CELEBRATING LIFE

Two weeks ago Emilio and I were alone together. He turned towards me and said, “life’s been good to me.” Then he added, “ I want you to give my farewell speech”.

I thought long and hard about what to say. What angle to take. He played such an important part in all of our lives.

Emilio was like a second father to me, and Emilio and Lolita were like grandparents to my children.

My daughter Margaux made it simple. She told me we should all be taking this time to relive those great times we had with Emilio - that her whole childhood was spent with her mother on the phone getting mad at me because I was somewhere in the world having fun with Emilio.  The real reason my wife was mad - she wanted to be there.

“Having fun with Emilio”. Does that sound familiar?

There might be another phrase that will sound familiar to you when speaking about Emilio. Whenever I describe Emilio to others, I often start by telling them, “Emilio, is the person I owe everything to”.  

So what was “fun” with Emilio all about?

It was definitely about traveling the world.

Emilio was one of a very rare and privileged group of people that lived between the 1950’s and early 21st Century, the Global Business Travelers who criss-crossed the world incessantly by plane. And, no one did so as much as the Colgate leaders who were busy building what became the most used brand. 65% of the world used Colgate once a year. My guess is 100% of people saw the ads Emilio had us make to ensure we were teaching families how to raise their kids so they could enjoy a better future. Those days are gone . With the rise of Social Media and Video Conferencing, we are now able to project ourselves across the world in milli-seconds at virtually no cost.

But there was something special about meeting all these people around the world in person. Any of you who have traveled with Emilio will have experienced it. You are in some remote part of the world, Epernay France, Valparaiso in Chile, a random restaurant on the road between Riga and Talin, the train on the way to Guang Zhou, when suddenly from the back of the room you hear a loud voice scream out, “Don Emilio!”

Emilio would charge through airports. He was a fast walker. He would have you work, work , work with the local team. And then, you would bond. You would go out and discover their world. You would eat in their best restaurants, drink their best wine and discover their strangest food. Ant eggs, worms, snake soup. If any of you visited the Philippines with him, I am sure you were put to the test with the “Balut”, a local delicacy Emilio loved. I passed the test, barely, crunching through the egg and the feathered chick. Gord did not. Jeff was there. He remembers.

Work hard, play hard and bond with people.

Living with Emilio was about sucking the marrow out of life. It was about making the world a better place for others. It was about light and generosity.

So I thought about my daughter’s advice. She loved Emilio, and I wanted to invite everyone to think back on all those great times you had with him and those ways he changed all of our lives.

It was an interesting exercise. It unleashed a flow of incredible memories. There were incredible parties, like the barge in Paris, or incredible meals, like the one under the castle walls in Prague. There were incredible achievements, like transforming the advertising industry worldwide to eliminate corruption and drive transparency and fairness — in every country.

So what moment out of so many transformative lessons I received, should I share?

I could have picked a situation where he intervened to protect someone from what he called, “mindless implementation of Corporate direction”.

I could have picked a situation where he showed me I was missing the bigger picture and showed me how to do “the right thing”, and there were many. Emilio had an uncanny ability to see the bigger picture, it was his genius. We all knew it.

But, there is one situation that keeps coming back to me. It was right at the beginning of our relationship. We were sitting in the Y&R Corporate conference room. I was barely thirty and still processing how Emilio had supported putting me in charge of the advertising for Latin America, Colgate’s biggest Division. We were a small group surrounding Emilio at the head of the table in this grandiose and majestic bastion of Corporate America. Emilio’s natural leadership authority, his gravitas, had us all listening intently as he gave us our marching orders. And he concluded with what was the most important message he wanted to give us as we set out to change the advertising world. “I want to share my favorite quote from the American Revolution with you. Never forget it.” He paused. Then gave us what was wisdom and direction, “we must hang together, lest we undoubtedly hang alone.” He proceeded to show me what he meant for the next thirty years.

Those words coming from him, the conviction he had when delivering them, changed me forever. It is likely his greatest gift to me. If I am making it through life enjoying its beauty and the great people I am meeting along the way, I do owe it to Emilio. He taught me the true meaning of what it means to be “together”.

For my part, I can only thank the Lord for having allowed me to journey through life with what was perhaps the world’s greatest mentor, a noble man, a force of nature, who taught me to always put my family and others first. Amen.

So I want to invite you all to think back to those many ways Emilio simply made our lives better.  I want to share with you all a Cuban saying that Emilio shared with Alberto, his nephew and me in his final days. “Que me quiten lo bailao”.

Carpe Diem, “Seize the Day”, the Romans figured it out, but Emilio peeled off a few layers from that onion and revealed deeper truths. It’s not just about the day. It’s not about time alone. It’s about plugging into the rhythms of life, surfing the waves, and knowing how to dance, happy, in tune, loving it all, loving your family, loving your friends and making the world more fair.

If Emilio were here, he would chuckle and celebrate what he viewed as a victory.

“Que me quiten lo bailao!”

“No one can take away all that dancing I enjoyed”. Is one way to translate it, and boy could Emilio dance.

But Emilio never danced alone. He was extraordinarily generous. We all know that. We all benefited from it.

So, I want to say farewell to all of you on his behalf, as he asked me to do. As a toast, I would like us all to raise our glasses.

I can imagine him sitting here, looking on us with that patriarchal love and that warm, clever smile on his face.

“Goodbye everyone. Thank you for your love. Don’t feel rushed to come and join me, raise your glass and don’t forget to dance with those around you. I can wait.”

Cheers Emilio!  Bring all that joy of yours and that invaluable guidance to those on the other side. I can just imagine them all, greeting you with open arms!