Beltway Diary:'Why on earth do you want to go to Texas?" "Why not?" I replied. "Because it is nothing like the rest of America," I was warned. I didn't like to point out that this was exactly why I wanted to go after seven weeks of city life. That and, of course, I have always wanted to be a cowgirl, writes Caroline Casey.
As a teenager I had dreamed of being an elephant handler, a biker chick, an entrepreneur and cowgirl! Until last week, biker chick and cowgirl remained outstanding.
Faced with the daunting implications of a visually impaired girl on a Harley, a bemused Eisenhower organisation chose the lesser of two evils and sent me deep into the heart of Texas to unleash the cowgirl within.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I discovered when I jammed the business suit to the bottom of my case and pulled on the worn jeans.
Texas makes a fool out of those who think they know better. It teaches you the perils of shallow judgment. Behind endless humble facades I discovered extraordinary achievements and contradictions that warned the naive that in business it never serves you well to make assumptions.
In south Texas, I was welcomed by cowboys, ranchers, entrepreneurs, oil tycoons, historians, philanthropists, community workers and stockbrokers. I hung out at campfires and rodeos, rode through the Bandera hills, drank iced tea with billionaires, chowed down on a chicken steak (which is in fact beef) with a man who makes water, had heated discussions about business and the economy, swam in rivers and rediscovered the magic of adventure.
The landscape was achingly beautiful, the sky huge. People were open, warm and friendly and the weather and space utterly intoxicating.
And yet so many people write off this extraordinary place, not willing to see beyond its politics and conservative outlook. What a missed opportunity - for business, tourism, a better life and for America itself.
South Texas is a diamond in the rough. It amazes me that as impatient investors scramble to make good on property in Florida, down south a buoyant land market is producing astonishing returns on investments.
Too often we are distracted by ill-informed assumptions and find ourselves missing opportunities. We assume that success looks and feels the same to everyone and that we should all want the same thing.
Talking with a cowboy over a breakfast fit to give you a heart attack, I learnt how easily we can get it wrong. The man I had assumed was just a cowboy turned out to be the owner and brains behind a multimillion-dollar motorbike business.
I had a similar experience when I met what appeared to be a very ordinary yet friendly man and his wife at a "breaking of the ground" ceremony for a medical centre in Bandera. Twenty-four hours later they hosted me at their 7,200-acre exotic ranch complete with camels and kangaroos. This was no ordinary farmer but an entrepreneur who has made his fortune in the oil and gas business after establishing an underwater welding company.
You never can tell what lies beneath the surface and you should never assume you do.
I think I needed to be a cowgirl, if only for a few days, just to be reminded that success is not always packaged as we imagine and our ability to succeed requires us not to judge others but to take a look at ourselves. I will never forget those few days in Texas, whizzing through the stunning countryside in a massive pick-up truck, cowboy boots perched on a dashboard, singing to my heart's content. In those days I remembered who I was.
As I got up to mount my horse after breakfast, the motorbike genius called after me. "Young lady, let me tell you something. Success will come, but only if you know who you are, because if you don't know who you are, you will never know what you could be." Wise words indeed.
eisenhower@theaislingfoundation.org
