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Now: Company president and CEO
Then: Nursery worker
Current position: President and CEO of Adaptis, a health-care-outsourcing firm.
First job: I grew up in Wenatchee, the heart of Washington's agricultural industry. My first job was at a local nursery. I learned the fine arts of hoeing and weeding, and discovered the pain of back-breaking, hard, physical labor.
How I got the job: I got the position through family connections; my dad knew the owner.
What I learned: That first job taught me that focusing on my education would maximize my job choices. I also think there was an ulterior reason for my dad's "support" in helping me land it. Although he had no formal education and didn't complete high school, at the age of 19 he was in charge of 5,000 men working on the Grand Coulee dam. Although he wasn't an engineer, he developed a sandblasting machine used in the construction of the dam. Even though my father's accomplishments were great, he knew an education would have taken him even further. He helped me learn that life lesson in my first job. It fueled my work ethic.
