From being a little girl in a village in China with polio to a tech executive at Apple, Libo Cao Meyers (ę¹åę³¢) has had quite a journey in lifeāa journey steeped in rich family legacy and powered by determination, growth, and love. Over the years and the miles, sheās embraced her differences and has allowed no oneāincluding herselfāto set limitations on what sheās able to accomplish.
But just because sheās been successful doesnāt mean itās been easy. Not by a long shot.
Along the way, Libo has overcome challenges as an immigrant in a new country, a person with a disability, a mother, and a woman in the male-dominated world of technology.
In Limp Forward, Libo boldly shares her storyāboth the hard and the beautifulāso that you may feel seen, be reminded of your inherent value, and find the strength you need to face your own challenges in life.
Every journey is unique, but Liboās experiences contain insight that connects us all. Limp Forward is a captivating, unbridled exploration of the truths that guide us and shows what is possible when we pursue our full potential.
From being a little girl in a village in China with polio to a tech executive at Apple, Libo Cao Meyers (ę¹åę³¢) has had quite a journey in lifeāa journey steeped in rich family legacy and powered by determination, growth, and love. Over the years and the miles, sheās embraced her differences and has allowed no oneāincluding herselfāto set limitations on what sheās able to accomplish.
But just because sheās been successful doesnāt mean itās been easy. Not by a long shot.
Along the way, Libo has overcome challenges as an immigrant in a new country, a person with a disability, a mother, and a woman in the male-dominated world of technology.
In Limp Forward, Libo boldly shares her storyāboth the hard and the beautifulāso that you may feel seen, be reminded of your inherent value, and find the strength you need to face your own challenges in life.
Every journey is unique, but Liboās experiences contain insight that connects us all. Limp Forward is a captivating, unbridled exploration of the truths that guide us and shows what is possible when we pursue our full potential.
On my desk beside me as I write this book are two items: a ten-year anniversary award from Apple, and my branch of the family book that holds the last five hundred years of the names of Cao ancestors. Those two items define where I am professionally at present and where I came from personally, rooted hundreds of years ago.
The Apple award reads:
Your 10-year award is made from the same 6000 series aluminum that we use to make our products. Remnants from the production process are collected and reformulated to create a 100 percent recycled, custom alloy. The alloy is cast into long ingots, then each ingot is sliced into blocks that are machined to finished size. The surface is fine blasted and the edges are diamond-cut. The block is then anodized to seal the finish and create a protective layer. Finally, a stainless steel Apple logo is set into the center.
This special metal block reminds me of my current professional missionāto build the most excellent products that enrich peopleās lives, in one of the best companies in the technology world. The company culture of innovation, thinking differently, taking risks, and executing with determination has influenced me deeply and aligns with my personal values.
But this book is not about my career or technology, and it doesnāt contain any stories about Apple. Those stories are notĀ mineĀ to tell. This legendary company headquartered in Silicon Valley is the platform I choose to work for. Itās a place where I have the privilege to work with many brilliant people who are also obsessed with details, seeking perfection, pushing limits, and proudly shipping products to peopleās hands to bring joy to their lives. I remind myself daily to deserve and add value to it.
The cover of the Cao family book proudly displays the emblem for our branch, which includes dragons and symbols for balance, harmony, and the fierce spirit. Thatās used as the icon for my maiden name, Cao, on the front cover of this book. That book is not just āanother book,ā and that emblem is not just for aesthetics. I have fought for a lot of things in my life, and Iāve done so with the values reflected in that emblem. It is a way of being, a reminder that during challenging times in our lives, we can draw strength from our roots, from the faith and values that have sustained generations before us.
The first page of the Cao family book reads as follows:
Ancestors to human beings are like water has its source, and wood has its origin.
Since the Cao family surname was given, there were two ancestry trees. One was given to ancient Chinese states in Xia Dynasty, who started the ancestry tree for all Miao descendants. The second was given to everyone in a country started by Cao, (Shu) ZhenDuo.[1]
The first ancestor of our tree branch, Zhijia Cao, was the 71st generation of the Cao family. During the JiaJing period of the Ming Dynasty (1522ā1566), he moved to 18 miles southwest of Liangbao Temple and started a village called the Cao Village. His descendants have been living there since then. Our family ancestry book has recorded the last 20 generations for nearly 500 years (from 71st generation to 91st generation). Last revision on March 26, 2016.[2]
The book I got only contains my dadās branch of ancestors. He is the eighty-sixth generation of the Cao family, and I am the eighty-seventh generation. Sometimes I read the names in the book, run my fingers across the letters, and think about how they lived their lives in the last five hundred years. Many people left Cao village, including Dad, yet they kept writing back to the village to ensure their names and their descendantsā names were recorded in the family book. This book reminds me of my roots and who I really am.
WhoĀ amĀ I though? For the first thirty years of my life, I never asked myself that question. I was born in 1976, the year of the dragon. Iāve got fire in me, and that fire burns me to persevere in chasing bright lights in my life.
Where is that perseverance coming from? I didnāt know for a long time; I just knew that I had it, and with that, nothing could beat me in life. Still, I kept looking for answers. Dad told me that I got it from my blood, which comes with that unyielding nature. But I think itās also through the heritage, the stories I have been told, and what Iāve learned and observed from my parents. Their perseverance is clearābut where doesĀ thatĀ come from? I believe the answer isĀ previous generations of stories and the characters of our ancestors.Ā If I look back to Chinese mythologies, there are stories passed down to all generations of Chinese that reveal a perseverance and unyielding nature that is built in us.
āThe Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountainsā (ęå ¬ē§»å±±) is a well-known fable from Chinese mythology about the virtues of perseverance and willpower. In it, a ninety-year-old man is annoyed by the obstruction caused by the mountains. As a remedy, he seeks to dig through theĀ mountains[BB2]Ā Ā with hoes and baskets, one round trip at a time. The foolish old man believes that even though he may not finish this task in his lifetime, through the hard work of himself, his children, and their childrenāand so on through the many generationsāsomeday the mountains will be removed if he perseveres.
āJingwei Fills the Seaā (ē²¾å«å”«ęµ·) tells a story of a girl who drowns in the sea and is resurrected into a bird. She is determined to fill up the sea so no one else suffers the same fate. To do this, she continuously carries a pebble or twig in her mouth and drops it into the sea, one at a time. The sea scoffs at her, saying that she wonāt be able to fill it up even in a million years. She retorts that she will spend ten million years, even one hundred million yearsā¦whatever it takes to fill up the sea so that others will not have to perish as she did.
Those are just two stories in Chinese mythology that are passed down from thousands of years ago. Leaving the plot aside, the core of the stories is clear: resistance and perseverance. The stories from my parents showed meĀ theirĀ resistance and perseverance. My mom fought for her right to education relentlesslyāstarting at eleven and finishing at forty-five with her college degree and continued educationāregardless of the hardships she faced along the way, including poverty and, at times, near starvation.Ā For my Dad, ever since he was a young boy, he actively pursued opportunities for personal growth and development, even in the face of wars, famine, and political turmoil. He remained resolute in his quest for a better life, continuously striving to create a more prosperous environment for future generations to thrive in. My best friend growing up, Dongmei, also embodied these qualities. Before she passed away at age eleven from a lung disease and complications of poverty, she still smiled and said, āAs long as I can keep breathing, I can keep writing.ā
As written in theĀ Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text from around 400 BC, āHeaven and the Earth are not benevolent; they see all creatures as mere straw dogs.ā (天å°äøä»ļ¼ä»„äøē©äøŗåē) This means that the universe itself is not benevolent, treating everything equally. To survive, you must rely on yourself, not others.
Looking back on my life, that resistance and perseverance were shown in every step of my own. I believe that I can lose, but I canāt give in. Iāve got a stubborn spirit of unyielding. I fight the fight I believe in, and I keep limping forward on the road Iāve chosen to be on, no matter how many bruises and scars I am left with. When I am told āno,ā I make my own āyes.ā
No, you wonāt be admitted to college or study the major you want. Those are for ācompleteā talents, and you are disabled with polio.
So I went to college and completed a four-year degree in three years, aiming for more advanced education.
No, you canāt go abroad due to your disability. You need to be taken care of and stay where you belong.
So I went to the other side of the globe, a totally different country, limping forward to stand on my own.
No, you canāt possibly complete a PhD in one major and a masterās degree in a totally different area! Nobody has ever done that, and you will fail in both.
So I pursued a PhD in chemometrics and a masterās degree in computer science, completing both in three and a half years.
No, you canāt participate in sports or be an athlete, because of your polio leg!
So I completed a one-hundred-mile bike ride, racing against 50 mph wind for eleven and a half hours with the strength of one leg.
No, you canāt find your dream man to marry. You need to lower your expectations and settle for what you can get.
So I developed a scientific approach with machine-learning models for dating, found the man of my dreams after the eighty-second attempt, and married himā¦without lowering any of my expectations.
No, you canāt excel in Silicon Valley. Itās a manās world.
So I became a high-tech executive at Apple, and I kept learning, growing, and leaping forward to my next set of goalsā¦
The list goes on.
I heard from people what IĀ couldnātĀ do, I limped forward and did all those things anyway, and I am not done yet. Those Nos and Canāts may come from people who donāt believe in usādue to discrimination and/or biasesābut they can also come from people who love and care for usā¦those who want to protect us from the cruel world. They want to warn us about the hard roads we are about to choose.
However, what really matters is howĀ youĀ want to liveĀ yourĀ life and deal with any consequences that come with those risky attempts. I choose to not select the easy routes. I choose to leap forward in a direction that allows me to control all my own destiny. I use all my strength to remove any obstacles in my way and keep going.
The Cao family history showed resilience over five hundred years. The high-tech award reminds me of over a decade of my own resilience. Looking back on all the lonely days and nights of fighting for somethingāfor small progress or a big mission, even if others canāt see itāI can see that those moments are when resilience was forged.
In this book, I want toĀ tell you storiesĀ of that resilience. Stories of my own, of my parents, and of my ancestors. I want to take you on a journey with me. We will travel in time, from several thousand years ago to modern times. We will travel to places across the globe, from a frigid forest tent in the northernmost point of China to a sunny boardroom in Silicon Valley, California. We will travel through different emotions: fear and bravery; sadness and joy; remorse and love; despair and pride.
I want toĀ bring different perspectivesĀ that may impact how you see or understand this world, as many other peopleās stories have changed mine. Our histories undoubtedly look different, as do our futures. But once we have walked this stretch of path together, my hope is that those memories and experiences can offer you the differentĀ perspectives[BB3]Ā Ā you need to feel relieved, get unstuck, and build the courage to keep moving again. If you ever feel like you are limping through life, you are not alone.
I also hope toĀ build communication bridgesĀ through my points of view. For some bridges, I can only stand on one side with my own identities: Asian; disabled; woman; wife; high-tech professionalā¦Ā For other bridges, I belong to both sides: Chinese and American; mother and daughter; ancient and modern; poor and wealthy; defeated and successfulā¦Ā Through my own identities and the diverse life Iāve lived, I hope to remove some discrimination and biases in this world. You should see in meālike you may see in othersāthat we are all the same beings, grappling with human natureās complexities. The more we explore those complexities, the more we can see each other for who we really are.
Now if you are ready, letās start my story from the very beginning.
[1]Ā Cao, (Shu) ZhenDuo (ę¹åęÆéĀ ?ā?) was the sixth son of King āWen of Zhouā (åØęē), who reigned from about 1041 BC to 1016 BC, and the second brother of King āWu of Zhouā (åØę¦ē).
[2]Ā Translated into English here from ancient Chinese language.
Blessed with a known history that goes back centuries and family stories passed down verbally through generations, Libo's story also encapsulates the stories of her ancestors.
This is a sweeping and engulfing read from beginning to end, an end without end; life continues for all of us. It's a book filled with applicable steps and gentle, gracious reminders. For instance, after the final page is turned, if you haven't yet, be sure your name is recorded on your family tree! Your life and legacy, too, matter for generations to come; women's contributions are equal to men's.
While this memoir is a page-turner, it is a page-turner with a steady pace. It's not text that's meant to be rushed but rather absorbed. Written not just for posterity's sake but to encourage, prod, nudge, and inspire. No matter the labels we have been given in life, we are far more than the labels we have received.
Learn what works for you. At times this may mean closing yourself off to the outside world and, at others embracing your neighbors because not all lessons can be learned alone. Our lives encompass seasons, but we must strive to improve by 1% each year. That 1% of added learning makes all the difference with compound interest.
I have at least fifteen pages marked to return to within the pages of this book where I was stirred up and desire to remember the knowledge, wisdom, and encouragement Libo's words and life's story seek to share. I have no doubt you, too, will step away from reading, wanting to retain its messaging. Thankful that Libo Cao Meyers was brought into this world and thankful she has chosen to share her life with us.
The lives of those around us shape us. We are shaping the lives of others too. May you inherently know your worth, be confident, and share your greatness with the world! We need each other; we need you.
Thank you, Libo, for being a guiding light and for the generations that came before you who also paved the way.
We are more connected than not; we are one within the human race.