Underestimating the Importance of Management Skills

摘要

When you grow up in a family business, you learn as you go. That's great in the sense that a hands-on approach gives you invaluable firsthand experience, but it can also be hit-or-miss when it comes to refining certain skills. In my case, those skillswere in the management arena. From the time I was 13, I worked for Guardian Pest Solutions, the company my father had established in Duluth, Minn., in 1966. After school, I took the bus to work, where my brother Jeffrey and I took on any odd jobs sent our way — making bait bags, washing trucks, mowing the company property, vacuuming the offices, you name it. I continued to work for Guardian during my college years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Once I graduated, I ran a route as a technician for three years and then gradually began managing other technicians.