Vincent Miholic
Author, Contributor, Service Provider | New Iberia, LA |
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I was fortunate to be influenced by one of my best bosses during my very first job as a hardware clerk during my high school and early college years. This great fortune, at minimum wage but with profit sharing, was a formative experience and remains a high benchmark against which I compare other experiences and bosses. What made it different? In.... more
I was fortunate to be influenced by one of my best bosses during my very first job as a hardware clerk during my high school and early college years. This great fortune, at minimum wage but with profit sharing, was a formative experience and remains a high benchmark against which I compare other experiences and bosses. What made it different? In part, what I experienced was being valued and respected, feeling like I was an integral part by being exactly deployed, by being reminded of what was important, and by being given the freedom to take on various responsibilities. I was surprised by being invited to join the owners as they trekked to the central warehouse on a stock run and when they offered unexpected opportunities. I was supported when I made mistakes and coached through errors with compassion and understanding rather than judgment, suspicion, or punishment.
Since that first job, where the priority was always attending to customer questions and needs, moving from unloading trucks and stocking shelves, ringing up sales, tracking inventory, to cutting glass and pipe, each motion encouraged and supported by a great boss, I have pitched gravel under a hot Arizona sun, maintained an apartment complex, painted and renovated houses, drove a panel truck delivering stacks of the morning news at 4:00 a.m., worked as a field representative for a major media research firm, and dedicated more than 25 years to a career in education, culminating in my present position as a State Training and Development Program Manager.