I read with great interest the article by Frank Monti about advice for young people. I believe my life is very similar but with a different twist and would also be helpful to young people just starting their careers.
I graduated from high school at 16 and college at 20. After college, I started as a statistical analyst at a small consulting firm. By age 22, I was a vice president.
I got there by coming to work early, staying late, and working during weekends and holidays. I worked 50- to 60-hour weeks. I was driven to succeed and did very well financially.
At age 30, I was offered an excellent job at a large, national corporation, which was one of our clients. It was a wonderful job. I had a staff of over 20, including lawyers, accountants, and analysts, but it was demanding and left me with little personal life. I belonged to the corporation. I often had to fly on Sunday to be somewhere by Monday morning and fly home the following Saturday. I was single and played golf. Sometimes, on a weekend, the vice president of sales would call me to play golf with customers. It sounds like fun, but it consumed most of the day….