She was a precocious, spunky, creative little girl who roamed the halls of an exotic Manhattan hotel and learned about management at the young age of six and could become the CEO of just about any multi-national company. Her name was Eloise and she delighted kids and parents with her antics to the point that people would visit the Plaza hoping to catch of glimpse of her. There is still a portrait of Eloise on the wall of the lobby, even today. She seemed so real even though she was a figment of the mind of author Kay Thompson. Based in part on Kay’s goddaughter Liza Minnelli and part on her own childhood, Eloise was the epitome of GUTSY. She was head strong, creative and broke the mold of the placid little girl who just followed the rules and sat quietly until told what to do.
Eloise said stuff like “Being bored is not allowed.” “I always say what’s in my head; it makes everything so much easier”
Along came Olivia, who loves Degas paintings and is willing to question everything. She takes nothing for granted and sees life as one big, daring adventure. She would have grown into a
creative arts director for a major corporation, if only she were not a little piglet. So real to little girls she is a great role model that you don’t have to be bratty to be brave and question what happens every day. You can get away with being original and unique by always living passionately and doing fascinating and interesting things. She is the brain child of Ian Falconer who initially created Olivia to amuse his little niece and all the other girls who want to live with passion and play full out. A fun story is that a book signing a five year old named Olivia sat down next to Falconer to sign
books along with him in her just learning to write style.
Olivia gave girls good advice “Dream big…..always feel ‘Olivia-ish.” “Every day is a BIG day.”
And then there is Nancy, from an ordinary down to earth, no frills family. Nancy is a wide eyed child with a larger than life personality. She loves the world of rainbows and sunshine and fights hard to have sprinkles and sparkles and satin and lace everywhere possible. She shows other little girls that being a Fancy Nancy means coloring out of the box and using big fancy words like ecstatic, posh, and iridescent. The fiction child of Jane O’Connor she helps all girls find their own unique ways of expressing themselves and learning lots of fun sayings like ou la la.
Everyone expects Nancy to grow up and become a female executive at one of the high end fashion magazines, or maybe bring beauty to small villages in emerging countries that would love how she takes bits and pieces of whatever is around to create a party atmosphere.
Nancy commented “Mad is way too plain for how I feel, I’m furious.” “Christmas is splendiferous”
Take a minute and jot down the books that were read to you when you were two or three or four. Think about the images that began to gather in your pretty little head about what it meant
to be a girl, what was or was not acceptable, appropriate, and agreeable.
Our journeys to become GUTSY, to dream about being GUTSY, to being afraid of being GUTSY, started when we were welcomed into this world; and it all depended on the family and culture of
our birth.
GUTSY Women Weekend Retreat on May 20-22nd. Click here for more details.
Sylvia Lafair
Sylvia Lafair, PhD, is President of CEO – Creative Energy Options, Inc., a global consulting company focused on optimizing workplace relationships through her exclusive PatternAware™ Leadership Model. Dr. Lafair is the author of Don’t Bring It to Work: Breaking the Family Patterns That Limit Success published by Jossey-Bass. As an executive coach and leadership educator, she has more than 30 years of experience with all levels of management from leading corporate officers of global companies to executives of non-profits and owners of leading family-owned businesses. She is now offering GUTSY Women Weekends, giving women the opportunity to dialogue and clarify next steps.
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