Member-only story
I was reflecting on my career the other day. On the changes that I had to make to be successful. How to be humble but also how to stand out.
Maybe even, how to grow older, but not up.
I did some math and came up with this fact: during my 41-year career, I held 17 unique jobs for an average of 2 years, 5 months per job in Corporate America. Change is hard and I went first.
Most of these companies held and honored an “Up or Out” philosophy. They demanded performance or else.
Expectations were to quickly assess the situation, whether it was poor operations, sales shortfall, or expenses out of control. Make an impact on the business. Whatever it took to turn the business around as quickly as possible.
Back then “I didn’t know what I didn’t know” so I just took action. I used a strategy of MSU.
I executed what I believed was the right change. And I always had a story to support these changes.
The world had a bunch of ambiguity back then as it does today. One can believe almost anything including, “Making Sh*t Up.
Here is an example. I was in a planning meeting with my head of marketing and manufacturing and his team. He had a big job since we sourced and manufactured products globally.
His logic on a topic he was explaining to me wasn't clear. I said, (his name was Mike also) “Mike G., are you using your Ph.D. in MSU”?
