Learning from Rick

You might be surprised that we can learn a lot from the CEO of Tupperware Brands about meditation. Rick Goings has proven himself a great leader, not just of an international company, but as a force for good in the world. Listen to hear how he is dedicated to uplifting others by spreading Transcendental Meditation to at-risk youth and veterans who could be saved by it.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Stay Calm is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
to Stay Calm, your daily dose of calmness. I'm Bob Roth,
and I've been teaching people to meditate for fifty years,
helping them to stay calm under pressure, reboot and re
energize their lives, and basically be a happier, healthier version

(00:22):
of themselves. And now I want to help you do
the same. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths,
and let's begin today's journey. Who hasn't heard of Tupperware?

(00:42):
How many leftovers have you packed away in your plastic
Tupperware court container? And maybe you've heard of Tupperware parties,
perhaps bigger when I was a kid than they are now,
but still in the rest of the world today there's
a Tupperware party every one point five seconds. Well, I
want to tell you about the man who was the
CEO of Tupperware for twenty five years, Rick Goings. Rick

(01:04):
has become a hero of mine for many reasons. Rick
grew up dirt poor in the small town of Wheaton, Illinois.
He graduated from high school with no money and no
prospects for college. At seventeen, he moved himself into a
rooming house and slept on a chair that folded out
into a makeshift bed. He found a job selling Encyclopedia's

(01:24):
door to door, and in three months he sold absolutely none.
Someone suggested he joined the Navy, and when he did,
the Navy discovered Rick's exceptional talent for leadership. After the Navy,
Rick went to college, dropped out of college, started his
own business, made a fortune, and then joined Corporate America,
and climbed the ranks to top leadership positions in several

(01:47):
companies until in he was named the CEO of Tupperware Brands.
I introduce you to Rick not because he started from
nothing and ended up running one of the world's most
successful inner national companies. I introduce you to Rick because
of who he is and what he did to transform
Tupperware from the inside out and in particular, given economic

(02:10):
empowerment to fifty million women in more than one hundred countries,
helping them to rise above poverty to middle class and
enable many of them to take leadership roles for the
first times in their communities. Rick has been meditating for
forty years, and he has taken the experiences and lessons
learned from his practice to do what I think everyone

(02:31):
should do when they meditate, use the energy, insights and
convictions to develop themselves personally, but also to help make
a better world in small or large ways. Rick and
I met last year at his sprawling farm outside of Charlottesville, Virginia.
Rick patiently took this novice horseback rider on trails. He
said Thomas Jefferson and James Madison might have followed two

(02:54):
hundred and forty years ago. He wanted to talk with
me about a new David Lynch found in initiative to
bring meditation to the one million veterans who suffer from PTSD.
If we can save even one veteran's life through meditation,
then it's like dropping a pebble into a pond. The
ripples will spread out like a multiplier effect, impacting in

(03:17):
a most positive way the lives of the children, wives
and husbands, the whole community. Rick said. We meditated together
as the sun went down, overlooking the rolling foothills of
the Appalachian Mountains. Afterwards, Rick talked about the impact of meditation,
quote t M has given me a firm base and

(03:39):
a soulful foundation. It has given me a mindset of
purposefulness for my whole life. That's why every morning I
write the words add value on a piece of paper
that I taped to my computer screen. I always want
to be thinking what can I do today to add
value to someone's life. Rick's been adding value for a
very long time. For thirty years, he was a top

(04:02):
leader of the Boys and Girls Club of America. During
his years, the clubs serve sixty million kids, providing them
with a safe space free from gangs, carrying adults when
they often had none, and mentoring programs that gave them
lifelong skills. But the Boys and Girls Clubs only served
kids in America, So a few years ago, Rick and

(04:23):
his wife Susan established the World Federation of Youth Clubs
now in twenty four countries to bring the same services
to kids around the world. You know, Bob Rick says,
only five percent of the young people in the world
live in the United States. Every kid needs help. Since
his stint in the Navy, Rick has been a leader

(04:43):
for fifty years. I asked him what makes a good leader.
Without pausing to think, Rick says, a leader has to
have calm, clarity, and vision. A real leader makes us
feel safe in times that are not safe. A right.
Let's end this time together doing something that I think
should be a feature of our everyday life, and that's

(05:05):
appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet,
thirty seconds to take a break, just take a moment.
It turns out when we do that, it's good for
our health as well. I'll be right back all right.

(05:48):
Thank you for joining me today. I hope you heard
something that inspires, that uplifts you and that you can
incorporate into your own life. This is Bob Roth. Stay calm. Yeah, Hey,
all of you out there, I'd love to hear from you.
You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything

(06:08):
else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Facebook or Instagram at meditation Bob. You can also send
me an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com.
I look forward to hearing from you.