By Michael Masterson
JP was not my idea of a
superstar. He hardly spoke at meetings … and when he did speak, he
showed that he was smart, but his wit was full of sarcasm. He did his
job, but as far as I knew, never volunteered to do anything. Although I
several times suggested that he come to me for mentoring, he never did.
In short, he was a prime candidate for getting the heave-ho when his
three-month trial period was over. And I was going to recommend to his
boss that he should fire him. But there was something in JPs attitude
that challenged me. It reminded me of myself at one point in my life.
Having grown up in a poor, academic family, I had no experience with
business. I had read a reasonable amount – including “
Das Kapital” and
other seminal works of literature on the subject of
economics and
class structure. So, as you can imagine, I was prone to be uncooperative with
my bosses. Looking back, I’m shocked at how tolerant they were of my
early shenanigans – sneaking off to sleep in the storage racks, drawing
rude pictures of the foreman in the men’s room, etc. I remember one
anecdote in particular that pretty much sums up my attitude at that
time. It was a summer job between freshman and sophomore year. Paul,
John, and I were working at a warehouse for a chain of supermarkets. We
were members of
Teamsters local something.
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