Marriage and My Career

Our 30th Anniversary Weekend

Today is a very special day — it’s my 30th wedding anniversary. Susan and I were married in a beautiful, but simple, service in the West Acton Baptist Church on August 16, 1980 at 2:30 PM.

Like most, we married for love and needless to say, it is a love that has endured.

We also discovered pretty quickly that we were more than romantic partners, we were economic partners in pursuit of my career and our mutual wellbeing.

I don’t talk much about my own career, but I’ll tell you that is was a pretty good one. Looking back, there were a few keys to my career success that would not have been possible without Susan’s support.

• My MBA: My B.S. Degree had almost nothing to do with the business career I ended up pursuing in 1976. By 1978, I recognized that I had to expand my education if I ever hoped to reach the executive ranks where good money and more importantly career security lied. I was already working a management job, which limited my ability to attend classes. I went to night school for 5 years; 3 of the first years of our marriage. This meant being out of the house 2 nights a week and spending all day Saturday at the library studying. Hardly the life a young bride wants for the start of her marriage — yet Susan never once complained.
• My London Assignment: I’ll spare you the details of how I got myself into a one year assignment in London (except to say it was job I never wanted); suffice it to say it was unavoidable. The timing of my expatriation could not have been worse. Our daughter Natalie was 8 months old when I left the country, 11 months old when they joined me. I had started a massive addition to our home in Harvard that was not finished when I left and I was the general contractor. Despite knowing nothing about construction, Susan took over the project and did a pretty good job (budget notwithstanding). Again, no complaints, she just did what needed to be done.
• Three Transcontinental Relocations: As I think about the real career make-or-break moves that led to my financial success, my willingness to relocate to take on tough assignments ranks near or at the top. I mentioned London. In 1990, I relocated across the country to take a  job running a sales office that was struggling at less than 20% of goal — it was a job no one else wanted. In 1993, I moved to the Corporate Offices to work in marketing as Computervision was going up in flames. And, in 1996, I moved back to California to take a job with a small start-up run by a very demanding entrepreneur named Romesh Wadhwani. Behind the scenes on every one of these moves was the sale of our home. In every case, it was beautiful home that had been handcrafted through Susan’s personal design touch. It had to break her heart to leave these homes, but she did and she never complained.

By the way, Susan also gave up her own career in 1986 to stay home and raise our incredible daughter Natalie; who knows how Natalie might have turned out if she had bounced around from day care center to day center while Sue and I both pursued our own careers.

I certainly had plenty of chances to have my career stolen, but it never happened in great part due to my wonderful life partner Susan.

Happy Anniversary Susan — I Love You!

Dave

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