Nice Timing by
Dr. Tom DePaoli
Life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts,
words and deeds return to us—sooner or later—with astounding accuracy.
Florence Shinn
I had spent over five
grueling years on my dissertation for my Ph.D. and was frantically preparing
for my oral boards. The boards were to be held in California, and I had
scheduled a flight through Minneapolis, where I was to change planes and get to
John Wayne Airport. My incoming flight was very late, and I was soon in an
all-out sprint to catch my flight to California. Very few people were left in
the concourse. I had to stop to catch my breath on a moving sidewalk when I
noticed a woman in her fifties struggling with a carry-on bag.
I don't know why, but I looked at her face and
blurted out, "Are you going on flight 567 to California?"
She responded, "Yes."
"So am I," I responded. "Give me
your bag. I'll run ahead and tell them to wait for you." I took her bag
and started sprinting again. I raced onto
the plane and told a flight attendant that one more passenger was behind me and
to please hold the plane for her. I seated myself with her bag, and a few
moments later she arrived and was the last person on the plane before they
closed the doors and took off. After the plane leveled off, I presented the bag
to her, and she smiled at me and thanked me.
I didn't sleep a wink in the
hotel that I stayed at before my oral boards and arrived at the university at
seven o'clock in the morning. The board kept me waiting for an hour in a room
before the defense of my dissertation began. I walked into the boardroom and
was initially intimidated by all the professors in their regal robes. As I
slowly glanced at the faces of all the board members, I noticed the bright face
of a woman directly in the center of the board. She looked at me, gave me a
flirtatious smile like a young schoolgirl and winked at me. It was the same
woman whose bag I had carried ahead the night before. Needless to say, whenever
I stumbled on any questions, she did a great job of extricating me.
Author’s Biography
Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is
currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo
Solutions (http://www.apollosolutions.us), which does general business consulting in the human
resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. He founded his organization
in 1995. Recently, he retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve after over 30
years of service. In other civilian careers, Dr. Tom was a supply chain and
human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and
lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and
consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his
consulting projects included: information systems projects, re-engineering
organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management,
global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical,
paper, pharmaceutical, Information technology, automotive, government,
consumer, equipment, services and consulting businesses. He has been published
extensively in journals, magazines and books. He has been involved in many
forms of communications including website design, marketing campaigns,
political campaigns, radio advertisements, and scripts. He the author of eleven books. His Amazon
author’s page is https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli
He has instructed at six education
facilities in numerous roles. He is active
in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of
children. For more detailed information about Dr. Tom see his LinkedIn homepage.
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