Perseverance proves potent, powerful in the face of established norms

Persuasion is an art. No one knows that better than advertising guru, broadcaster and author Terry O’Reilly.

However, unlike his entertaining and informative radio shows, including his current CBC program, Under the Influence, in his latest book it’s perseverance that is the thread running through the five different categories and characters he wants to draw our attention to. The lives and challenges O’Reilly wants to share are drawn from entertainment, business and industry, politics, science and medicine and sports.

Unlike the feel-good Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books, O’Reilly has chosen quirky, rebellious troublemakers who won’t take no for an answer. They often challenge the accepted pecking order hierarchy, gender expectations or accepted practices. The costs from such challenges can lead to a lack of respect from your peers and take years from your career.

Like an assortment of chocolates, there’s a mix of hard and soft centres for a variety of readers — well-known examples such as Taylor Swift’s success story, which O’Reilly has covered on air, as well as lesser-known ones such as the 1953 Hungary soccer team that stunned England at their own game — a tale reminiscent of the rude awakening Canadians had when the disciplined Soviets first beat us at shinny.

Other examples include Gustave Eiffel, whose metal tower, viewed as a temporary monstrosity at the time of its construction, is now recognized around the world as a symbol for Paris.

Ignaz Semmelweis, a man who “questioned everything,” recommended doctors not finish an autopsy and then go to deliver a baby without washing their hands. It’s a view that doctors took at the time as a personal insult.

Scientist Suzanne Simard, a tree hugger extraordinaire, questioned clear-cut logging that ignored the companion benefits of different trees in the reforestation aim — a wood-wide web, as Simard describes it. For her concerns and careful study of forestry practices indicating “we’re barking up the wrong tree,” she had audience members walk out on her talks; a friend explained to her that “the crowd didn’t like hearing that kind of research ‘from a woman.’”

Missing O’Reilly’s radio voice, timing and musical cues, several of the pieces seem important but pedestrian compared with the more dramatic on-air telling, such as the disturbing barriers and life-threatening experiences faced by Richard Williams, whose extraordinary determination produced the double tennis threat of daughters Venus and Serena.

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