Another life lesson of sorts

I was SVP of operations and Circulation in 2008 or 2009 and I received a call from a headhunter. I always believed in checking out new opportunities so I listened. I was making $280,000 a year with a bonus

of about the same amount but it doesn't cost anything to listen. So this guy went on and did a fifty question interview. The job was running an undefined manufacturing operation with about 600 employees. He kept growing more and more excited as I answered his questions. As we got to the end he said "you are perfect for this job! And the money you need to take it will not be an issue, the owners will love you."( I told him I would need $400,000 a year with the same bonus potential) He then said just a couple of background questions and we will get you in front of them. He asked where I went to school. I told him. He said Robert Lafollette Universtiy? I said, no, high school. He started to mutter to himself. He was saying stuff like you were perfect for the job but the requirements are for a masters in business. He then said, I am going to put you in front of them, you answered every question perfectly. You are the right guy for the job. I said who required a masters in business for this job? He said the owners. I said I would withdraw then. He tried to talk me into it but I refused. I closed with these comments. "I have managed to work myself into the SVP position of two major departments of the largest newspaper in the United States, doesn't that make you wonder how a high school graduate could accomplish something like that? Do you imagine to yourself the path was easier with only a high school education? Or maybe, just maybe I was so damn good I made it here in spite of my lack of education? Or more realistically, I found a way to earn an MBA in business somehow on my own? I can't work for a company that is that blind to reality."