Spending well over an hour talking to Jersey City native and fellow IBMer, Tom, we found ourselves intrigued by his career path and basic philosophy of life. This bright, articulate, former IBM executive (still retaining his Jersey City accent), has had a career that continues today and one that he can certainly be proud of. At the beginning of the interview, Tom made a comment that applied to many aspects of his life. He said, "Think ahead. Know what is going to happen before it happens." Without a clear career path following his graduation from St. Peter's, Tom's first job was as a claims adjuster for an insurance company followed shortly thereafter by a position preparing legal case files for lawyers before going to court. Although he didn't want to be a lawyer, he found this work interesting and time-wise, convenient, as he was also enrolled in Columbia University's MBA program. His primary objective for getting this advanced degree was "to get a better job." And he did! He quickly learned during this phase of his life the ramifications of completing assignments ahead of schedule; namely, to expect more or more difficult assignments the next time. Later, during his days in an IBM sales career, this lesson was reinforced when astute sales personnel learned not to significantly overshoot their quota requirements because the reward was a significantly higher quota in the following year. This comes back to his simple "Think ahead..." philosophy. In his next job with an insurance company, Tom's desire to get into sales was stifled because their policy at that time was to hire only married men for sales positions. However, once he had his MBA degree, he found he had multiple offers in sales positions from other large corporations-Bell Labs, Proctor Gamble, IBM. He chose IBM. At that time, stellar graduates didn't go to Wall Street or into banking; they went into sales and marketing jobs ala Madison Avenue et al. Tom followed that route. In the first ten of his thirty years with IBM, Tom moved from one location to another in NYC, then to Princeton, and then back to the city, each move propelling him higher and higher in the hierarchy of marketing/sales. Fortunately he, his wife and two children lived in Westfield which enabled him to travel to those various N.Y. metro locations without having to uproot his family and relocate. Toward the end of his IBM career, there were three factors responsible for Tom's leaving the company. They included foreseeing the company's future downsizing, the availability of a great early retirement package, and receiving a great offer from another company. This all fit in with Tom's "think ahead" philosophy. His next position with a smaller company where he was assistant to the president was a definite contrast to IBM in many ways. As an example, sales personnel in that organization didn't have quotas. The owner's philosophy was simplistic: "If you make money, then I make money. Sell as much as you can as fast as you can with no ceiling on your earnings." Five years later, again Tom saw the writing on the wall. The company was going to be bought out by Staples. He was able to get a great buy-out, and on he moved. After leaving his last career job, Tom didn't do much for a couple of years. He even considered starting his own business, but changed his mind when a less costly and far less pressure job was offered to him. Tom's wife, a former IBM Systems Engineer, worked locally. Because of an upcoming vacancy, her boss asked if Tom would consider working there part time (20 hours a week). He took it, enjoys it, and, ten years later, is still there. When we asked Tom what his hobbies were, he said, "Working." Earlier we asked what he was most looking forward to in retirement, and he replied, "Staying employed." When we asked if he had wanted to travel in his retirement, he said, "Definitely not." He explained he had traveled extensively with IBM for both business and pleasure over the thirty years with them and traveled frequently to visit his two children, one who lived in Vail, CO., San Diego, CA., Lake Tahoe, Jackson Hole, WY, and finally has settled in Stowe, VT. With his wife having passed away seven years ago, Tom lives by himself now. When pressed to discuss his future plans, Tom said he eventually sees himself selling his big house and possibly living with one of his children-some day! His advice to potential retirees is two-fold: 1) Plan ahead! and 2) make sure you learn how to use the computer, if you don't already know how. Attitude is so important in any phase of life, and Tom's attitude is positive and is also realistic. Although a very private person, he values working with and interacting with others. He values spending time with his older sister (90) and brother (86) who both live in N.J. He values weekly lunches with friends, regular breakfasts at a local bagel shop, yearly reunions with fellow former IBMers, and visits to his sons. And he still values his philosophy, "Thinking ahead with the objective of knowing what's going to happen." | 
