After growing up in the Mississippi river valley on Iowa's "east coast" I went through a typical teenage phase, declared Iowa to be a four letter word, and set off on a six year stint in the Navy. While I did enjoy the chance to travel and the training early on (I still consider San Francisco my favorite American city) and I remember fondly most of the incredible array of people I got to know on the USS Tigrone SS419 - the WWII era 'pig boat' submarine I served on and eventually helped decommission- ultimately the best thing I got out of the U.S. Navy was me.
[Dave's rule of life #1: If you blindly follow any large system long enough-be it an organization, government or corporation- it will screw you].
Armed with a list of things I didn't want to do with my life and an increasing awareness, born of years of being answerable to egotists & dolts, that there is a world of difference between those would be great leaders and those who seek positions of power, I pursued a career that would let me keep a wary eye on "the powers that be" without having to play their games.
[Dave's rule of life #2: Never completely trust anyone who consciously aspires to a position of power.
Corollary #1 to rule #2: if you scratch the veneer off a powerful bully, you usually find an insecure person of limited depth.
Corollary#2 to rule #2: never confuse power with real authority; they aren't the same thing and are often mutually exclusive.]
As a people watcher it didn't take too long to discover that possessions and positions can provide interesting diversions, but they can not, and, in the end, DO not define us.
[Dave's rule of life #3: If your possessions own you, something is out of whack.
Corollary to rule #3: If your possessions define you, you're a sorry S.O.B.]
And regardless of your station in life, a real, active sense of humor - periodically aimed inward - is the most effective way to be credible.
[Dave's rule of life #4: If you take yourself too seriously, people are more than willing - and able - to compensate for that behind your back.]
The overall thing about people, power & possessions that I concluded early on (and it's something that has held up over the years) is:
The only real legacy most of us will leave is the next generation.
So, it's OK to have a few toys and some good times & laughs along the way -but your family is the center of any right thinking person's productive years.
Ironically, but not surprisingly, this set of observations and tenets lead me to a career back in the rural mid-west where a degree in electrical engineering can provide enough income for a traditional nuclear family to live comfortably and sanely on a single income, with enough left over to provide for a few toys and a plan for the future. Consequently we wound up on a piece of ground in the country that has provided the setting for bonfires, gardens, a tree house, a tire swing and countless "forts" built by our sons and their friends in the trees near our home; and a home, it has been for us all.
A few years ago, as the era of tree forts and soccer games wound down, and with the era of grandchildren & retirement still on the horizon, Willi turned her education and attention towards helping people with special needs and I turned my attention to other pursuits including the proverbial 'thinking globally and acting locally' in our energy usage. Also, in a reaction to being in a less "hands on" position at work, I rediscovered my technological roots in the restoration and preservation of vacuum tube technology and started to delve into the (at least seemingly) more innocent, simpler times associated with history in the era of the golden age of radio.
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UPDATE #1 In the two years since my original posting of this site in 2003, unfolding events and decisions I've made in response to them, has introduced another interesting phase in my life:
On both national and international levels, it is not breaking news that the work place for many of us is changing. In my professional life as I've worked with key individuals in other companies over extended periods, I have had, regrettably, several opportunities to see the effect as the cancer of myopic, overt, greed has displaced legitimate capitalism in an ever increasing number of corporations. So it was easy for me to spot the emerging pattern as the last company I was employed at was taken over by corporate managers (aka thieves) that have no appreciation for either its unique culture nor the tremendous potential of the unique market niche it dominates (or at least it did dominate before they commenced to alienate many of what had been a large pool of repeat customers). Their undoing of what is a classic story of an immigrant coming to America and building a multi-million dollar business from a great idea, is a sad tale that would take too long to frame and present in full here; suffice it to say that I decided to leave on my own terms rather than watch a group of people I had come to regard as my friends be psychologically harassed, if not destroyed, by a handful of misanthropes whose ethics and morals are on par with that of terrorists. May they eventually dwell in that special place in hell reserved for those who have no real useful skills and consequently prey on the work of others.
So I walked away from a 25 year career in industrial controls that had included increasing respect and compensation and exchanged it for, as I and a former co-worker had discussed on many occasions, a different set of problems: I formed my own company and went to work with my oldest son.
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UPDATE #2 Now, the summer of 2010, the horizon line to retirement, and grandkids, has moved a bit closer. And six years after I pulled the trigger on my infamous farewell e-mail [that I must admit violated conventional wisdom by leaving the planks in my departure bridge a field of flaming splinters - to the delight of many of my co-workers] I am about half way through what will likely be the third and final phase of my working career and the only regret I have results from missing the camaraderie & wit of the typical set characters that comprise an R&D department. But, on the flip side, I and my company continue to succeed despite the best efforts of the investment bankers of the world - kindred spirits of the arrogant, MBA toting class described in update #1 who persist in the belief that they are entitled to line their pockets even as they're destroying the very capitalist system that they claim to revere. I take some pride in having written my lament of the demise of legitimate, sustainable capitalism over 2 years before the world economy was pushed off a cliff by unfettered greed. But I take NO enjoyment from seeing millions of people who weren't as fortunate as I was in seeing this coming so that they are paying the price of others' arrogance.
So, I do what I can do: treat my employees fairly and respectfully, because they're the ones who help me pay the bills. And help to develop young, technically inclined workers [High school Juniors & Seniors] by giving them a chance to work at something other than fast food or as a carry out.. I'm just one guy with a small business in small town Iowa, but if I can help out or steer two or three people along their path in life, I've got a hunch that, that might carry more weight in the long run than your typical corporate 3 to 5 slide Powerpoint presentation showing that you, "Made the numbers." again this quarter.