Positive Thinking: A Lesson Learned from Wesley Snipes

Even the divas of design have doubts.

Cecil Hayes, a nationally-recognized Florida-based designer
whose clients include prominent movie stars, athletes and
CEOS, told me a while back about  her first meeting with Wesley Snipes.

Snipes, the actor and producer, hired her to design his home in an exclusive gated community near Orlando. But she worked with his staff, and never met him until he showed up to inspect her completed work.

Hayes remembers nervously preparing herself for the doubts she was sure he had. She suggested that he make a list of all the problems, oversights and modifications that he wanted her to address.

Snipes looked miffed.

“Why even bring up the negative without discussing the positive?” he asked. The house, he said, was “gorgeous”
and he never doubted her ability to deal with the details.

Hayes says the experience taught her to attach a greater
value to her work — and to herself.