ALLAN’S EDUCATION
A GOOD START
My education began in Cortland, NY, a small industrial city in central NY state. My schools were on the factory side of town, and my schoolmates came from factory families. Few of their parents made it through high school or beyond. Many were immigrants who struggled with speaking English.
New York State having a fine educational system. It was well regulated by the Board of Regents in Albany. Their system gave me a good grounding in the basics.
Walking to Pomeroy Elementary School with friends, we saw smoke rising from factories and smelled aromas from the bakeries and heard the sounds of saws and hammers. This industrial activity assured us that we were going to have jobs and prosperity.
I was the top student in my class and became one of the few who made it into the accelerated class at Cortland Jr-Sr . My teacher, Mr. Scales, was a fighter and insisted they take me. Doing so changed the trajectory of my life. My parents were proud of me and expected more out of me, as I did of myself.
HIGH SCHOOL
Cortland High School had 11 levels of classroom segregated by academic ability. I did well, but English grammar was a challenge. I wrote the language of my neighborhood. That was adequate, but it later cost me a narrow miss on a college scholarship. At home during this time, typical teenage problems with acne the hormonal changes were a problem. I was depressed.
Going into nineth grade, all that changed. In summer 1963, we relocated to Pinewood, SC, my father’s hometown with 600 residents and our Ardis relatives. The teenage years can present difficulties, but my country cousins welcomed me when I transferred schools. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and that more than made up for a lack of academic challenge. Because of Cortland’s accelerated program, I was academically a year ahead, so I skipped eleventh grade and graduated early. My college prep scores were in the 99th percentile. I was eager to get started in college, and the University of South Carlina was nearby. USC marginally affordable but financial aid and eating sparingly got me in the first year. Graduating early was fine school-wise and it got me out of a dysfunctional home, however being a year younger than my peers was a social problem.
COLLEGE
The University of South Carolina had a handsome, sprawling campus in the center of Columbia, SC. It had fine, comfortable libraries and a modern student union. I enrolled in general studies, aiming for psychology. My grades were on the dean’s list for a year. I lived in a quiet, relaxed rooming house populated with young professionals and mature businessmen. I enjoyed getting up at 5AM to get to the student union and have a full breakfast in a quiet setting every morning. One drawback to this not having any money, though my sister helped with her waitress money. Another was not having a girlfriend and social life.
Looking back, I should have enrolled to become a lawyer. I excelled in history, and I like to write. However, starting with general studies was helpful later. It filled in for electives in my engineering curriculum, and it gave me some refinement at work that helped my career.
Between the 1st and 2nd year I was in Cortland with a job that provided enough money to make my second year comfortable. I stayed on my grandparents’ farm that summer, and it was the best summer of my life.
The next school year was a tragedy. The rooming house in Columbia changed. I gambled all night and was listless all day. I still did not have a girlfriend. My grades declined. I was depressed and dropped out of college. My only lasting lessons from that year were that gambling does not pay.
I moved back to Cortland and went to work at the bread bakery.
A year later I was married and got a better job as a welder. The hiring manager said I was a college man, I should be able to learn to weld. That job was a small career improvement. My Next step was enrolling in a correspondence course to become an electrician. Luckily, I did not become one because I would have been electrocuted by now. Instead, I changed the program metallurgy and won a promotion to become an assistant to the Chief Engineer, Bill Harrison.
Bill encouraged me to study engineering in college night school. I enrolled at Syracuse University and Bill got me approved for financial assistance from our company. For the next four years I drove though snow and ice to get there. I did most of my homework in the evenings at the steel mill with forging hammers pounding in the background. As my education increased, so did my responsibility. For the final academic year, I attended school full time and worked part-time, applying my studies directly to the job. I was eager to get back to full time work and graduated in 1975 with a degree in Industrial Engineering.
I joined a fraternity in my final year to gather insight into the preppies that I would be working with the rest of my career. The fraternity activity was a distraction that hurt my grades a bit, but, on balance, it was useful. I gained insights into the values, or lack thereof, the kids from wealthier families.
Many thanks are owed to my sponsors and wife for enabling me to get a devoted so much time to getting my degree. My wife, Carolyn, was supportive and endured lonely evenings while I was studying.
EXECUTIVE MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION
My next goal was an MBA. My mentor, Bill, had joined Engelhard Corporation outside Boston, MA and I joined him there. Engelhard had an employee tuition assistance program. I enrolled in the MBA program at Bryant College nearby. I was overqualified for Bryant. That was made clear when I pushed for greater academic depth and my classmates yelled, “Get that guy out of here”. I transferred to Northeastern University in Boston.
Northeastern U. had an Executive EMBA program for mid-career managers. The EMBA required that both student and company commit to a two-year program of work and school. I was on Engelhard’s track to senior higher management. They picked up all expenses and allowed me to attend school two days a week. I graduated in the top 10% of the class. Importantly, I study in a six-person team for the full term and learned teamwork.
Working in a study team broadened my business perspectives. My background was in engineering in manufacturing. My teammates worked in marketing, sales, and accounting in computers, retail, and finance. They all became personal friends, particularly the Boston-Irish with their sense of humanity and comedy. One, Pat Gordon, became my best friend for years after. He needed my help to get through the program. Thirty years later, he remembered that the other way around.
The program included a Washington Internship. We met with congressmen and federal agency heads. I used the opportunity to speak directly with them and came away with a high comfort level for dealing with officials.
At the close of the EMBA program I received a transfer to Engelhard’s London and Paris offices. It was a dream assignment.
I graduated with honors in the top tier of my class.
The EMBA program made me a better writer and comfortable in general management. It clinched my place on the fast track.
ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
I took the Dale Carnegie Course on How to Win Friends and Influence People. Each person at each meeting for 12 weeks gave a two-minute speech on their personal experience on a selected topic. All benefited with more confidence and better interpersonal skills. I was elected best speaker and the instructor pointed out to the group that some people, like me, were natural speakers. I had practiced on my wife, and it even improved my marriage.
Another seminar I attended focused on how to interview new personnel I hired. In it, we were given questions to use to classify people as e Power, Task, or Affiliation oriented and then fit them into the McClellan Theory model of how they would fit working for me. This framework made interviewing easier and more effective. Nevertheless, the final selection of a new employee still tended to be based on personal prejudice.
ON THE JOB TRAINING
Several of my employers provided job-specific on-the-job training.
Michelin Tire Company had me in a six-month training program that covered all the basics of industrial engineering, concentrating on time-study and work simplification. The training was excellent, but the work was boring. I resigned and went back to Engelhard.
Brockway/Mack Truck put me through drills in time-study. I was never a time-study technician, but the training was useful when I became the Industrial Engineering manager at Engelhard.
At Engelhard Corp., my mentors provided guidance in capital project proposal preparation. As one said, “show them that you did your homework”. I earned a reputation as the best proposal writer in the corporation. Another mentor, a labor relations expert, haled me as “the Great White Hope” for improving labor efficiency. And, of course Bill Harrison, was at my side offering advice.
SECURITY SYSTEM EXPERTISE
I started a security business providing guard services and electronic security systems without knowing much about either. I had a lot to learn.
Operating a guard service was more difficult than it looked… It has its own lore which I learned from experience and from the better of the guards that I hired. The hard part was simply making them conform to my directions and expectations. It’s a personality thing, and I was not good at it. But I sold the business to one my foremen from my factory days and he was successful with managing guards. Like running a factor floor, he kept directions simple, direct, and forceful.
For the installation of security alarms, I learned the equipment from calls to the customer service reps at the equipment manufacturers. I attended a trade show in NYC and met manufacturers reps for all the products. After that, anything I needed to know was only a phone call away. They were always happy to help. Nevertheless, it was a haphazard way to learn the industry and I did not make any money from it. When I joined Securitylink/ADT, I was among installation technicians and other salespeople and learned from them. ADT sold only alarms and simple cameras.
I hit my stride when I moved up to selling integrated security at Stanley Security. These systems used specialty cameras, complex monitoring, card readers, lock hardware, biometrics, and gates. For Stanley Security Systems I attended week-long training sessions in all the hardware.
This training made me regarded as a well-trained sales engineer “expert”. And a success in the security industry before I retired.
FINAL REMARKS
Constant learning throughout my career made a success.