For the Students

Editor's Note:  I was honored to be asked to speak at the induction ceremony for Sigma Beta Delta at Georgia Gwinnett College.  Sigma Beta Delta is an Honor Society for top students, which I definitely would not have been a part of in my college years.  Several of them are my former students, and I really enjoyed this opportunity.  There is nothing earth-shattering in what I said, but I hope that some of the students came away with something to help them as they begin their careers.

I’d like to thank Sigma Beta Delta, the faculty and administration of Georgia Gwinnett College, the students, parents and family and friends for this opportunity to say a few words.  First, let me introduce myself.

I’m Steve McCullough.  I’m a devoted follower of Jesus Christ and am thankful every day for the beauty of Grace.  I’ve been married to my wife Laurel for over 35 years, and she’s the best friend I’ve ever had.  I have four children, Megan, Kelly, Patrick and Sean, and I try my best to be a caring and loving father.  I am currently the Chief Financial Officer for WIKA Americas, and I am responsible for North and South America.  WIKA is a German-based company and is a global market leader in pressure, temperature, level, flow and force measurement technology.  I currently serve on the Board of Trustees of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio and as an Elder at Shallowford Presbyterian Church.  And for seven years, I was an Adjunct Accounting Professor at Georgia Gwinnett College until last spring.  Previously, I’ve worked at Barco, a Belgian company, which was in large screen visualization, and at Deloitte, or when I worked there, Deloitte & Touche, an international public accounting firm.  I have an MBA and I’m a Certified Public Accountant.

As I prepared for tonight, I thought long and hard about what I would say to you.  I’ve been blessed to hear some great speeches at various graduations and other ceremonies from some very impressive people.  Some went a bit too long, and some were just right.  Based on that experience, I plan to err on the side of either just right or too short, because it can get ugly when you go too long. 

I thought about what do students want to hear when they are either graduating or getting close to graduation?  So I did my best to think back over my 30+ year career, and keep in mind, I’m old, so it’s been a long time since I’ve been in your seats.  I have 10 points to share, so here goes.

• Who are you? - Within my introduction lies my first point to you.  Always remember what are the most important parts of your life.  As we go into the work environment or the business world, we oftentimes let that define us.  You meet people or you see old friends, and the question comes up, “what do you do?”  The normal or immediate reaction is, “I’m the CFO at WIKA”.  Well, no, most importantly, I’m devoted to Jesus Christ, I’m married to Laurel, and I’m Megan, Kelly, Patrick and Sean’s Dad, and … Don’t get me wrong, my job is very important, but that’s by far not the most important thing in my life, but we’ll get to that in a few moments.  And pay attention about the adjunct professor part, we’ll get to that in a few moments too.

• You know more than you think you know – I remember way back when I started my career.  I was in public accounting, going out on my first audit assignment.  I started thinking, I have no idea what I’m doing.  They’re going to figure out I don’t belong here.  After a few weeks or a few months, I started settling in and realizing I knew more than I gave myself credit for.  Well guess what?  I’ve had those moments throughout my career.  You will find yourself in situations as you go along where you start wondering, what am I doing here, I don’t belong.  Take a deep breath, think back to your education and experience, and work your way through.  You can do hard things.

• Do what you love – I’ve told my children to pursue those areas that they love, or think they’d love to work in.  You spend a long time working, if you can do what you have a passion for, you will be much better off.  Having said that, there may be limitations on this.  For example, my sons Patrick and Sean would both like to teach at the college level.  Those jobs are becoming more and more scarce.  They are also not huge fans of the corporate world.  They may have a difficult road to hoe if they want to follow their passion.  I still encourage them though to follow that path to the best of their ability.

• And if you can’t be with the one you love – I know it may sound crazy to you, but I didn’t grow up dreaming of being a CFO.  Actually, I wanted to be a baseball player, but that didn’t work out, so I tried becoming a journalist.  When I was graduating from college, if every journalist in the country died at that time, there would be someone coming out of college to replace them.  The market was that saturated.  So I went to graduate school, got my MBA, my CPA, and went into public accounting.  That didn’t mean that I gave up my desire to write, or also, another desire, to teach.  Throughout my career, I’ve taken the opportunity to use my writing skills at work, and also have taught many training courses in the various roles I’ve had.  And eventually, I was able to teach here.  Just because you didn’t get a job in the area or discipline you love the most doesn’t mean you can’t utilize those skills in the job you do have.

• You have to be able to look in the mirror each day – Don’t ever sacrifice your ethics.  You will get many opportunities to do this over your career, but you have to be able to look at yourself each day.  I worked once for a gentleman, who was incredibly successful.  But oftentimes he didn’t pay his subcontractors or vendors, and he lied to his employees continually.  He was worth millions of dollars, but what was the price?  You have to be able to live with your actions, and no amount of money is worth your good name.  Now, it may not always be easy to determine what crosses the line of good ethics.  I used to play a game in class called, “Fifty Shades of Fraud”.  It would be interesting what students thought crossed the line or not.  A great rule of thumb I’ve used is, “how would you feel if your Mom found out what you did?”  If you’d be embarrassed, then you probably shouldn’t do it.

• No one is a peon – When I was General Manager at Barco Simulation, our receptionist came to me the one time, and she made the comment, “well I’m just a peon”.  It takes a lot to make me angry, but this made me angry.  I called her into my office, and we had a little talk.  My Dad quit school when he was 16 and drove a truck.  He eventually got his GED, and he eventually became a manager of a truck terminal.  One of the greatest lessons he ever taught me was that you never disrespect anyone for the job they do.  Every job is important, every person is important.  As I told our receptionist, she is the first voice, the first face people see when they call us or come in the door.  She is vitally important to our company, as is everyone else.

• Work hard…while you’re at work – A few years ago, we had two interns at WIKA, one was one of my former students, Corey Christopher, and the other was from a much more prestigious school locally.  My staff fell in love with Corey, and not so much with the other gentleman.  The reason?  Corey would do all of his work, and when he was done, he would ask what else anyone needed him to do.  No job was beneath him.  The other gentleman?  Not so much.  At the end of the internship, we brought Corey back to work for us for a few semesters until he left GGC.  My staff loved him, we wrote him reference letters, it was a great experience for Corey and for us.  And it was fairly simple, Corey worked hard, and he always volunteered to do whatever was needed.  That’s how you get noticed. 

• Choose Your Attitude – We spend a lot of time at work.  You can choose to be miserable, and make the people around you miserable, or you can choose to make the best of your day together.  You need to celebrate your successes, and celebrate your colleagues’ successes.  Years ago, I read something that has stuck with me for many years.  It says:

     “As you enter this place of work, please choose to make today a great day. Your colleagues, customers, team members, and you yourself will be thankful. Find ways to play. We can be serious about our work without being serious about ourselves. Stay focused in order to be present when your customers and team members most need you. And should you feel your energy lapsing, try this surefire remedy. Find someone who needs a helping hand, a word of support, or a good ear – and make their day.”

•  But, when you’re not at work, be completely present at home (or do as I say not as I did) – For several years, when I worked at Barco, I gave up my role as a father.  When I was General Manager at Barco Simulation, I traveled constantly to the point of missing every birthday and my anniversary for at least one year.  I missed school events, I missed soccer games, I was one of those stereotypical bad Disney Dads.  I used to say, I bleed Barco red.  My whole existence revolved around my career, I defined myself by my job at Barco.  I can assure you based on my 30+ years of experience, I’m not the type of employee that I would want working for me, and most people don’t want someone like me, or at least who I was.  The best employees are the ones who have balance in their lives.  You need to have a personal life, you need to spend quality time with family, with friends, volunteering, whatever it is to achieve balance in your life.  As noted, work hard while you’re at work, but when you’re not, put work behind you, and spend quality time with the ones you love.  It will make you a better person to be around, and your colleagues will appreciate that.

• You’re never too old to change – After leaving teaching here, I needed something to fill that void.  Now it wasn’t like I was bored, I still had a full time job, but I wanted more to do.  So I started taking yoga with Laurel.  After 57 years of never stretching, this was a huge step for me, but Laurel really wanted me to try it.  I’m now going to yoga probably 2-4 times a week.  Why didn’t I ever stretch?  Because it hurts like hell, my hamstrings are awful, my quads are awful, and most likely they always will be, and it still hurts like hell, but at least I’m giving it my best every time I go.  It has made a huge difference in my life.

But the bigger change and difference came in my life about 10 years ago.  After 20+ years of putting my work and my career ahead of my family, I changed about 10 years ago.  I finally realized what the most important things in life are.  While my career is still important to me, it pales in comparison to the most important parts of my life.  Just like those old sayings go, I can’t get that time back, I can’t change the past.  But I can change the present, and I can make my future better.  I would hope that maybe you could learn from an old guy, and not find this out the hard way. 

One last thing and then I’m done.

Getting back to that adjunct professor thing – I taught here for seven years.  It was probably the best time I’ve had in my career.  While it was difficult, I had a full time job, I was teaching at night, I was preparing all weekend, I’d be watching Dr. Weisel’s videos, and Laurel would say, “oh good, another accounting video to watch”, but I loved teaching, and I loved the classroom.  I had great help from the faculty here, the people I worked with have amazing dedication and passion for what they do.  Most of all, I loved the students.  I decided to teach here to “give back”, to try to be an educator and mentor to students, but it was amazing all that I learned and gained from the students.  I was blessed with some great people I encountered and got to know, and I learned a great deal more than what I taught them.  Even though I haven’t taught her for about a year, I still always tell people I taught at Georgia Gwinnett College because of my excitement and enthusiasm for this place.  It’s left a permanent mark on my heart.

As you’re getting ready to leave here, whether it’s this year or in a year or two, be confident in what you have to offer.  You have been prepared by some great faculty, and you can do great things. Pursue what you are passionate about.  Work hard, but also enjoy your life.  Have fun.  Respect your colleagues, treat them well, and respect yourself, and don’t do anything you’d regret.  In closing, I’d like to share with you one of my favorite quotes:

When he retired from the Supreme Court, Justice Thurgood Marshall was asked of what accomplishment he was most proud.  He answered simply, "That I did the best I could with what I had."

I hope to be able to say that one day, and I hope that you can too.  Thank you.