University Daily Kansan, May 2.1983
Page 9
Leaders in business give advice for success
Bv. United Press International
Success means different things to different people and their advice on how to attain it is just as divergent.
United Press International interviewed top leaders in assorted fields from the giant oil, automobile and chemical companies to operators of restaurant chains and cosmetics firms for their advice to new graduates of high schools and colleges on planning their futures.
their failures.
The answers were as varied as the personalities responding, but they did add up to some general guidelines.
and up to some great AS ARMAND HAMMER, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Occidental Petroleum, put it, "My credo is, when you see an opportunity, grab it by the forelock and run."
"summer jobs are important," sailed Roger Smith, chairman of General Motors. "They (undergrads and graduates) should find a summer job that relates to something they want to do in their career plan."
instrument Ryder, who built the Ryder
system, the truck operating and
leasing business, said, "There is no
substitute for integrity."
eastern Airlines president Frank Borman said, "The world of tomorrow belongs to those who back their talents, training and vision with a firm technical education."
SURPRISEINGLY, the at top, both male and female, didn't attach much importance to "knowing somebody" or being born into the family business. Most seemed to have their goals set on a satisfying life rather than wealth (although they didn't dismiss the monetary factor) and a life of ease.
"Knowing (the right) people is vastly overrated," said Irving S. Shapiro, a practicing attorney in Wilmington, Del., formerly chairman of the board and chief executive officer for Du Pont. Still on the giant chemical company's executive staff as chairman of the finance committee, Shapiro added,
"I've found that in public and private sectors there is such a hunger for talent that anybody with ability and drive can make it."
Hard work was in everyone's advice to high school and college graduates alike. Distilling the reactions, here are 12 highlights of the interviews ranging from businesswoman Naomi Sims, 34, who pioneered the way for the black model, to Hammer, 85 on May 21.
- Hone your skills. Get as much education as you can.
- Be prepared to sacrifice some personal life so that diligence and long hours pay off. Work hard.
- Be yourself.
- Learn how to communicate with people.
- There is no substitute for integrity.
- Set some objectives and learn the business
- Summer jobs are important; find one that relates to something you want in your career plan.
- *Don't be afraid of starting in a menial job.
- Choose a field you enjoy, avoid getting mired in a business that bores you.
- When you sense an opportunity, grab it and run.
- Care about your family, your job,
  your company.
"Young people of today . . . talking about there no longer being opportunities — that just isn't true. There always will be opportunities as long as there are enthusiasm, imagination, preseverance, and a willingness to work," said Hammer.
Hammer, trained as a physician, has had such a varied career — petroleum company executive, art patron, Angus cattle breeder, distillery owner — that the late Bob Considine wrote a biography of him called "Larger than Life."
Hammer's enthusiasm has not dimmed with the years — "I'm
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he said GM still offers students summer jobs. This is a good way for companies and students to assess each other. It also looks for people with "higher skills and newer skills," he said.
"Nowadays it's helpful for people to get to know a company. If you were going to work for UPI, you'd want to go to the summer first before you took a job."
GM's chairman Smith said GM encouraged young people to get into the auto companies — "a growing and going business. If a corporation has nothing to do, you'll never get any better. If it has a lot to do, you will improve with the corporation
"Set goals that are uncompromisingly high, but attainable," said Alvin Vogtle, president, The Southern Co., an electric utility holding company.
"Define your goals in terms of personal achievement . . . make yourself so familiar with the operations of your department that your supervisor can never ask a question that you can't answer. This way you'll build for yourself a great source of satisfaction in whatever position you achieve."
student take computer courses." 'We're giving computer courses to our management people.'
really matter.
“You must have a lust for work.
People who are successful have a love affair with what they do.”
at the end of the interview, be said,
"Put on the bottom there: work hard."
ards for yourself. Each person has to reach to improve himself.
unhappy.
SKOUT, WHO started with Shell as a geologist, said, "It is a balanced learning and a liberated mind that will give you a broad perspective on how to use your knowledge and help you come to terms with yourself and understand what science is. It's not a nice job, although that's nice enough. It isn'tame ... it's not power."
said:
HE RECOMMENDED that every
Ryder, who built the truck operating and leasing business and is now going into a yacht chartering business, said, "Learning about people is more important than learning about a particular business. I do know that in order to succeed you must take things as they are and adapt, and learning about people is what will enable you to do that."
"Begin by choosing a career you enjoy." John Bookout Jr., president and chief executive officer of Shell Oil Co., agreed. "Otherwise you are apt to spend many hours, days and years unhappy."
Shapira stressed recognition of your talents, formal learning and willing participation.
Shapiro, son of a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant, said, "Almost everybody has more innate talent than they recognize. You must set quality standby Jonathan D. Kantrowitz J. D., Harvard Law School
WORKS ON SHAPE CAREER has taken him from father's dry cleaning plant in lincolnapolis to Washington, where he worked with Richard Nixon and John Kenneth Galbraith in the 1940s to the tutelage of Charles B. McCoy, the man he replaced as Du Pont's chief executive officer. He is the first person outside the Du Pont family to be elected chairman of the board and CEO.
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