Corner Office: What Makes You Roar? He Wants to Know
December 19, 2009 by admin
Filed under Career News and Advice
This interview with Jeffrey Swartz, the president and C.E.O. of the Timberland Company, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.
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Q. Talk about the first time you were somebody’s boss.
A. The first time I was actually assigned a leadership outcome? I was out of business school and I was working at a high-tech manufacturing consulting firm. My first assignment was to be the factory manager for a plant making chips for the defense industry. I’m now in charge of a factory. I’m not an employee — I’m the suit from the consulting firm. I’m supervising techs and engineers. I’m a smart guy and I did a lot of science, but I have no idea what they’re talking about.
I sat by myself in the cafeteria for three months. It was worse than high school. I literally couldn’t talk the language. I had to supervise people who had a language and a worldview different than mine and they were accountable to me …
Read the original article at NYTimes