Garold Hamilton in his book From Grit to Glory; My Rise from the Ghetto to Corporate Leadership and Success narrates how his life was and how he thrived to become who he is today. This is a most touching testament of how persistence of entrepreneurial spirit and access to education breaks down even those generational barriers that are most rigid. Garold’s life started in Shaolin, where he belonged to a ghetto community in Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica, which is impoverished, crowded with people, and has low opportunities. Even here, in a setting of two cemeteries and grim truths of ghetto existence, there was a germ of ambition, a germ that would sprout in other lands, other cultures, other continents.
Garold in his memoir shares how being resilient throughout his life taught him soo many things. One of the many things that he learned in his childhood was the importance of hustle, having been brought up in a hustling family the members of which managed to survive on small businesses, farming, and creativity. Entrepreneurship was Garold’s way of life whether it was selling bag juice, running a June plum business at school, farming callaloo in his backyard and later starting up with a full-scale barbering venture when he was a teenager.
He has placed deep emphasis that how education was of primary importance in overcoming the generation barriers. The fact that Hamilton started in the School of Manning, and went on to the University of the West Indies (Mona and St. Augustine) is testament to the strength of the academic opportunity. He was a high achiever even during the hardest phases of his life, housing instabilities and juggling between sporting activities and school work. Playing sports like soccer, table tennis and chess kept him disciplined and visible and created an opportunity that would not otherwise have been there.
However, life can never run smoothly and he has shared how his motorbike accident rather than making him feeling all lonely and weak made him turn into the best version of himself. He conveys the message to his readers that trusting in yourself is one of the most important things to do. The ordeal of recovery made him physically and psychologically rebuild himself. He did not treat this accident as a misfortune but as a wakeup call; it made him more focused and stronger in his belief that nothing can truly defeat him but it is an opportunity to stand up.
Garold’s travelling journey to the United States through migrating to Jamaica, and then Trinidad and on to London and then to the United States is further evidence of the intersection of education and resilience by Hamilton. Nevertheless, he overcame the shock of facing a different culture, racial prejudices, alienation, and poverty. This steadfastness of character combined with determination is what drove him into the engineering industry where he started climbing the ladder.
Hamilton has over the years held leadership positions in international engineering companies such as SmithGroup, WSP and Introba, a member of the Sidara network, one of the largest engineering and design companies in the world. The story of how he climbed the ladder to become Senior Vice President of a multinational corporation with a limited background is an illustration of the strength of opportunity and perseverance.
Besides corporate achievement, Hamilton is also very much devoted to give back. His selfless work in the community, mentoring initiatives, and the establishment of the DTR Foundation highlights his aim of empowering the future generation-more so the young people who belong to the community that has raised him. Hamilton is an example of how one can use the success of others to open the doors to them through the use of scholarships, mentorship, leadership and community empowerment.
Reading this book provides a practical advice to the readers on how to be a leader, endure, set goals, self-discipline, and survive through difficult situations in life through Lessons Learned reflections scattered throughout the memoir. He conveys it well: barriers between generations can be overcome as long as resilience helps drive the process, entrepreneurship creates trust, and education opens the mind of what appears to be possible.
