Rachel Troiano

There are no boundaries. You may be taking a class with tom but it’s not tom’s class.  It’s YOUR class.  I remember we held one class in my apartment and had breakfast.  Don’t ask me what the lesson was but I can tell you I made a ton of pancakes.

I took two classes with tom in my junior and senior years at PC.  The best part of my college years were his classes and it is what I remember most.  And since then, tom and I have become friends.  He recently reminded me of something he told me ten years ago.  I’m sharing it with you because the lessons I learned and the approach to my career started in college and they haven’t really changed, even though careers take you to places unexpected.

I work in corporate America, fast paced and full of bureaucracy.  I hold a pretty senior position, interacting with the most senior and the most junior employees across our company.  Recently, I’ve been feeling frustrated with the inefficient style of working generally and the lack of meaning in my role.  When tom reached out to us to add stories for his playbook, I immediately asked to read the book, know the details, understand the end to end and probably many more things.  So corporate executive of me.  Rightfully so, tom threw that back in my face.  When I was in college, tom told me that I wouldn’t be able to stay in that world but that it would be a great education.  He recently reminded me of that conversation and it hit me like a ton of bricks.  He was RIGHT.  And it’s not that I’m surprised he was right, but that I had forgotten that this was something I knew about myself and had forgotten.

For some of you, what you will learn in this class will stick with you for your careers.  For some of you, this will just be another class.  But for me, it was the most impactful part of college.