Last night I was fortunate to attend the Coca-Cola Scholarship Foundation dinner in Atlanta. Our host was one of our top customers, Ongweoweh CEO Dan Bonamie.
It’s usually the supplier who hosts the customer so that made the honor even more special. It’s rare to have a customer treat you to an event like this.
The Coca-Cola folks gave away more than $2 million to more than 250 students.
In addition to receiving scholarships, the students and guests were treated to some comments from Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman. He was interviewed by Coke CEO Muhtar Kent. That’s a great deal of leadership firepower.
Kent asked Freeman for his most important leadership advice. Here’s what he said:
“Watch out for yourselves. Don’t let failure get you down.”
He said that looking back on his life that he had learned that failure was inevitable. No one is successful all the time.
“The world will walk past someone sitting or lying down. People will always reach down for someone struggling. So, keep moving,” Freeman said. “Don’t stop. If you keep moving toward your goal, you’re sure to get there.”
As always, I’m grateful for the honor of being your CEO. I get to go special places because of it. It isn’t lost on me how blessed I am.
