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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 29 Oct 2006
Time: 16:18:28 -0600
Remote Name: 71.123.208.188
Hi Abby, ..... Judy Kuster gave me some extra time to answer your question, so here goes... ..... You asked am I just good <grin> or am I just lucky? Ha, ha, ha! I'd really like to say that I'm where I'm at today because I'm just an outstanding person - but in all honesty, that's quite a stretch. It's probably a mixture of both, but the luck aspect of it played a bigger part than I'd probably like to admit. I had good parents who really wanted the best for me, so I guess that was probably more luck than skill on my part too. ..... My dad was an engineer - and a really outstanding one at that - so I think I probably inherited a lot of his genes relating to science and math and "geekishness." He was also and outstanding businessman and financial manager, but I got more of his engineering genes than his business genes. ..... The upstart of all that is that I seemed to naturally gravitate towards the hi-tech industry which typically placed a heck of lot more importance on getting the job done than on appearance, "fitting in" and playing a part in some "good ole boy" network where fluency and "being just like your boss" is a valued trait. The banking/legal/financial jobs are REALLY like that. I have some friends in that business who were really discriminated against because they sounded "different" than their co-workers. But I never had that problem. As long as I could get military hardware shipped out the door (in the Vietnam war era) and could design and implement good computer systems (which I could really do!), I was a valued employee regardless of my stuttering. So is that luck? Or just being in the right place at the right time? ..... They say you make your own luck. Do I believe that? Ha, ha, ha! That's a good question, but the truth of the matter is I WAS lucky! ..... I wish you the best, Abby! ..... Russ, my email is russhicks@mail.com