Last year, I received an interesting email announcing the retirement of one of my undergraduate professors. Professor Keshav Varde was not only one of my instructors, he was also my program adviser, the head of the mechanical engineering department, and the faculty advisor on the Society of Automotive Engineers competition project. I was the team leader of a national competition project to convert a GMC truck to run on natural gas. It had been several years since we had spoken, and I thought it would be nice gesture to stop by his retirement party and congratulate him in person. On the evening of the retirement reception, I arrived late on a winter evening at the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus. I was held up at work, and running behind, so I skipped dinner and headed over to my alma-mater. I hadn't visited the campus in several years. The last time I walked through campus was with my oldest son. A few years prior he was up in the area and deciding which school to t
Most of us will spend a majority of our career in Middle Management. Instead of dreading it, embrace it for what you can glean from living in the ultimate squeeze play.