Category: Becoming a Master Student

My son Randy wanted to make his career in veterinary medicine. It was not surprising to his mother and me as he loved animals from his early childhood. Randy was in high school when we suggested that he work at a local veterinary clinic. Randy searched around our neighborhood and found one particular veterinary clinic appealing. He inquired regarding employment and was told that they only take volunteers as interns without pay.

Randy told us that night at the dinner table that he didn’t think it would work at the clinic because they didn’t pay. Carol quickly offered to pay Randy minimum wage for every hour he volunteered. That sounded good so Randy applied and was accepted as a volunteer. To our surprise, after a few weeks he was hired at the clinic because of the intense interest he showed in the practice.

Following graduation from Mira Mesa High School, Randy attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo where he worked to earn a B.S. degree specializing in Pre-Vet Animal Science.  However, after graduation he was unable to gain acceptance into the UC Davis veterinary program. His plan now had to change and find a new direction.

Randy found an opportunity to fulfill his passion for working with animals in an unexpected form, pharmaceutical cancer research. He accepted a position at a small pharmaceutical research firm in Menlo Park, California – Sequus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

In June 1995, Randy was leaving home to begin his professional career at Sequus; I wanted to give him some fatherly advice. My purpose was to give him encouragement, confidence and successful thinking. History and experience told me that there were some very crucial things to understand starting out in the business world with hope to be successful. Most of these were learned by my own retroactive deliberations on what happened in my career in the business world.

Sequus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Menlo Park, CA

I said to Randy, “Build an impeccable reputation because that is what people with think and speak of you when you are not around.”

I wanted Randy to realize that reputation was crucial. Reputation was what people thought of you as true: your character, your integrity, your honesty and your loyalty. Reputation was what others would think of you when you are not around. I wanted my son to be very much aware of this truth because it was under his control; it was in his hands to create it. Absolutely essential was purposeful building the truth. Any deception eventually would be revealed.

I told Randy, “Son, you need to find a way to let everyone in the company from the janitor to the CEO know what you are doing to contribute to the success of the company.”

I wanted him to realize that he must be known by the key leaders in the company. They needed to know him. Not just his name, but what he was contributing to the company and its future success. And they needed to know the details, not some “broad brush” understanding, but an in-depth, “nitty gritty”, fine point awareness of his talent and skill and the application thereof to the mission of the organization.

Finally I told him, “I have purchased shares of stock in the company where you will be working. I know you will make a difference in its success!”

I wanted my son to know I was fully confident in his success and that of the team with whom he was soon to be an integral and contributing part. I made an investment in the company and thereby an investment in him.

These fatherly words of advice resulted in some interesting decisions by Randy. Upon completion of the orientation activities on day one, Randy was provided with a computer and an office. He was assigned an e-mail address and a company roster with e-mail addresses.

He immediately set forth putting a plan into motion. Randy began e-mailing everyone in the company a letter of introduction he had penned expressing his delight in working for the company. At the end of the letter, he inquired as to their favorite leisure time activities and what they liked to do with their families. He received a very high percentage of responses from the staff. Upon review, Randy noticed that two things “stuck out”; picnics and volleyball.

Flood Park – Menlo Park, CA

Randy set out investigating the local area and found a park near the office that also had a number of volleyball courts. Over the next days, Randy planned out an “un-official” company family picnic featuring a volleyball venue and potluck lunch at Flood Park. He then made a reservation at the park for a Saturday a few weeks in the future. Randy invited all the company staff and their families to attend the Saturday program.

Volley Ball Court at Flood Park

It was a great success with a very high percentage turnout. The company CEO was so impressed with the high turnout he inquired of Randy’s boss, “I have been trying unsuccessfully to get something like this to work for our company. Who pulled this off?”

She replied, “Our new hire, Randy. Would you like to meet him?”

During the subsequent conversation, the CEO asked Randy to assist with planning and organizing the company’s annual winter dinner party.

Sequus Laboratory Facility

Randy at work in the lab.

The stock in the company rose considerably until the company was sold. I made a substantial profit in my IRA account with my investment in the company, but more importantly, Randy put into practice the principles of business I had shared with him and he reaped his own rewards. Constantly open to learning from his experience propelled Randy to a successful career.

It is interesting to note that while investigating Stanford University’s renowned and highly rated MBA program, I discovered they require a substantial essay from three high level executives of the company where a candidate is employed. The essay must describe in fine detail the work the candidate is performing for the company. The requirement necessitates the executive to be intimately aware of the candidate’s work. This was for me a confirmation of the validity of my counsel to Randy to become known to the staff at the firm.

Randy’s career in cancer and influenza research continued to develop as he contributed at a number of research companies in both technical and social arenas. Ultimately he was part of teams that gained national recognition in their field of expertise.

Some Lessons to consider:

• It is critical to have a plan and purpose at the very onset of employment in a chosen career. From day one you will be fashioning your reputation. It will be in your hands and the product of your performance over time. Your consistent behavior, conduct, decisions, etc. will create in the minds and hearts of those around you, the person that you are.
• It is important that the decision makers, the executives, know who you are and what you are doing. They need to know details. Your excellence will attract their attention and interest in you and your career. Their power will help promote you to get what you deserve and have earned.
• A well devised plan, executed with skill and determination, will eventually open the door to your success. Resourcefulness and creativity are assets that are important to develop.
• A good reputation is essential to any career. It is an unwritten resume that has a way of following one around. Once created, it is very difficult to change. A good reputation that speaks to one’s integrity and admirable character becomes an invaluable asset along life’s journey.

Turning Points

This experience taught me the value a parent can be to their children through wise counsel and sincere encouragement. Acknowledging your child’s doing the right things and offering sincere and detailed praise can make the difference between success and failure.

Following up on offered counsel and encouragement with prayerful intersession must not be under estimated.

COPYRIGHT © 2014 ALLAN EDWARD MUSTERER

In the early 1980’s I attended a seminar on the subject of communication. The opening moments turned out to be a significant turning point for me. The seminar facilitator began by asking all 500 participants a series of questions.

The first question: How many of you have taken a class or course in writing during your formal education? Virtually every hand was raised.

The next question: How many have taken a class or course in public speaking? About 80% raised their hands.

The final question: How many have taken a class or course in listening? Not a single hand was raised! Not one attendee admitted to taking a lesson or course in listening.

Listening is the critical component of successful communication, yet few, if any, have ever been professionally trained in this important area. Only until recently has listening become considered worthy of its own study.

I found that listening was so much more than hearing. It was a skill at processing what was heard and inspiring an appropriate thoughtful response.

My deliberations following the course caused a fine focused attention to listening skills and a purposeful effort to master mine. I looked into Holy Scripture and that revealed a biblical golden nugget for my pursuit.

I discovered that the following passage in The Message version of the Bible’s Old Testament provided fascinating perspectives on the subject of listening skills.

I highlighted what I deemed critical points to consider further and added some commentary.

1 Kings 3:4-10 The Message (MSG)
4-5 The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, GOD appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, “What can I give you? Ask.”

My thoughts at this point: We as human beings fantasize about a Genie who can offer us one or sometimes three wishes. It’s just a fantasy. There is no Genie. But God, the almighty, who can do anything, in all His power asks Solomon, “What can I give you? Ask.” What do I ask God for each morning?

 6 Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And You have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.
 7-8 “And now here I am: GOD, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes; hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.
 9 “Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”
 10-14 God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon’s response. And God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and haven’t grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I’ll give you what you’ve asked for—I’m giving you a wise and mature heart. There’s never been one like you before; and there’ll be no one after. As a bonus, I’m giving you both the wealth and glory you didn’t ask for—there’s not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I’ll also give you a long life.”

I found a deeper perspective from the King James Version of this text:  A God-listening heart is a heart with skill to listen* to the whisper of the Holy Spirit, sent to guide me into the will of God for me and intent on making me a blessing for those who God hopes I will serve with His love. [*Note: The King James Version of the Bible has a note in the central reference column that offers a secondary interpretation of the phrase “discerning heart” as “a heart with skill to listen”.]

I learned from Solomon’s actions that if I wanted to delight the heart of God with my requests, I needed to humble myself and ask for a heart skilled in the art of listening.

Turning Point

This turning point experience inspired me to alter my prayers each day.  Since then I begin each day much like Solomon, praying for a heart with skill to listen so even the whisper of the Holy Spirit could be heard. Especially at times when it was critical to hear the guidance of God, I pray this way during the day. Countless times since then, the guidance of God has brought extraordinary experiences into my life.

This turning point also prompted me to create a seminar on communication with a primary emphasis on the art of listening. I intend to offer this Communication Seminar in the future in an on-line setting.

COPYRIGHT © 2014 ALLAN EDWARD MUSTERER

Great turning points in my life occurred during my four years in high school. There I was blessed with some extraordinary teachers. I planned to attend college after my high school graduation to earn a degree in engineering. Consequently, I enrolled in what was termed “College Preparatory Course”. This curriculum required a heavy dose of science and mathematics classes and intense English classes. I shared this curriculum of courses with other students headed to college. When I entered college, I found that I had received an education equal to or better than my fellow college students who attended expensive prep schools.

The intense nature of the College Prep curriculum left little room for anything else, specifically interesting elective courses. However, I was somehow able to sneak in a year of art with Ms. Marie Sauer. From my earliest years, I loved art. I made all the Disney characters in colored construction paper and hung them from a wire coat hanger creating a mobile. Colored construction paper became the medium for creating my book report covers. I also sculpted characters from the movies, specifically horror movies like Frankenstein and Dracula. My passion for art since childhood motivated me to seize a place in Ms. Marie Sauer’s art class when as an elective it became available to me.

Ms. Sauer’s encouraging words to me as my art projects were being created were just one of the many attributes of her teaching style. I especially appreciated her positive way of helping me overcome my fear of tackling a project I deemed beyond my talent and capability.

A case in point was my reticence at tackling a drawing project in the medium of charcoal. In her classroom was a sculpture of the bust of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a hero of mine, so I wanted to somehow produce a piece of artwork using that sculpture. Ms. Sauer’s challenge to me was to shine a light on the bust from a certain angle, then draw the resulting image in charcoal. My initial reluctance to use charcoal for this project was overcome with the urging and encouragement of Ms. Sauer’s convincing counsel. The result was to hang in my library to this day.

Abraham Lincoln Bust in Charcoal (1958)

After I graduated from college, I was on an assignment in Las Vegas, Nevada that required daily trips into the desert. On the way to my work destination I saw signs for a Nevada State Park called the Valley of Fire. On one of the few days I had off of work, I journeyed through this amazing natural wonder. The colors of the natural creation gave credence to the name for it surely seemed to be ablaze with fire.

Valley of Fire – Nevada State Park

This experience planted a seed in me, a certain image burned into my memory. That seed came to life when I enrolled in graduate school some months later. Each night when I came home late after classes, I was too wound up to get to sleep. I needed something to help me to relax. My solution was to make an oil painting of the image that the Valley of Fire inspired in me months before.
I purchased a canvas and mounted it on a wooden frame. Thus began what would be a project that spanned more than two years.

I started the project by sketching the image I had in my mind onto the canvas. I imaged a bush on fire as I walked through the Valley of Fire State Park that day in the summer of 1965. Now, I worked to put this image onto the canvas. I purchased oil paints in the colors I knew I needed to achieve the color effects the painting required.

My concept for the painting was to create an image comprised of triangles. Each triangle would be painted a solid color. No two triangles of the same color were to touch each other save for at a point of an adjoining triangle. There would be three basic elements of the painting. The first was the ground on which the bush was growing. The second was the bush itself. The third was the fire and its resultant glow as it encompassed the bush. I hoped to produce in the mind of the viewer of the final piece a sense of a bush growing on a hill ablaze with a fire whose essence was exploding outward like the sun. I also used the shapes of the triangles to combine with the colors to give the visual effect I tried to achieve. Larger and bolder triangles were used for the ground and narrow triangles were used for the roots and branches of the bush. The fire triangles were also elongated to give the bursting effect I wanted to portray.

With this in mind I began by painting the ground, a “ground-up” sort of plan, probably based on my engineering thinking. This project soon became a greater challenge than I first imagined. Abiding by the rules I established, I had to create forty seven different shades of brown to join the color black. What made this particularly difficult was the fact that I needed to reserve lighter shades of brown for the branches and roots of the bush and the varied shades of brown the bush would required.

Each night I set to work a new shade of brown was mixed on my pallet until the ground was completed. Once the ground was completed I began to work on the bush. This required a variety of lighter shades of brown to distinguish it from the ground and produce the effect I needed to enable the viewer to see the bush, its branches and roots.

When the bush was completed, I tackled the bursting effect of the fire encompassing the bush. I accomplished this effect by blending the colors of the triangles from bright yellows nearest the bush to dark reds at the periphery of the painting. The shpe of the triangles enhanced this effect.

All this painting of triangles necessitated painting most of it with a paint brush with only a few hairs. This was required to paint the sharp points of the triangles. Again, the challenge with this area of the painting was to create a large number of shades of yellows, oranges and reds to achieve the effect desired without violating the established rules.

The painting was created over the two and half years of my MBA graduate studies. Each night upon returning home from classes, except for the months I was courting my wife, I spent an hour or so painting three to five triangles at a time. I created a shade of a particular color, then with that color triangles were added to the canvas. It was a long and tedious project but it gave me peace and prepared me for a good night of rest.

I have called the resulting oil painting my masterpiece. It is the image of Moses’ Burning Bush from the Bible. I often told visitors to our home gazing at my painting to “take off your shoes as you are standing on hallowed ground” inspiring them to say, “Ah! It’s Moses’ burning bush!”

The Burning Bush of Moses (1967-1970)

After my master piece was completed I continued to exercise my passion and joy for art. I have explored a number of various forms, working with hook rug art, photography, and wood work. But what I found to be most interesting was the way God used my passion and interest in art as a means to open opportunities for me to be a blessing for someone I met along my path of life.

Turning Points

Ms. Sauer challenged me to explore my limits and develop my talents in the arts. That was a turning point for me. It was not only relative to my art and creativity self-esteem, it also applied in my life generally. We all have God-given talents. Each of these talents have a purpose that may be hidden from our realization for years only to be resurrected at just the right time to allow us to employ them to be a blessing for someone.

The consequence of this turning point relative to my art talents was my personal joy in expressing these talents through art in many forms. Whether we see the beauty of art in the Creation and its wonders or in the art created via the talents of others, appreciating art in all its varied forms adds immeasurably to our lives.

COPYRIGHT © 2014 ALLAN E. MUSTERER

In my four years at Garfield High School, I took specific mathematics classes to prepare myself for studying engineering in college. My first year I had Algebra I. The second year I had two math classes, Algebra II and Geometry. The third year Solid Geometry-Trigonometry combined into one class. My final year I studied Calculus.

My Solid Geometry-Trigonometry class was taught by Mr. Peter Hubiak, a seasoned mathematics teacher who came with a well known reputation for strictness.

Mr. Peter Hubiak

Mr. Hubiak was a real character. Most of the students teased him behind his back because of his idiosyncrasies. He always seemed to have chalk stains on his suit jacket and a perpetual bulge of pens and pencils in his breast pocket that threatened to burst the pocket’s seams. The careful observer of details discovered soup stains on his tie and even on the front of some of his shirts peeking out from the edges of the lapels of his suit jacket. He was one of the oldest teachers on the staff. In fact, he was really old in my view because he had taught my parents!

Mr. Hubiak turned out to be a harbinger of wisdom that went beyond his expert teaching of solid geometry and trigonometry. He frequently philosophized during class. He would preach wisdom that stuck with me, probably because under the teenage critique of him there lay a certain measure of profound respect. His germs of wisdom took root in me and over time saved me from many potential losses both financially and career wise.

One of his philosophical offerings was his statement, “You can’t get something for nothing.”

That may sound simple and maybe even trivial, by many a time in life a prospect that seemed too good to be true tempted me to invest my resources. Then his words echoed in my mind and I resisted the temptation. Future events revealed how that little impulse saved me from serious financial losses. To this day I am grateful for Mr. Hubiak’s persistent preaching to us as teenagers.

Another offering was this suggestion that applied, as I later in life discovered, not only to solving mathematical problems but life problems as well.

He said, “When you are facing problems and situations that seem to overwhelm you, stop and go back to basic principles. Apply them and the solution will reveal itself.”

One of the most important turning points for me came with this “Hubiak-ism” as a key element. At a critical moment in my engineering career, when I was severely challenged, my God reminded me of this precious gem of wisdom from my teacher. It lay dormant in the crevices of my mind and was resurrected with meticulous timing to make a huge difference in facing a seemingly overwhelming challenge. [Refer to the story titled “It Doesn’t Work – Fix It” to see how this simple but profound solution evolved into a big professional success.]

Turning Point

The realization that wisdom can come from the least expected people who come into our life unexpectedly is a true turning point. It reveals the understanding that God can and will use anyone to fulfill His purpose for us. We just need to position ourselves to be extricated from our prejudices, judgments and fears so we are open to the blessings that can flow from these unexpected sources. Turning point phrases also find application beyond the obvious, as I have discovered in the spiritual part of life when resorting to “basic principles” as simply asking God through heartfelt prayer.

COPYRIGHT © 2014 ALLAN E. MUSTERER