Resilience Required
Surviving an Alcoholic Snake-pit to Building a Life of Purpose, Triumph, and Achievement
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At a young age, Jim Shepard saw his family wealth and luxurious bayside home squandered away on alcohol abuse.
After several desperate downsizing moves with his family, young Jim found himself living in a run-down rooming house that became known as the "Snake Pit" as it was frequented by heavy drinking and seedy characters.
But Jim was not overcome by his circumstances; through his own efforts and with the help of those who saw a spark in him, Jim used adversity as a springboard to achieve astounding success.
The memoir of Jim Shepard, OBC, Resilience Required is a story of perseverance and a boy who can achieve whatever he puts his mind to. From the depths of the Snake Pit to UBC Engineering, from entry-level salesman to Chair and CEO, then coming out of retirement to save the largest lumber manufacturer in Canada from bankruptcy and starting a highly successful charity, to help crush Ovarian Cancer. Jim shows what it means to draw strength from hardship and create opportunity wherever you go.
Jim Shepard
Jim Shepard (b. 1956) is the author of four short story collections and seven novels, most recently The Book of Aron, which has been shortlisted for both the Kirkus Prize and the American Library Association Andrew Carnegie Medal. Originally from Connecticut, Shepard now lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He is the J. Leland Miller Professor of English at Williams College, where he teaches creative writing and film. He won the Story Prize for his collection Like You’d Understand, Anyway, which was also a finalist for the National Book Award. Shepard’s stories have appeared in the New Yorker, the Paris Review, the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Magazine, and McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, among other publications; five have been selected for the Best American Short Stories, two for the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, and one for a Pushcart Prize.
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