Some Tales of my Treaded Path - Part I January 22, 2008

Greetings readers. My postings have become fewer as of late, and I would like to impart something other than the usual academic discourses, lively musings, topical summaries and other writings I try to carefully craft with your reading enjoyment in mind. This is a bit about little ‘ole me.

As a 1st generation American born to a German mother and Italian father, I was raised in southern California though spent many summers with grandparents and family in Munich, Germany. I attended private Catholic school first at a military academy from 5th-8th grade, then a preparatory high school for the first two years. To my great joy and fondest memories, I spent my junior year as an exchange student in Sweden, then graduated from a public high school in Fountain Valley, CA.

My college major was International Business, though I didn’t know exactly what that entailed beyond a fanciful image of businesspeople shaking hands and making trade agreements. I dutifully studied my courses in community college and hoped of transferring to UC Berkeley. Alas, I was advised it would be near impossible to get in without a minimum 4.75 GPA. So I came to terms with practical reality and continued at Cal State Univ. Fullerton, which had an excellent IB program combined with a minor in German. Soon after I started, I learned of and applied for a U.S. State Dept. scholarship program to study & work in Germany for one year, accompanied by 60 fellow students from across America. I was accepted.

Together we attended language school for two months, then we were sent to our individual cities. I ended up in Bremen (close to Hamburg), studied at the local university, then worked as an intern at OOCL, a large Chinese ocean carrier. I felt at the time that working in international logistics would be the best first step in understanding what really enables world trade, outside sales offices and ‘The Economist’ magazine.

Upon return to my senior year in college, I was filled with a strong sense of direction and purpose: finish the rest of my classes and continue on the logistical path I had begun. Operations management, international marketing, organizational behavior, and cross-cultural communication were my favorite courses. My last semester was quite busy with regular classes, a “Global Logistics Specialist” academic program from another university, and an internship with a freight forwarder. I happily graduated in June 2004, assisted a British logistics trade show co. in LA and Chicago, and completed the logistics program later that summer.

Although the career prospect cards seemed well dealt in my favor, something big changed within me. Suddenly supply chain management and logistics lost their strong appeal. Sales & Marketing seemed much more interesting, but it didn’t seem to have a place in a highly commoditized product environment where pricing was the only important purchasing factor for clients. Everything else in SCM was about materials/inventory management, transportation & warehousing, visible and accurate data, quality control, and accounting. Retrospectively, I’m happy for all that I learned. It helped me communicate better with clients, operational staff, and 3rd parties. It was frustrating though, to give up on some VERY well-paying job opportunities right out of college. I was a bit confused and sad, but my heart told me to press on…

to be continued…