It was March 1999. I was nursing a failing business, going to school at night, working part-time for FedEx, and driving a limousine. I was pretty low.
After our furlough in Palm Desert, CA from a three-year missionary term with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Philippines, we were unable to obtain a new assignment there. I completed a Management course at Summer Institute of Linguistics in Dallas, and was referred to International Relations work, but the director of staffing in the Manila office would not allow my wife’s position as a teacher to be our primary assignment so I could intern in the Government Affairs office. Likewise, stateside opportunities were being thwarted by a personnel director refusing to allow me to serve in a field representative position as I had for six years at Eastman Kodak. I was at a stalemate; and so, we resigned a 10 year tenure as technical support missionaries.
Now what to do? Leslie was already teaching in public school, which left me seeking a technical management position in the Coachella Valley where few tech jobs existed. My lack of an undergraduate degree kept me from several promising positions, even though I was told I was overqualified. After the rejection of Wycliffe and these interviewers, I was a bit desperate.
My wife suggested I start a business, as I knew a lot about radios; so I did. I developed a business plan that thoroughly impressed a business loan manager. With an SBA loan and my retirement funds I dove into self-employment. Setting up shop, a sprinkling of sales, repairing CBs for truckers, and developing a tracking system for the local transit company was a great challenge for me. Ultimately, my small draw against a meager net profit slowly drained the business. When the transit manager gave the contract to a relative rather than putting it up for bid, and a ruptured appendix put me in the hospital, I was down for the count.
Having moved the business into my garage, I started a three-quarter load at the community college at night and found three part-time jobs to help keep the family afloat. I was now determined to complete my BS degree so that I could advance in management. In addition to school, and fixing radio and data equipment for two FedEx stations, I started driving a limousine. Although the clients were often glamorous, the level of my self-worth was not.
I picked up the Lincoln Town Car and the client order and headed west on the 2 ½ hour trip to Claremont to pick up a Mr. Drucker. As the elderly gentleman settled into the front seat and we began some small talk, it occurred to me who he was. Wait a minute, I exclaimed . . . “You are THE, Dr. Peter Drucker!” He smiled and said, “Ja, that is me.” I almost wrecked the car.
I am sitting with the worldwide guru of management captive in my limo for two and a half hours . . . as the commercial says – Priceless! He asked about me and I poured out my story, leaving out no detail or the current state of my frustration. He was a most gracious counselor and mentor to me during that drive back to the desert as the keynote speaker at some conference. He put off those interviewers as the loser, not me; the unethical practice of the transit manager; and shortsightedness of the Wycliffe personnel managers. Quoting Teddy Roosevelt, he said, “Failure is the backdoor to success.” Experience is much more valuable than the degree, he said; the piece of paper says nothing of your actual abilities to succeed in business. However, he did encourage me to finish my studies, promising that they would complement my experience.
Of course I told the dispatcher that I would drive Dr. Drucker back the next day. A tired Dr Drucker slept most the way back, but took the time to further encourage me in my endeavors, telling me that he saw great promise in someone with the courage and fortitude to keep up such a load to provide for his family.
Within months I became Administer for a commercial business, then General Manager of two RV Resorts, and subsequently CEO of two ministries in need of restoration. After completing a graduate-level certificate in Nonprofit Organization Management at UC Riverside, two years ago (2005) I took a shortcut into an MA in Global Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Thank you, Dr. Peter Drucker, for your inspiration during a limo ride.
“All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Rom 8:28.
After our furlough in Palm Desert, CA from a three-year missionary term with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Philippines, we were unable to obtain a new assignment there. I completed a Management course at Summer Institute of Linguistics in Dallas, and was referred to International Relations work, but the director of staffing in the Manila office would not allow my wife’s position as a teacher to be our primary assignment so I could intern in the Government Affairs office. Likewise, stateside opportunities were being thwarted by a personnel director refusing to allow me to serve in a field representative position as I had for six years at Eastman Kodak. I was at a stalemate; and so, we resigned a 10 year tenure as technical support missionaries.
Now what to do? Leslie was already teaching in public school, which left me seeking a technical management position in the Coachella Valley where few tech jobs existed. My lack of an undergraduate degree kept me from several promising positions, even though I was told I was overqualified. After the rejection of Wycliffe and these interviewers, I was a bit desperate.
My wife suggested I start a business, as I knew a lot about radios; so I did. I developed a business plan that thoroughly impressed a business loan manager. With an SBA loan and my retirement funds I dove into self-employment. Setting up shop, a sprinkling of sales, repairing CBs for truckers, and developing a tracking system for the local transit company was a great challenge for me. Ultimately, my small draw against a meager net profit slowly drained the business. When the transit manager gave the contract to a relative rather than putting it up for bid, and a ruptured appendix put me in the hospital, I was down for the count.
Having moved the business into my garage, I started a three-quarter load at the community college at night and found three part-time jobs to help keep the family afloat. I was now determined to complete my BS degree so that I could advance in management. In addition to school, and fixing radio and data equipment for two FedEx stations, I started driving a limousine. Although the clients were often glamorous, the level of my self-worth was not.
I picked up the Lincoln Town Car and the client order and headed west on the 2 ½ hour trip to Claremont to pick up a Mr. Drucker. As the elderly gentleman settled into the front seat and we began some small talk, it occurred to me who he was. Wait a minute, I exclaimed . . . “You are THE, Dr. Peter Drucker!” He smiled and said, “Ja, that is me.” I almost wrecked the car.
I am sitting with the worldwide guru of management captive in my limo for two and a half hours . . . as the commercial says – Priceless! He asked about me and I poured out my story, leaving out no detail or the current state of my frustration. He was a most gracious counselor and mentor to me during that drive back to the desert as the keynote speaker at some conference. He put off those interviewers as the loser, not me; the unethical practice of the transit manager; and shortsightedness of the Wycliffe personnel managers. Quoting Teddy Roosevelt, he said, “Failure is the backdoor to success.” Experience is much more valuable than the degree, he said; the piece of paper says nothing of your actual abilities to succeed in business. However, he did encourage me to finish my studies, promising that they would complement my experience.
Of course I told the dispatcher that I would drive Dr. Drucker back the next day. A tired Dr Drucker slept most the way back, but took the time to further encourage me in my endeavors, telling me that he saw great promise in someone with the courage and fortitude to keep up such a load to provide for his family.
Within months I became Administer for a commercial business, then General Manager of two RV Resorts, and subsequently CEO of two ministries in need of restoration. After completing a graduate-level certificate in Nonprofit Organization Management at UC Riverside, two years ago (2005) I took a shortcut into an MA in Global Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Thank you, Dr. Peter Drucker, for your inspiration during a limo ride.
“All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Rom 8:28.
PS: On June 11, 2011 I walked across the stage and recieved my MA in Global Leadership from Fuller.
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