Need more guys like this-from janitor to business owner

[guzzijohn]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/driven/janitor-turned-owner-rescues-failing-ohio-factory-195149281.html

[Conan The Librarian]

When I started working, it wasn't that unusual to find men who started out as a mail boy in 1939, went to war, returned to the company while working on a college degree on the GI bill, then advancing to controller or president of the company. Today those young guys get fired and replaced before anything like that can happen. Between about 1985 and 1990 there was a palpable shift in employee loyalty. This was in response to the mass firings, loss of pensions, etc that proved to the American worker that it made no sense to be loyal to a company. Since then most of us have been loyal to our industry or to our location of preferences.

[Sourdough]

In the 60ds and 70s I met people that had came back from Korea, and Viet Nam and had done the same thing.  Went to school on the GI bill, and then worked their way up from the bottom to high positions or owner in companies.  In a few cases they started their own company, they saw where a service or product was needed and filled that gap.  Today forget it, if a person shows initiative and drive, management gets afraid of him or her and sends them packing.

I can give two cases later, have an appointment and not enough time now.  Rog

[Graybeard]

My first job was a janitor pay was $30 a month. I footed the bill for my degree and worked my way up to Division Chief at the local Army Depot and now own my own business even if it does barely pay for itself. Hey I get to put President, Graybeard Outdoor Enterprises after my name anyway.

[yellowtail3]

a fine story, this

[williamlayton]

I started to do another thread but this one is so good.
I hope I have not hi-jacked the intent.
Companies, today, are bottom line operations--run by numbers guys. In my starting it was different--folks started something to make something happen. It was the challenge of seeing something/doing something & knowing that the folks who you worked with helped make it happen.
There was loyality--too the company and too the employee. Sure those who couldnot/would not went by the way--those who remained made it happen.
Whataburger--is one that is a great example.
TODAY--people are numbers/bottom line numbers. Employees do not get satisfaction out of makeing something happen. They get hired looking for the next move to inhance their careers. They don't work their way up it seem. They might politic their way up but most often they change jobs as a means of advancement.
A new company move can leave behind former failures and a new life. There is little history to go along with the moves.
I see it as one more step in the failure of America to make solid businesses and people to put forth a real effort to make something happen.
Blessings

[Sourdough]

Was talking to a very good friend last week.  We talked about her career.  She is the only person in her agency that does not have a degree.  She got there the hard way, through a lot of hard work and making herself a valuable employee. 
 
She dropped out of Texas A&M after two semmesters so she could help finance her new husbands education.  After three years he dropped out of school and joined the Air Force.  He then dragged her around for fifteen years.  During which time she had two boys, and continued to work so he could live the way he wanted to.  Then he found another woman, and got rid of her, saying she would never amount to anything anyway.  He even convinced the boys and they refused to have anything to do with her.  I knew both, but did not know they were married.  I did not like her husband, I had got him banned from my Customer Service Center, and refused to even talk to him on the phone.
 
I got to know her better at that point, she was a GS-3 Production Typist.  She was 5'6" slightly overweight, and not very attractive.  During the divorce she fell apart.  Several of us that knew her from work was able to convince her she was worth something.  We got her to apply for a GS-5 position, she got it.  It took a few more years before we could convince her she could do anything she put her mind to.  During which she went on up in weight to over 400 lbs.  While at that weight I got a call from the hospital.  They said she had conjestive heart failure, and they did not expect her to live.  I was on her emergency call list, since her boys had disowned her.  I went down there and helped her get back on her feet.  I took her to see her elderly parents, and togeather we convinced her she needed to lose weight. 
 
Today she is a GS-13, working in a high level Government position.  She is the manager over approx 30 people.  135lbs, long blond hair, and very attractive.  She never finished her degree, and was told last year by the Commanding General, (who is the only one that knows) she is the only person working in a huge Government Complex under him that does not have a degree.  She is the smartest person I know, and never forgets anything.  Never tell the woman a lie, cause she will eventually find out the truth and call you out on it.  She is the best success story I know of.  Especially since I had a part in helping her along the way.