NMA Testimonials

I get often asked why I am such an ardent support of NMA.  My reply is that I owe a lot to the NMA chapter that started even before I was a member and I want to give the same opportunity to others. Here is my story.

Several years ago I wanted to change careers. I went back to school for an advanced degree but getting interviews was impossible when I was looking to change career paths. My father was an officer in an NMA Chapter and through his connections in the Chapter he secured for me an interview. As a result of the interview I was hired and as they say the rest is history. Except the story does not end there. The NMA Chapter has continues to be important in my career. Because I monthly attended the GMM's future bosses saw me and recognized my potential. Because of the NMA I took the Certified Manager's course, taught the CM course and wrote the NMA Self study program for the CM Course. Because of NMA I became a chapter Officer, National Director and currently serve on the NMA Executive Board.

I am sure that if the contact had not been made through NMA I would have still have successfully changed careers but that is only conjecture. I do know because of NMA I have taken a different road to advancement and success.

Increasing Productivity
By Penny Brondum, CM

Chapter General membership meetings (GMM) have always been the place to 'network'. If you are like so many others networking is just another word for socializing and relaxing after work. However Anita Lichtman, Director, Quality Program and Operations Support, Rocketdyne uses the GMM for a broader definition of networking. Anita uses her attendance at the GMM to meet with people she has not had a chance to make contact with during her busy schedule. She says that she is able to complete many information exchanges and settle outstanding issues during our chapters Month GMM thus increasing her productivity.

Are you taking full advantage of your chapter's GMM to increase your productivity?

Most companies in America today have experienced or are experiencing "downsizing" of the workforce. My company, Lockheed Martin, is no exception. I have seen many "reduction in force" (RIF) notices handed- out during the past few years, as many of you have seen.

During the time of my chapter presidency, the chapter officers and committee chairpersons had many discussions regarding the benefits of "networking" with other NMA members. The point of my sharing this article with you is to communicate how networking actually benefited one of our NMA chapter members, who was also one of my chapter officers. Ms. Smith (not actual name) had served our chapter for several years on various committees and had deservingly been elected as an officer for the chapter. She approached me after one of our chapter meetings to inform me that she had recently been given a RIF notice. She was obviously upset, had not expected the notice, and asked my opinion as to what she should do. I recommended she talk with the Director of Personnel, who was also a very active NMA member. These two individuals had served together on various committees, but probably would not have known each other if it had not been for NMA. The end of this story is not as you might expect-- Ms. Smith found anothr job assignment as a result of talking to the Personnel Director and worked happily ever since. No, that is not what happened!

Ms. Smith checked all possible leads provided by the Director over the next few weeks. Due to significant downsizing within the company, no new jobs were found to be available for Ms. Smith. The positive results of this experience were the personal changes that occurred with Ms. Smith. She evolved from a very upset, hostile employee for having received a RIF to an employee that left the company with a positive attitude. I contribute most of these changes to be a result of Ms. Smith having had the opportunity to talk directly to the Personnel Director about her future and his assistance of providing her with several possible leads. As she left the company, she told me she had received tremendous support from her NMA friends, especially the sincere support from the Personnel Director. She felt she had received more personal consideration than any of her co-workers, who were not NMA members.

In the future, when someone asks you how "networking" in NMA might be of benefit to him/her, you now have an actual example of how a NMA member utilized her networking relationships in NMA to improve her understanding of dealing with a RIF notice. Remember, NMA cannot perform miracles; but it certainly can benefit you by improving your feelings about leaving the company.

Rod Begosa feels NMA has helped him in his career goals by the networking opportunities NMA provides. It allows professionals to interface with a cross section of the company. Secondly, as an officer of the NMA, he has received hands-on experience in dealing with the infrastructure of an organization. The skills required consist of: consensus building, brainstorming, diplomacy, communication and public release. (to mention a few) lastly, the speakers of our monthly meetings provided him with motivational skills that he can apply towards his present and future endeavors.

Melissa Withrow feels NMA gives her an opportunity to grow in areas that her actual position within blue cross blue shield Michigan does not allow. She has been able to expand her interests in the field of graphics and communications through her work as editor of the chapter newsletter. It also gives her the opportunity to interact with individuals of different positions within the company. These interaction produce better knowledge of areas that can assist her in the position she holds now. It allows her to become more intelligent about all of the roles are cooperation plays. NMA gives her an opportunity to be a leader through project coordination and active roles in positions that support our chapter. This is a goal that may not be possible for her in the career field she has chosen. NMA provides an outlet from the norm of each work they and from personal life activities.

The following is an excerpt from a speech to New Account Executive by Jack Kemp, Senior Vice President, Dean Witter Intercapital Inc. :

Perhaps the most dramatic record of personal purposes and goals available in modern times was in Life Magazine's article on John Goddard. At fifteen years of age, John Goddard set down 127 `goals' for his future. They included:

For exploring rivers, Goddard selected: the Nile, Amazon, Congo, Colorado, Yangtze, Niger, Orinoco and Rio Coco.

For climbing mountains, he selected: Everest, Aconcagua, McKinley, Huascaran, Kilimanjaro, Ararat, Cook, Popocatepetl, Matterhorn, Rainier, Fuji, Vesuvius, Bromo, Grand Tetons, Baldy in California and Ayers Rock in Australia.

For special programs, he determined to : carry out a career in medicine, visit every country in the world, study Navajo and Hopi Indians, learn to fly an airplane, Retrace travels of Marco Polo and Alexander the Great and ride a horse in the Rose parade.

For special projects in photography he choose: Waterfalls - Iguacu, Victoria, Sutherland, Yosemite and Niagara.

For Underwater Exploration Goddard recorded: Coral reefs in Florida, Great Barrier reef off of Australia, Red Sea, Fiji Islands, the Bahamas, Okefenokee Swamp and the Everglades.

For visiting he specifies: North and South Poles, Great Wall of China, Panama and Suez Canals, Easter Islands, Galapagos Islands, Vatican City, Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Blue Grotto (Capri), Tower of London, leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Sacred Wall of Mexico.

For Swimming the young Goddard proposed to double up some of his other purposes to accomplish two or more on the same adventure by choosing several lakes near the falls he would photograph: Victoria, Superior, Tanganyika, Titicaca, and Nicaragua.

For Adventure, Achievement and cultural development, he concluded his goals list with fifty five purposes including: becoming an Eagle Scout, Dive in submarine, land on and take off from an aircraft carrier, ride an elephant, camel, ostrich, and bronco, dive to forty feet, hold breath for two and one half minutes underwater. catch a ten-pound lobster and a ten-inch abalone, play the flute and violin, type 50 words a minute, make a parachute jump, learn water and snow skiing, go on a church mission, study native medicines and bring back useful ones, bag camera trophies of elephants, lions, rhinos, cheetah, cape buffaloes, and whales, learn to fence, learn jujitsu, teach a college course, watch a cremation ceremony in Bali, explore sea depths, build own telescope, write a book, publish an article in National Geographic Magazine, high jump 5 feet, broad jump fifteen feet, run a mile in five minutes, . . . . . learn French, Spanish and Arabic, . . . . . . ship aboard a freighter as a seaman, read the bible from cover to cover, read the works of Shakespeare, Plato, Aristotle, Dickens, Thoreau, Hemingway, Twain, Burroughs, Talmage, Tolstoy, Longfellow, Keats, Poe, Bacon, Whiter and Emerson (not every work of each),. . . . . . . . become proficient in the use of a plane, motorcycle, tractor, surfboard, rifle, pistol, canoe, microscope, football, basketball, bow and arrow, lariat and boomarang, . . . . . . . . .circumnavigate the globe . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thus the dreams, fantasies, hopes and ambitions of a fifteen-year old lad were documented. But they did not end here. John Goddard recorded them and began using them to guide his life of adventure.

What goals have each of you set down for your life? Are you using these goals to guide your life adventure? When/where did your life goals stop being the guiding light and just became a check mark of a task completed. Each of us has very busy lives but if there is not an overall picture or set of life goals when will you know that you have reached your objective? Are your goals too limited (such as retire early) or are they broad enough to be the backbone of your adventure (like John's)?

Whether we like it or not, the world of work is changing radically. Price Prichett, an internationally recognized authority on the dynamics of organizational change, describes this radically changing world this way: "Today's world takes no pity on the person who gets lazy about learning. It doesn't take long for skills and knowledge to get outdated in a fast-changing world. We must constantly retool ourselves, become perpetual students, or we risk becoming obsolete."

The bottom line: instead of placing 100 percent of our efforts on our current jobs, we also need to devote some time to improving our professional skills.

Jim Milford, a manufacturing support technician, has known this for a long time. In fact, he has made lifelong learning a habit.