I was going over my website. I wanted to bring it up to date. For example, the last novel I mentioned was no longer the latest one. I also noticed several things on the “Who I am” page that needed more exploration or simply being brought up to date. I want to start with more explanation. I was attending the University of Minnesota, Duluth, taking a degree in business administration planning to go on to an MBA. I had less than a year to go for graduation. My then-wife, Joy, got pregnant. She was the major part of our income even though I got G.I. benefits for going to college. We decided to return to the Philadelphia area where her family lived. My family lived at that point in Toronto, Canada. We didn’t want our child to be born outside of the United States, which was another reason to return to the Philadelphia area.
When we got back to Philadelphia, I started to look for a job. There was an ad in the Philadelphia Inquirer for an electronics technician. My career in the military and the training I had been given gave me the job credentials. When I interviewed for the job, I learned that as an employee of the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering, I could finish my business administration degree for a very low cost. Further, as an employee, I would likely be able to go to the Wharton School for my MBA. The Wharton School is one of the premier business schools in the United States. It felt like a dream solution at the time.
I started work in the spring and was barely getting started in August when Joy died in childbirth all along with the baby. At first, the shock of her death and the baby left me not knowing what to do. I was smart. I found the job I had enjoyable, and I realized that until I figured out where I was going and what I would do to just keep working. I realized that a degree in business ministration was not something I truly wanted. I have been doing it simply because that was what my father had done. One of the very last courses I had taken before leaving the University of Minnesota, Duluth, was a seminar in which we were given a problem to solve. The “problem” was one I had seen my father deal with.
It was a problem that you would likely face in business. You had gotten a promotion and would be in charge of that part of the business you had worked in. What should you do and how to do it? I had seen that happen to my father as I grew up. The first problem you faced with the promotion that put you in charge of the very people you worked with before meant you had to distance yourself from them. You can’t be “chummy” with those that work underneath you. Your allegiant’s is to the company and not your “friends.” You might find yourself in a position where you need to fire a friend. That was one of the primary reasons you couldn’t be chummy with your old friends.
My fellow students tore me apart. Your grade in this class depended on how well you defend your position and how you critiqued other’s positions. After listening to my fellow students taking me apart, the professor asked me if I would want to change my position. I said no. He smiled and told the students that I was absolutely right. He thought I should be even more ruthless towards my old compatriots. In business, your first loyalty is to the company. I got an A.
Looking back on that class after the death of my wife, I knew what business demanded. However, I knew it would leave me unhappy. That’s when I chose not to go back to get my business administration degree and onto my MBA.
