We're continuing through the decades and have reached Decade 3: Age 20-29, Decade of Professional Development! If you're a new reader, you might want to go back to
Decade 1 and
Decade 2 first!
Facts: At Georgia Tech, I held leadership positions in every major campus organization and was elected President of my fraternity as a Sophomore, because we were nearly bankrupt, with a foreclosure notice tacked to the door of our house. Yes, we turned it around in 18 months and won a national award as a result. I also played college soccer and bowling.
I wanted to go to business school for my MBA, but even back then, all the top schools required 2-3 years of work experience. Armed with a leadership track record, great GPA, and rocking GMAT test score, I applied to the top 4 schools and got into 3. I chose to go to Harvard because of its global reputation and focus on general management and strategy. I was one of literally one handful of people who were admitted direct from undergrad school.
Carol and I survived the long distance relationship for the 4 years of college
In the summer between graduating from Georgia Tech and starting at HBS, we got married in Carol's hometown in Florida. A week later, we were in Boston starting our summer jobs! She graduated as a nurse and was the breadwinner while I was in school.
I enjoyed all the MBA disciplines and couldn't choose between them. So, when I graduated, I went into management consulting, where you use a broad set of skills and disciplines to solve tough client problems. I focused on strategy around energy and environment issues, since my senior engineering project had been about converting coal to oil.
Despite my lack of work experience (again), I was hired into Booz, Allen & Hamilton (now Booz & Company), one of the world's leading strategy firms. In the middle of the second oil crisis, I developed energy policy papers on alternative fuels and became an expert in advanced energy technologies. My client work covered global companies based in the U.S. and Europe. Seeing an opportunity to boost our energy business in the western half of the U.S., I agreed to move from DC to San Francisco at the end of this decade of my life. California is the beginning of another chapter!
My car craziness continued. We bought a Lotus when I graduated from business school. Then, at 26, I bought my first Ferrari (and I bought Carol a grand piano).
We had hardly any furniture in our house so put the piano in the dining room! LOL I also started some amateur racing and ended up being 4th in the country in my class! So I figured there might be a racing future for me. More about that in the next decade.
Just before the end of this decade, we had our daughter, Melaine! This was the transition from a couple to a family. Trying to balance work, life, and family is a challenge everyone faces, and we were no different.
Carol went to part time work after Melaine was born then she decided to stay home after we moved to California. Fortunately, I was promoted and my raise more than covered her lost income.
Feelings: Harvard was incredibly intense with a forced curve, which ensured that 5% -10% of the class would be asked to leave, in both years! There were a couple of suicides. People disappeared. It was grueling. But each of us felt we were failing so we were all about equal! LOL The only outlet I had for keeping my sanity was playing on the school Rugby Team! We were so poor we could have gotten food stamps. Every Saturday, we would go out for either pizza or cheesecake (but couldn't afford both).
Solving the tough management problems for business was a rush and a great challenge. They only hire consultants when they can't solve the issue themselves. Pressure! But also great psychological reward for cracking the code!
Favorite Memories: Being in the middle of helping solve the country's second energy crisis through policy, strategy, and innovative technology. Being in a near-fatal head-on collision and, after reflection, realizing that we were too self-absorbed and not doing enough to help and serve other people. Discovering we had lost our BMW, Lotus, and Ferrari in a fiery cross-country transporter crash—so we arrived on the west coast with no cars! Made it a lot easier to give up material things—stuff is just stuff, it can always be replaced, and it's not that important.
Findings: I am fearless and relentless to go after what I want, despite the odds. People and relationships are more important than things. The legacy you leave behind will be memories that others have of you, lives you've changed or impacted, and your thumbprint on important events. In contrast, no one will remember the stuff you left or the little bit of money that got distributed. Hard work and effort will pay off, at some point. And, without it, you'll never achieve your full potential in anything you do. A baby totally changes your life, forever. It's the ultimate responsibility, more challenging than any business problem!
xoxo