Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Sasha Stolz Publicity in exchange for an honest review.
Resilience is a mighty attribute. It helps people to power through struggles and learn from them. Many books I’ve read were by people who had that resilience and lived to tell the tale. President and CEO of Compute Ontario Nizar Ladak is one of them. His memoir The Power of Scars: My Journey from Refugee to CEO tells powerful stories about how he became resilient and how readers can too.
The Power of Scars: My Journey from Refugee to CEO is a tale that bridges the gap between Ladak’s harrowing experiences as a refugee fleeing Uganda and his remarkable success as a corporate leader. It offers a unique perspective by intertwining Ladak’s personal story with leadership insight and academic research, demonstrating how resilience developed in the face of racial and social struggles can be a powerful tool for success. From the trauma of being displaced, the challenges of building a new life in Toronto, and losing his job at Health Quality Ontario, Ladak shares his story while offering readers practical guidance on overcoming adversity. While scars can be lasting, they don’t have to define one’s future.
If I had a nickel every time I read a memoir written by a Canadian CEO, I would have a dime, which is weird because it’s already happened twice. The other book that I reviewed back in April was Through the Glass Ceiling: Reflections on Feminism from the C-Suite by Sheelagh Whittaker. In both cases, I had no idea who each of them were, which made the reads more interesting.
The Power of Scars’s framing device is how to build up resilience. The memoir is divided up into six conditions: Learning from the Past, Have Purpose in Life, Stay Hopeful & Persevere, Get Connected, Take Care of Yourself, and Take Action. In each of these segments, Ladak discusses personal stories that relate to the step in question. Afterwards, he provides academic research to back up his claims. He then ends each chapter with a lesson, which nicely sums up what was conveyed.
Readers might be concerned by how preachy it could be, but honestly, I didn’t feel that way at all. Ladak is a personable writer. He’s aware of his strengths and weaknesses as well as the realities of life. This is best exemplified in his preface, when he’s discussing his reasons for writing his memoir. In it, he mentions, “Having read hundreds of books on leadership, I found there are few books about leadership written by everyday people” (p. xiii).
Ladak uses the example of Steve Jobs in his Stanford graduation address to drive home that point. Although he finds encouraging graduates to “do what you love” inspirational, many people can’t because of their personal and financial circumstances (p. xiv).
The strongest aspect of The Power of Scars are Ladak’s personal stories. Each is a clear reflection on how he was able to build resilience. One of my favorites was how he dealt with being fired from the company that he helped build. To add insult to injury, he was the interim CEO before another man took over the position. Nizar had every right to feel confused and ungrateful. Nevertheless, instead of dwelling on those emotions, he soldiered on by trying to find another job and piecing together the current CEO’s motivations (p.167-214). And then, there’s the story of how he and his family left Uganda after being forced out by the government. That takes the crown as the most harrowing tale I’ve ever read for this website. I thought that someone was going to die until I realized, “Oh wait! He lived to tell the story!”
Ladak has every right to write a book about building resilience after experiencing that life or death situation while he was a small child.
The Power of Scars: My Journey from Refugee to CEO by Nizar Ladak is a strong and relatable memoir. While he has extraordinary circumstances that make this a great read, the way that he tells his stories makes it worth it for everyday readers. Also, he has some great advice on how to become resilient. I would recommend this to people looking to strengthen their resilience as a way to develop their leadership skills and/or for personal growth. The Power of Scars: My Journey from Refugee to CEO is out tomorrow, July 22, so grab it wherever you get your books.
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