GLENFORD Smith is a career and life-success strategist, motivational speaker and writer, who has been able to convince people to change direction when they need to, because he has done it himself many times.

A review of the career decisions of this specialist in change management and member of the governor general’s ‘I Believe’ initiative committee is instructive. It will also reveal extreme self-belief and resilience.

Smith is a former design engineer with Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) — award-winning as well — who has in the last five years transitioned into motivational speaking and writing as a full-time career. His achievements in the short period of time have included creating and co-hosting Motivation at Midnight on Love 101 FM. He has written a newspaper column for several years now, as well as being feature writer for three popular lifestyle and business magazines.

His greatest achievements, however, have to be writing and publishing two books, the most recent of which is Profile of Excellence, a review of the 25 years of interviews done on successful Jamaicans by journalist Ian Boyne. This was recently launched at Kings House.

In 2012, his first book, From Problems to Power: How to Win Over Worry and Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities, culminated years of research into the DNA of success.

In his own words, Smith is also an exemplar of “an extreme work ethic” with the ability to visualise outcomes as a first step towards achieving them.

“This is the key. You have to decide with clarity what you desire. Then you have to believe in yourself because there will always be people who want you to doubt yourself. They will try to convince you about what is possible and impossible for you,” he said.

Smith’s journey started in the farming community of James Hill, Clarendon, in what he describes as strong and fun-filled family life, but with constant financial struggles. He wanted to break the cycle.

At Edwin Allen Comprehensive High School, he graduated in 1988 at the head of his class with the most CXC subjects ever passed up to that time at the school, including additional math. He won a cash award but did not have enough money for college, where he desperately wanted to go.

He was only 16 years old.

He recalled: “I got a job at James Hill Primary School as a pre-trained teacher. It was fun and highly educational, although I hated writing lesson plans. But the discipline of learning to plan my work proved to be invaluable.”

In 1989, with the assistance of his teachers at Edwin Allen, he worked and saved enough money for first-year engineering studies at the College of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST), now renamed UTech.

Living on Farquharson Hall as a 17-year-old, Smith said he recalls the feeling of not belonging, of waiting for someone to say that his presence was a mistake. But he had no problem with classes. He started the diploma in electrical engineering and power, and did very well. His only hiccup that first year was failing English.

“It was a wake-up call and it shook me, because I had never failed anything before. I buckled down,” he said.

Several experiences helped to develop leadership ability and self-confidence. He became hall religious co-ordinator and cell group co-ordinator for the University and Colleges Christian Fellowship. He also became secretary of the CAST Association of Student Engineers.

College life was a blast, but by second year his money ran out. He had no way of paying his way.

Based on his outstanding first-year performance, he was invited to a scholarship interview, but he arrived late and so was not considered.

“My electrical networks lecturer, who was on the interview panel, chastised me severely. It was a devastating blow. That was the experience which caused me to develop the discipline of never being late for an appointment,” he said.

What saved him then, and would do so again later, was his commitment to helping others, including fellow students from the Eastern Caribbean whom he assisted with mathematics. When he was in danger of being kicked out, they all came together and paid his tuition and boarding for the second year.

He again excelled, this time winning the Sir Jackson Wint Memorial Scholarship for outstanding performance, the first engineering student to do so. He also took out a student loan and, together with the award, paid expenses until graduation.

Smith expected to land a position with his dream company, JPSCo. While others might have accused him of tunnel vision, the then 21-year-old Smith believed that the JPSCo was his destiny. It was his singular focus.

But he was not accepted after his first interview with the company right after graduation. It was a devastating blow. Meanwhile, he was successful in interviews with the Jamaica Telephone Company, but turned it down.

“I always saw myself only working as an engineer at JPS. I wanted to work in the design engineering department,” he said.

For eight months he was without a job, having to squat on the dormitory, then ‘kotching’ with friends and eventually being thrown out for unpaid rent. A bad night was when, while working part-time as a keyboard player for a band, he returned home to find the locks changed on his apartment and his belongings strewn outside.

“I knocked up a neighbour who allowed me to stay in his kitchen. I sat there. It was the dark night of my soul. I did not want daylight to come.”

He was tempted to return to the country, he admitted. But, in that particular experience, sitting on a hard metal chair, he vowed, “A day is going come when I will have my own home, where no one can throw me out.”

Hardship fed his determination which was also fuelled by readings, including Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and listening to a motivational tape from Les Brown, over and over. During that time he also religiously watched Boyne’s Profile programme, featuring people who overcame problems. He also listened every day to a similar radio programme called My Place with Michael Anthony Cuffe.

“Those four things led me eventually to realise that, just like with maths, engineering and physics, success was based on laws. Success and failure were matters of cause and effect, not chance, luck or God’s blessings. I also realised that success in school didn’t guarantee life success; you needed to learn specific mental laws, life skills, strategic thinking, and practical techniques to master life.”

His new insights led him to try new strategies to get his dream job, chatting up people who he knew worked for the company, and asking them to put in a good word for him. By 1992 he secured another interview and was in.

“I got the very thing I wanted and met a lot of wonderful people. It took me all over the country,” he said.

Smith was the design engineer on the Highway 2000 Project and also the Northern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (NCHIP) for JPSCo.

Later, he led a team which implemented the designs. In 2003, he was the recipient of a special award and citation for outstanding work on the NCHIP.

But, while at the JPSCo, he maintained the interest in learning the science of success.

“I had another vision of using my life to help others succeed through speaking and writing. That passion was fed by Les Brown and Napoleon Hill, whose ideas had helped to change my thinking and my life.

“I wanted to speak in ways which would change people’s thinking. It was the seed of an idea which I maintained by reading,” he said.

Later, he met Boyne, who introduced him to new reading subjects and the two became fast friends.

“The world no longer exists where one can just go to school and get employed. People have to learn a new way of packaging, positioning and marketing themselves,” he said.