Career Roadmap
Rich's work combines: Business, Numbers, and Teaching / Mentoring
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
International Business/Trade/Commerce
James Madison University
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a General and Operations Managers:
High School
Bachelor's Degree: International Business/Trade/Commerce
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
I started out with a good work ethic instilled to me by watching my mother & father in their jobs.
2.
Then I worked hard to be the "best of the best" in every job that I had; from the age of 21 & older.
3.
Then I lucked out & had a Manager who saw I could lead others & groomed me to be a people Manager.
4.
Then I started to take the relationships that I already had to start leading my peers.
5.
Then I applied for & got my 1st people management role. I've learned a lot along the way.
6.
After I mastered people management, I pursued the next higher level of managing managers.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
Companies only look for college graduates with highest GPA's when making job offers.
How I responded:
It's not all about a GPA. While, yes, that can be relevant for the first "real" job that you hold out of college, it means very little from that point forward if you can be successful in your job. The longer I've been in business the more I realize that book-smart people aren't always life-smart people. My GPA was a little below 3.00 & by my own admission, I didn't apply myself as well as I could've at times. Once I began working, though, my goal was to impress & I've never looked back.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I was the first in my family to go to college & I sacrificed a lot of personal/emotional growth in high school to make sure I got all A's. I found in college, I was willing to trade some A's (and studying) to grow as a person. I needed that.