I sold my business in 2013 to Tenet Partners. The first thing I did was to write a series of 30 articles and compiled them into another book called Powerhouse – The Secrets of Corporate Branding. From there I had a vision of improving both my artistic skills in painting landscapes and my tennis game. Then everything changed.
I received an unsolicited email from Grandon Gill, Ph.D., Muma College of Business, at the University of South Florida. It was short and to the point. I thought I was a hardened executive, resistant to all clever selling efforts, but in less than 200 words he had me hooked to join his doctoral program at USF.
I had been around statistics and analytics for most of my career, but my education was in graphic design. When I needed statisticians in our business, we hired the best. I had no background for taking on doctoral level statistics, but some core driver in my soul thought that I could do it…and so I did.
What intrigued me in the email was Grandon’s suggestion that maybe there was something in your career that you wanted to accomplish but didn’t have time when you are going at full pace. His note suggested that now was the time and I took the bait.
This doctoral program wasn’t easy by a long shot. I struggled with statistics and software programs that were utterly foreign to my experiences and education. As a lifelong practitioner, I struggled with participating in the world of academia. I wasn’t the boss and even more difficult I learned that in the world of academia I wasn’t even high on the food chain.
Then there was the dissertation itself. It was difficult for the dissertation committee to get a handle on my brilliance. I was so confident that my first idea to write a book would be acceptable that I went ahead and wrote the book – to find my dissertation committee rejecting the concept. My backup plan was to write three articles and have them published in academic journals, which I did only to find out that I needed to prepare a traditional dissertation. I slowed down and started listening to my co-chairs. I focused on doing the kind of analysis that was requested rather than making broad assumptions. I defended my position when I felt it was the best analysis, but changed when I could see the other point of view would improve the outcome.
I was fortunate to have Moez Limayem, Dean of the Business School, with Professor Anand Kumar as my co-chairs. When I finally realized they were trying to help me things changed for the better. On Friday, August 17, 2018, I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation.
So, is it time to retire? No way!! I’m reinvigorated, and full of new ideas. I have a nearly completed new book in the pipeline. For the first time in my career, I’m a free agent with a brand new title!
Dr. James R. Gregory
