I was one of those kids who frequently changed her mind about what she wanted to be when she grew up. One day, I wanted to be a mechanic. The next, I wanted to be a journalist. The day after, a lawyer. There were two running themes though. First, I never saw myself doing “the work.” I wanted to own and run the business. And, second, I thought I should have been born into a royal family. I was supposed to be a princess.
Today, I became a princess.
I tested out most of my childhood career fantasies. Some have been more fun than others. I didn’t do so well in my day and a half as a petrol station attendant for Shell. Nor was I a success in my brief stint as an assistant in a pastry shop. However, I did love being a project manager for social programs in remote Aboriginal communities. And, I thrived as a coach for executives looking for an edge in their leadership that would catapult their companies into a new era.
I have built over a dozen of my own companies plus another 30 or so for others. My favourites are the ones that make a difference for others. For example, one of my clients has been developing systems and structures to shift the education system from being a bureaucratic, aptitude measuring platform for innovation killing and teacher and student depression to a child-centric field of personal growth and development opportunities for whole families. Another client has been building a yoga school that develops Indonesian people who would like to become teachers. It is funded by non-Indonesian yoga students who can afford that little bit extra to cover tuition for people they might never meet. These companies inspire me.
In my companies, I prefer to work with clients that are up to interesting things – like the vanilla plantations and the coconut plantations that will provide profitable livelihoods for thousands of families and many, many thousands more people along the supply chain. I am excited by our plastics project – the switching from petrochemical based plastic to an organic plastic that dissolves in water and doesn’t leave rubbish in our environment for hundreds of years or microplastics in the flesh of our creatures.
It is our wireless medical biosensor and remote monitoring project, which keeps people out of hospitals and reduces the workload of nurses and doctors everywhere, that placed me in a position to fulfil on a childhood dream I truly believed was impossible. That crazy one about being a princess. I fulfilled on that dream. Today, I became a princess.
Raja Samu Samu VI is King of Maluku in Indonesia. Hi wife, Ratu Sabrina, has been in and out of hospital for some months. She was diagnosed with narrowing of a heart valve and is expected to undergo surgery soon. We offered Raja and Ratu a free five-day heart and vital signs monitoring as part of a clinical trial. We gave copies of the ECG reports to Ratu Sabrina’s cardiologist and he was able to modify her treatment plan with the additional data. Raja and Ratu were delighted.
Today, we went to Raja Samu Samu’s home to check in on Ratu and complete the monitoring process. It is always a privilege to be in their company and I enjoy listening to Raja’s stories. Raja seemed relaxed knowing that his Ratu is being well looked after. He thanked us for our support and I thanked him for his trust. Then, Raja presented me with a certificate … and he made me a princess.
I still prefer to own and run my own business than work in someone else’s, and that is unlikely to ever change. However, H.E. Princess Tracy Wilkinson would look pretty nice on any email signature.
