It probably sounds crazy for a professional educator, trainer, and motivational speaker to write an article with that kind of title, doesn’t it? But it captured your attention, didn’t it? Well, I promise to explain further, but first I’d like to take you back to the start of my professional journey.
Almost twenty years ago, as a forklift driver, I ordered production materials from the stockroom, kept the assembly lines supplied, and delivered finished goods to a receiving area. But I wanted to be a shop floor supervisor.
My supervisor suggested I join APICS, an organization that specializes in educating operations management professionals. The local APICS chapter was very supportive—how could these professionals be interested in a blue-collar worker like me?–and I attended all their meetings, even joined their board of directors. As I began to pass exams, I gained confidence and contributed whatever I could to the APICS chapter. My company did not reimburse line workers for this kind of training, so my membership fees and certification expenses would have to come out of my own pocket. I worried constantly about the cost, worried that I was short-changing my family by spending family money for fees, study materials, and exams.
But becoming a shop floor supervisor was more than a goal, it became my passion. I started observing the actions of the supervisors and managers in my company, how they communicated with their employees, and came to realize that my soft skills and my technical skills would have to improve if I intended to reach my objective of supervising others. About that time, I saw an ad for the Dale Carnegie Course in Human Development. I knew I had to have this training. Once again, I had to plunk down my own dollars—and it felt like a lot of dollars—but I was sure I was on the right track, and thankfully, my husband supported my plans. My instructor, Les Singleton, welcomed me warmly into the class.
As soon as the class started, I realized that I had focused so much on the leadership skills the class promised to deliver that I had overlooked the public speaking aspect! During my first weeks, whenever I had to speak, I was so nervous that I could scarcely hear my own voice over the pounding of my heart. But little by little my confidence grew, and under Les’s tutelage, my speaking got better, and my self esteem grew as well.
By the time my Dale Carnegie class was over, my CPIM training was nearing completion, and my employer was downsizing. Suddenly, the opportunity I was looking for did not seem likely, at least not with this employer. I realized that if I continued to work there, I wouldn’t be likely to achieve my goal. So I gave my notice, planning to take a part-time position and use the free time to work on my resume and hunt for the supervisory position I so passionately wanted.
At the same time, a funny, dynamic trainer named Phil Van Hooser spoke at an APICS meeting. He spoke about leadership, and about developing a positive attitude. He was about to lead a series of supervisory training workshops at the local college. I don’t have to tell you who signed up! When the class started I was the only non-supervisor in the room, and I was plenty uncomfortable about it. But I sat up in front so I wouldn’t have to think about how I didn’t belong there. I absorbed every word, took copious notes, and then read them over and over, committing it all to memory.
I realized I was building an arsenal in the pursuit of my goal. In addition to my CPIM training, the Dale Carnegie course, and the supervisory workshops, another powerful weapon was the Zig Ziglar tapes I listened to on my daily commute.
The job market in the late 1980s was pretty tight, so my daily search through the newspaper didn’t take much time. There was no Internet to search, and I was too shy to ask any of my APICS contacts for leads (I guess I was pretty naïve).
One day there was a small ad: “local manufacturer seeks administrative assistant.” Guess how much I knew about being an administrative assistant? If you guessed nothing, you’d be over-stating my abilities. But I prepared my resume, and drove to the address listed. The small building, situated behind a bar in an older business area of town, badly needed paint; there were beer bottles in the front parking lot and weeds growing out of the planters at the front door. But I went in anyway, left my resume in the hands of a woman wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, and left wondering if they would be in business long enough to interview me. But they called the next day, and of course, I went.
The jeans-and-sweatshirt woman, Deborah Rollins, explained that this company was a tier-one supplier of automotive components to General Motors. It was a Just–in-Time satellite plant, the only one among seven family-owned facilities. We discovered quickly that we shared a passion for inventory control, and the interview, which should have lasted a half-hour, went on for almost two hours. Deborah was Production Control Manager, responsible for all material management, shipping and receiving, and personnel and payroll. They were seeking an assistant for her, since production was expanding and they needed to hire another twenty people. She had already interviewed someone else with extensive administrative experience, but I felt optimistic when I left and immediately sent her a thank-you letter. She called a few days later. They had chosen the other candidate.
Six or eight weeks later, Deborah called again. The administrative person was resigning. Was I still interested in the job? She didn’t even get the words out of her mouth when I assured her I was! I gave notice at my part-time job and started ten days later. I would be making less than at my former position, which made some people doubt my reasoning in ditching a first-shift job with one of the highest paying companies in our small town, just to take a job for which I was not especially skilled (actually not skilled at all). But my intuition was telling me that I could learn a tremendous amount from this company and this woman who was willing to take a chance on a rookie.
To say that I devoted myself to Deborah would be an understatement; to say that she worked her magic on my office skills would be no small exaggeration. Some days, she typed shipping documents for me while I solved inventory problems for her. Many times, we worked twelve or fourteen hours at a stretch. When I wasn’t glued to her side, I was out on the production floor, watching operations, looking for my chance to contribute. I noticed deficiencies in facility safety and material traceability, and I developed programs that fixed both. Soon I was teaching our safety program at some of the company’s other locations.
About a year after I started, Deborah and her new husband, our district manager, asked me to stay late so that we could discuss something in private. I expected them to ask me to teach safety training at another facility. Instead they informed me that they were leaving the area to manage other facilities for the company. They then said that I had been approved to replace Deborah—if I wanted it!
I drove home on air that night! I couldn’t wait for the next APICS meeting so that I could share my good news with my new friends. One of my certification buddies remarked, “Wow, I knew these courses would help us climb the company ladder, but you’ve gone from forklift driver to middle manager in almost one fell swoop.” That’s when I realized that the education and training I invested in helped me not to achieve my goal-—it helped me achieve much more than I ever imagined.
Since that time, I’ve continued to invest in more certifications and training, I’ve continued to seek out mentors, and I’ve continued to act on their advice. I now have my own company, I teach certification courses for a number of APICS chapters, and I deliver motivational and leadership training.
I named my company Mental Apparel because I’ve come to believe that if we dress our minds for success—if we choose our attitude as carefully as we choose our clothes, positive thoughts will drive our behaviors, then positive actions will follow, and success becomes inevitable. If you’re wondering what you can do to succeed in any economy, I suggest that you invest in your education, hone your skills, think good positive thoughts, and seek out the advice of those you admire. If you follow this simple advice, I can promise you this: It will take you further than you can imagine!
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