Beginning My New IBM Career, 1969

Thus, the next chapter in my life began. Little did I realize what this career shift would eventually bring into my life. With the beginning of my business career and marriage — two major life events within months of each other — it was full steam ahead. At least that was what I thought. Little did I understand the learning curve ahead of me in both business and in marriage.

I had a clerical job at IBM in St. Paul, Minnesota, collecting money from our customers. I had a ton to learn about the business and our customers and products, the process and procedures. It was a bit overwhelming at times. I had trained to teach children, not deal with this task called accounts receivable. At the same time, I was trying to be a husband, learning how to share this new life with another person day in and day out. The job also brought a structure to my life I had never experienced before. It was a lot to digest and to grow into in a very short time. I was happy to be married and to have a job, but it was also like being thrown into the water and learning to swim. There wasn't much of an option, and there was no turning around.

As time went on, I realized I wanted more. I looked at the managers at work and observed something I really wanted to do: manage people and lead them in their work. I also realized I needed to know the work and the functions I would someday manage, so I had a lot more to learn about the jobs people performed. I wanted to learn, so I moved to different functions over the next three years to learn the work that hopefully I would eventually manage.

Jan and I, in the interim, bought a house and had our first child. Jan wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, so I was now the sole breadwinner. Money was always tight; we never made a lot of money when both of us worked. But we made the sacrifices together and made things work.

Eventually, I grew very restless at work. I had performed the various functions and felt qualified to be a manager, but those opportunities were not coming my way. Though frustrated, I was also determined to get the opportunity. In the meantime, I went back to night school. The college I graduated from offered an MBA program for people who worked but wanted to get an advanced degree in business administration. I thought it would be a great opportunity to build knowledge around my now-chosen career in business. Working a full-time job, being a husband and parent, and going to night school was, to say the least, stressful, but I was determined to succeed.

I was in my fifth year of working at IBM and still doing a clerical job. I received several promotions, but I had not become a manager and was becoming very impatient. I saw others performing that job, and though I felt I was ready, I wasn't given the chance. I must have been driving my managers nuts. I continuously asked them what I needed to do to be promoted to a management position. There was never an answer except to be patient. Well, my patience was running out. I had a second child on the way; I had done everything I knew to prepare me for management responsibility but still nothing.

One day I walked into my boss's office and asked him who decided who would be offered management positions. He replied it was the responsibility of the regional manager. I asked him if he would set up a meeting for me to discuss the matter, and he agreed. A couple of weeks later, I had my meeting. The regional manager and I talked, and she basically said they were trying to find homes for managers due to cutbacks and the economic environment. They weren't creating any new management positions.

At the end of the interview, she asked if I had a few minutes to meet her manager. Of course I did. I went into his office. He looked at me and asked, "What are you doing here?" I told him a quick story about why I was there, that I had worked for IBM for five years, had performed many functions so I could be a manager. I had a family and another child on the way and was going to night school to get my MBA. But I still wasn't achieving my goal of becoming a manager. I told him I was very frustrated and on the verge of leaving IBM because I felt I wasn't getting the opportunity to do more.

He said, "If I were you, I would have left a long time ago." When he asked why I hadn't, I said I thought IBM was a great company and wanted to stay. But if things didn't change for me, I probably would have to leave to achieve what I believed I could become. He closed the conversation by saying, "I think you made a smart decision to come here to meet us today." That was the end of the conversation. It probably lasted fifteen minutes. I left the office and went back to work.

One week later, my boss got a call from the regional office. The manager I'd had the short interview with wanted to talk to me about an open position. Thirty minutes later, I was on my way to meet him. He said there was a job working for him as a financial analyst in the regional office. He described the work, and even though it wasn't a management position, I knew in my heart this was the opportunity I needed. I would work for the people who decided who was going to be a manager. It was my big break, and I couldn't wait to get started. One week later, I started my new job, and two weeks later our second child arrived.

In many ways, this was the end of the beginning. From then on, things happened really quickly with my career and our family. It had taken close to six years to get to this point in our marriage and my work at IBM, and things really started to speed up.

I was in the new position for only six months. I loved the work and was finally getting the visibility I needed within the organization with the key decision makers. I was like a sponge, learning everything in sight. It was the best I had felt about my job in years. Unbelievably, after six months, my boss asked me to take a job as an administrative operations manager in one of the local sales branch offices. I thought, finally, my dream to be a manager — a leader — is coming to fruition. I was thrilled. All my hard work and persistence had paid off. I was off and running.

My First Management Positions, 1977

As I recall, I had about ten people reporting to me. We were responsible for the order fulfillment and accounts receivable functions for the customers that branch supported. I loved the work and the people, and time flew by. I was still going to night school toward my MBA, and I was also trying to be a good husband and father to my children. Looking back today, thank goodness Jan was taking care of the home front and the children; I didn't have much of my energy focused there. Learning to manage and lead people, helping them to do the work, and dealing with the concerns...