I was born in 1955. That puts me near the tail-end of the baby boom.
I believe that we are shaped, not so much by what we live through, but more by what our parents lived through. It’s the parents’ experiences that are imprinted on their children.
If that’s the case, I was shaped by a number of events that my parents lived through. They lived through the Great Depression as children. They grew up in the midwestern USA, where my father was a farmer as his family had been … forever. Then, as a young adult, he served in WWII.
After the war, he once again tried farming. But, there wasn’t any money to be made. So, he did other things. He was hard-working and had a number of blue-collar jobs. My mom was a stay-at-home mother who aspired to greater things for her children. My parents really wanted their children to go to college. Neither of them had graduated high school. It was just the nature of the times. After a certain age, you didn’t go to school. You worked.
My sister went to college. She’s 9 years older than me. She was gone and living her own life by the time it was my turn to consider college. I didn’t know much about it. So I trusted my high school guidance counselors.
Guidance counselors suggested a couple of ideas. Maybe engineering. I had some pretty strong math skills. But I tried a different suggestion – actuarial science. What did I know about that? Nothing. But I didn’t have any reason to doubt them. So, off I went. Bad move. I wasn’t anywhere near mature enough to handle those mid-level math and statistics classes as a freshman.
I switched to Accounting. That was a much easier curriculum. And, I was a year older.
After that, I got through college pretty easily. I was working full time in addition to school (remember, my parents lived through the Great Depression, were blue-collar, and had no money to spare). But that wasn’t really a problem.
After college, I went to work in Public Accounting as we were all pushed to do. I passed the CPA exam with a pretty good score.
Then, I settled in.
And figured out that I hated Accounting. And I really didn’t aspire to be a partner in a public accounting firm.
I was newly married by this time (and we’re still happily married, I’m pleased to say).
Professionally, I wanted out of public accounting. I’m not one to slog through something that I really don’t want to be doing. My parents imparted enough self-confidence that I believe I can do pretty much anything I put my mind to. Since my dad had dabbled in a lot of different things, I guess I got the idea that there’s no reason to settle when better opportunities abound. So I left public accounting. I got a job as an internal auditor for a mid-size banking group. It was a dream job.
And it worked out. Over the next few years, I learned a lot. And the opportunity arose for me to become the Chief Audit Executive in my mid-20’s. All good.
Then, our banking group was sold to a bigger bank.
After having been the head of internal audit for our smaller banking group, I didn’t want to be just a regional audit manager for this bigger bank. So, I looked for other ways to make myself useful. More acquisitions quickly followed. Our geographic region was growing quickly, which meant that we needed to consolidate operations to reap some efficiencies. Right up my alley! I created several operational groups, recruited staff, and hired managers to run them.
I loved doing these high-level projects. Find a problem. Pitch a potential solution to the boss. Take ownership of the solution. Get it done over a period of a year or so. Hand it off to someone else to take over. Then move on to the next problem.
It was during this time that I went to school at night to get my Master’s degree in Information Technology. Staying true to my pattern, I was still working full time so I took classes at night. And, being frugal (remember – my parents lived through the Depression) I talked my employer into paying for it.
This was the mid-1980’s. Computers were around, of course. But it was mostly big iron. Smaller computers were just starting to make themselves known. And I was in the perfect position to guide that process.
Whenever some business unit was getting involved in an automation project, guess who was asked to step in and take the lead? I knew technology. I understood the business. And I had a lot of project experience. Again, it was wonderful.
Ultimately, this larger bank was bought by a still larger one. Then another. Then another. There were plenty of projects available. But, I was now so far down the line that my contributions were nil.
So, I tried something else.
I left. After 20+ years. I went to work for a software firm that specialized in banking software. It was fun. I supported the sales folks. They got us face-to-face sales calls. I joined them on these calls because I spoke the language. I could explain to these banks why our software might be the answer to their dreams. Or not. I learned during this period never to promise (or even hint at) benefits that you can’t deliver.
Ultimately, that software company couldn’t make a dent in the market. I hunted around. I worked briefly for some other software companies.
But I longed to get back to something I was really good at. I had been head of internal audit in my mid-20’s. I intuitively understood it. I knew how to build relationships and, when problems arose, how to get things fixed.
Fortunately for me, it was around 2005. In the USA, Sarbanes-Oxley was in full bloom. Consulting firms were looking for internal auditors to help their clients get a handle on complying with SOX. That meant that I didn’t have to overcome a particular hurdle — explaining why I left internal audit originally and trying to convince someone that they should invite me back into the profession after being out for nearly 20 years.
I did the consulting thing. I think I helped some clients. And I reassured myself that I really understood internal audit.
But, when you’re a consultant you rarely develop a long-term relationship with clients. It’s more transactional. They need a solution. You provide it. They might be doing a dozen other things where you could help, but you never get the opportunity.
So, I lucked out again. One of my old friends from my first mid-size banking group was now heading up a local bank. And they were looking for a head of internal audit. It was a totally new position. They had just grown to a size where they needed one. It was an easy interview because we were old friends and he knew what I could do.
I started up this internal audit department. For the first year or two, it was a combination of sliding back into internal audit, combined with the project aspect of getting the department off the ground.
I stayed with that for 13 years. I put into practice what I knew about internal audit. And I knew a lot about building relationships and getting things fixed. It was all so easy.
When I reached a reasonable retirement age, I left. So I could do other things.
And here we are.