The Boss: When It Rains Roaches

I HAVE fond memories of growing up in Johannesburg. It was a simple life. We had no TV until I was about 13. Many kids had a bike, a soccer ball and a dog, and that was it. It was highly unusual to be inside during the day.

MARK JARVIS

Chief executive, the Steritech Group, Charlotte, N.C.

AGE 45

RECENTLY READ “The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive”

WORDS HE LIVES BY Believe in yourself.

TRAVEL TIP Hydrate like crazy.

After high school, I served in the military for two years and trained troops for battle. In the early 1980s, South Africa was engaged in a war with Angola, and there was a mandatory military conscription. After being discharged, I got a B.A. in economics and a postgraduate diploma in human resource management at the University of Cape Town.

It was the height of apartheid, and there were international sanctions against South Africa. I decided to travel the world and see why people held the views they did. I made enough money working in nightclubs and ing for abalone and crayfish around Cape Town.

Read the original article at NYTimes

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