is based upon the premise that he knows how to take adversity and turn it into success, and he believes that it is a message many people want to hear from just a regular guy faced with his share of obstacles.
"Years of scandals in the corporate world have soured audiences on pep talks from well-paid executives, but the skepticism softens when a speaker like myself who wears a hearing aid and speaks with a 'distinctive voice' walks onstage and talks about overcoming adversity," he says. "The fact that I have never heard a sound in my life, and yet managed to build a successful career . . . brings tremendous credibility to the table. After people hear me speak, they cannot possibly go back to work making excuses for themselves."
So, what advice does he have for others hoping to make changes in their lives or careers?
"Cut through the fog of fear by listening to your intuition and discover your true passions," he says. "Trust that by following your passions, people, places, things and circumstances will appear almost magically to supply you with what you need."
When Stephen Hopson was a child, he would beg his mother to take him to a local airfield so he could watch planes take off. After watching them soar overhead, he would immediately run to his mother's car and lay his ear against the hood and wait excitedly for what he says he knew would come: ''The tremendous washing-machine-type vibration.''
As a self-described kid who was ''scrawny, with yellow buckteeth and . . . a monstrous hearing aid box that was strapped around my chest with hearing aid cords that ran up to my ears,'' Hopson had big dreams about one day becoming a pilot.
But as a deaf child, his dreams were supposed to be limited. Pilot a plane without being able to hear?
''I later discovered that deaf pilots had been flying since the 1940s, and I began flight training in 2000,'' he says. ''Many of the flight instructors were not aware that the FAA was allowing deaf pilots to navigate the skies. They couldn't bring themselves to believe it.''
Hopson not only went on to become a private pilot, but a commercial pilot (with restrictions) and made history in 2006 by becoming the first deaf instrument-rated pilot in the world.
Hopson's ''go for it'' attitude has been evident from the time he put his ear to the hood of his mother's car to his high-flying career as a Wall Street bank executive many years later, where he earned great success and money - and one day happily walked away.
That may be hard to fathom, especially as so many Wall Street executives now find themselves being forced to walk away from lucrative and successful careers after the downturn in many companies. But Hopson not only left his job, he did it because he fell asleep on a beach.
Actually, he fell asleep on a beach and had what he describes as a ''powerful thought thundering through my head.''
''The thought was: 'You are destined to be an inspirational speaker and writer, not buying and selling stocks.' Somehow, I knew it was true," he says.
So, six months later, he walked away from Wall Street. His mother responded like most mothers in such a situation: ''Do you have any money saved?'' while his colleagues let him know what an impact he had made on them with his achievements.
"I was the only one in that office who couldn't hear, yet I was outpacing some of them," he says.
Hopson is now indeed a motivational speaker and life coach (Professional Speaker, deaf, author, consultant, Cleveland, Ohio), but admits that starting over "from square one" was "scary and required a great deal of faith."
"As a teen," he recalls, "I'd drive the car down the middle of the highway somewhere in the country, pretending to be a pilot, taking off and landing. Got a couple of speeding tickets that way - it led to a better understanding of what is meant by 'paying the price for your dreams!' "
Hopson's new career is based upon the premise that he knows how to take adversity and turn it into success, and he believes that it is a message many people want to hear from just a regular guy faced with his share of obstacles.
"Years of scandals in the corporate world have soured audiences on pep talks from well-paid executives, but the skepticism softens when a speaker like myself who wears a hearing aid and speaks with a 'distinctive voice' walks onstage and talks about overcoming adversity," he says. "The fact that I have never heard a sound in my life, and yet managed to build a successful career . . . brings tremendous credibility to the table. After people hear me speak, they cannot possibly go back to work making excuses for themselves."
So, what advice does he have for others hoping to make changes in their lives or careers?
"Cut through the fog of fear by listening to your intuition and discover your true passions," he says. "Trust that by following your passions, people, places, things and circumstances will appear almost magically to supply you with what you need."