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Attitudes Magazine Fawn Germer on
By Joan Griffith “How will you ever learn to fly if you won’t jump off the cliff?” The question is bold, and author Fawn Germer is asking it, academically, in her best-selling book, Hard Won Wisdom, recently highlighted on The Oprah Show. Germer was keynote speaker at the May 10 symposium, “Speaking of Women’s Health,” hosted by WEDU and Dick Lobo, attended by over 450 at The Ritz-Carlton, in celebration of The Year of the ‘Can-Do Woman.’ The ability to spot opportunity and take the risk separates the ordinary woman from the extraordinary woman every time, says Germer, whose topic, “Take a Risk and Fly With It” addressed eternal issues faced by the female population....and males as well. “We hold ourselves back worrying about failing, rejection, losing control and starting over.” The lady knows whereof she speaks. After a meteoric career of 25 years in investigative journalism, during which she was nominated four times for the Pulitzer, Fawn Germer did a 180, turned her back on the news business, wrote her first book and entered the lecture circuit. And yep, it was a man whose catalystic remark prompted the abrupt decision. As a veteran news reporter and/or editor on such illustrious publications as U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Tampa Tribune, Florida Times-Union, Rocky Mountain News and Weekly Planet, Fawn was at the zenith of her profession when a “jerk boss” snapped at her, “You’ll never go any further than just where you are now!” Uh-uh. Big mistake. Exit Ms. Germer, coffee mug in hand. He’d just provided the cliff, and she at 38, her wings. Happily, there were gentler persuasions for Fawn’s life-altering move four years ago. She credits her mother, Betty Germer (“the strongest woman I know”) with having faith in her dream, and her father Fred in his steady support. But the biggest inspiration came from Dr. Sylvia Earle, noted oceanographer and marine biologist, who became the first of the 50 women Germer interviewed for the insights and experiences they could share with the readership, as her Hard Won Wisdom began to take form. Once a co-director of Sarasota ’s Mote Marine Laboratory (1965-67), Dr. Earle is a risk-taker on many levels, from her aquanaut depth records to her business ventures. “Most people place importance on having structure and security in their lives. Risk is a choice, one I am comfortable with. I rolled the dice and lost once, in a failed enterprise with people I trusted unwisely. But I learned from the experience, and at least I gave it my best shot.” The message found its mark, and Fawn Germer rolled the dice, concentrating on doing a book with the central theme of successful women across a wide spectrum, sharing stories of creating triumph out of defeat. Notes Germer, “No one had offered this kind of information before; you had advice on job resumes, how to dress, how to get a raise. Nothing on how to cope with unbearable job stress, firings or failures. People avoided talking about the downside. So I wanted to know, how do the top-echelon, successful women CEOs, deal with it?” Her book, a virtual treatise on mentoring from 50 of the world’s best-known professional women (which took her two years to write and includes such luminaries as Helen Thomas, Rita Moreno, Jane Goodall, Jocelyn Elders, Pat Schroeder, Marilyn Van Derbur, Cokie Roberts and Margaret Cho) saw the light of day on September 10, 2001 . With planes grounded and the world in shock, Fawn’s publisher considered canceling the tour. But her schedule was set, so she toured the country in a rented Ford Escort. “When you take a dream this far, you don’t let go of it!” The dream started for Fawn Patricia Germer back in her Flint , Michigan hometown by the age of 15 when she landed her first newspaper job while still in high school. She now resides in Tampa with her two dogs, Vinny, a Chow mix, and Reggie, a Golden Retriever. Fawn has “one ex-husband from a former marriage” with whom she has stayed on friendly terms. A funny thing happened on way to the book forum, and as Fawn fulfilled the personal appearances and signings, she found herself in demand as a lecturer on topics of mentoring, leadership, overcoming obstacles. Serendipitously, her 12 years as an adjunct journalism professor at universities in Florida and Colorado proved great training for her newly acquired career on the lecture circuit, now an officially established business called “Applied Wisdom, LLC.” In several months prior to her Ritz-Carlton appearance, Fawn Germer has addressed sundry audiences from the Embassy of Switzerland to Phoenix Writing Workshop to Hilton Head Health Institute to the National Reconnaissance Office in Washington D.C. , the latter a group of top CIA, Air Force, Army & Navy Intelligence personnel! That’s heavy duty stuff, and we wondered how military brass reacted to advice from a female civilian. But Germer says audience gender makes no difference; her approach to these issues seems to “engender” interest across the board. Judging from the standing ovation she received at the Ritz, audiences connect with her friendly and forthright messages, devoid of techno-speak or feminist extremism. A pleasant surprise, to one who’s read some of her hard-hammer columns from old Weekly Planets. It was this kind of bare-knuckles investigative reporting that won her Pulitzer nominations, like her exposes of corruption in the Denver Dept. of Health & Hospitals (for Rocky Mountain News); her 1989 Miami Herald breaking news coverage of an early-release prisoner on a killing rampage, a series for The Florida Times-Union in mid-1980s on abuses in the Fla. community college system. She has also copped the coveted Green Eyeshade Award. And more importantly, three of those series resulted in new laws, sweeping personnel and leadership changes. “Living life to the fullest” for Fawn translates to a love of the outdoors, rigorous sports and fitness activities like biking vacations, workouts and kayaking. “Lately, my travel schedule has cut into some of it,” she admits. But it was on a 600-mile bike trip from the Grand Canyon down to Mexico that she met a 75-year-old fellow biker, whom she wanted to interview for the book. Losing contact, Fawn had to advertise for her on a bike-club internet forum, and Yo! Gurnelle Jones got the message. Now, at 81, Jones is still biking, and her inspiring story can be read in Hard Won Wisdom. More dreams are ahead for Germer, she has already begun a second volume, an anthology like the first, on “retaining one’s individuality in the face of conformity,” her first three contributors being Senator Hillary Clinton, Janet Reno and Martina Navratinova. “I’m having it easier reaching celebrity personalities this time,” she observes. “For the first book, I sometimes had to bug someone 40 times before I got them.” That’s bug, as in “annoy?” Yes. Not bug, as in “electronics?” No! This brings us some more Hard Won Wisdom from Germer. “Don’t give up too soon! Edison tried 3,000 theories regarding the electric light, and only two worked....that’s all he needed! V.C. Andrews, Jack Canfield and Margaret Mitchell got 25 rejection slips before publishing best-sellers.” “Don’t worry about yesterday! Don’t dwell on negatives and failures, learn from them and move on. Don’t define yourself by your failure, but by your ability to rise above it.” “Ideas are fine, but put your plan into action.” “You can’t control what happens to you, you can only control how you deal with it. Don’t let others destroy your spirit.” At 42, with a laundry-list of successful careers behind and in front of her, has Fawn Germer gone about as far as she can go? No way! Remember, one other guy made the mistake of saying that. Joan Griffith For information on Fawn Germer, her book or speaking engagements, visit her website at www.hardwonwisdom.com. |
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| Copyright 2007 Fawn Germer. All rights reseved. |