From the Outhouse to the President's Chair

By Robert Bliss

From the Outhouse to the President's Chair is a riveting memoir outlining the difficulties, adversities, and the good times in a unique and totally unplanned rise from a farm boy to a college presidency, coupled with proven success in the corporate world. Beginning on the family farm, the author takes us on a truly exciting trip. It has action, it has humor, and provides obstacles to overcome, several of which could have been fatal. It's an adventure of innovation and problem solving in business and higher education. Each professional advancement is viewed as the final position but circumstances will dictate otherwise. Confronted with personal obstacles that would seem to preclude anything beyond a high school education, the author showcases humor, a tenacity to succeed and the ability to attract others in his amazing story. This is a journey punctuated with handicaps that, to most, would stifle any possible thought of achieving personal success. It's a memoir of reality, proving that achievements in life are linked through a series of events, rarely planned and definitely not anticipated. This is a true story of belief. Belief in faith, belief in yourself, and belief in individuals who seemingly appear at the right time. Most importantly, it is positive belief expressed through strong motivation, determination, and perseverance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640035621

Book preview

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From the Outhouse to the

President’s Chair

Robert L. Bliss

ISBN 978-1-64003-561-4 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64003-562-1 (Digital)

Copyright © 2018 Robert L. Bliss

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Prelude

Early Decisions and Challenges

A Shot in the Dark

A New Frontier of Learning

Secrets Never Told

Farming Can Be Fun

Back to the City

Business and Finance 101

Reluctantly Off To College

Dr. William Austin

Dr. John Dawson

Welcome to the U.S. Army

General Francis Urhane

Stan Albeck

Moving Upward

NMU – A Major Challenge

Education and Business Nationally

New Title – College President

New Title – Corporate President

The Road Ahead – Lessons Learned

About the Author

Don’t live your life—Live your dream!

—Anonymous

To Susan, my wife, best friend, companion, and confidant—always there when I need her and always making my life fun!

To my daughters, Karen, Nancy, and Judy—all grown up and successful, and never complaining too much when they were carted to new locations against their will.

To my granddaughters, Tori (Victoria), Cassie (Casandra), Tiffani and Sam (Samantha), for bringing laughter and pride to our family.

To my grandson, Robert, who has brought a lot of joy into our lives.

Further thanks to Sharon Comer for her expertise in proofreading. Any errors found in this book should be attributed to her.

Fortunately, the following individuals came into my life at just the right time! Thanks to the following, in alphabetical order: Mr. Stan Albeck, Dr. Wm. Austin, Dr. John Dawson, Dr. Gordon Sabine, Mr. Edward Smith, and Brig. Gen. Francis Urhane.

And also to my mother and father, for the patience and guidance in allowing me to grow, to make mistakes, and always encouraging me to never stop when confronted with obstacles in life.

Finally, a special acknowledgement to God for his grace.

Prelude

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

—Maya Angelou

Instant success is a rarity. Hoping it will happen won’t make it happen. The road is full of hazards and blockades. Negotiating the difficulties is called experience. Not everyone will be capable of handling an ever curving and changing situation, it is always easier to quit at some point.

Success in business or higher education is not something that will happen immediately. It isn’t automatic in any area of employment, it requires self-discipline and a strong positive attitude.

This book isn’t a blueprint for success. Everyone has their own trail to break and goals to set. What follows is just one example of an upward path that has been determined through a series of events, some discouraging, others uplifting, but all contributing to the end result.

The events of my early life and continuing on through high school and college, were determining factors in the progress to the president’s chair in business and higher education. It definitely wasn’t easy.

It is a verbal trip through life, describing the fun, disappointments, anxiety, and hurdles that confront all of us. Several events were definitely life changing, while others in retrospect were just plain funny.

Early Decisions and Challenges

Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference.

—Robert Frost

Several years ago, in fact a lot of years ago, my father made a comment that still reverberates in my mind. After one particular incident in my life, dad shook his head, looked at me, and said, Son, you shouldn’t have lived beyond the age of twelve. Someone up there (pointing skyward) must have plans for you!

I’ve always thrived on challenges, and while trying to overcome them have probably made more than my share of mistakes. Yet in each circumstance, there was a lesson learned that would prove to be valuable at a later time in my career. At times, I’ve been outspoken and have made decisions based on emotion before taking a moment to consider other options, and they have sometimes backfired on me! There are examples on this later on.

Like everyone, there have been a lot of paths to follow, and decisions made as to which would be the best. Not necessarily the easiest, but the route taken would be the definitive one.

My life has definitely been varied. There have been times of great joy as well as great sorrow, interspersed with a supportive family and friends. To me, it’s totally amazing the path my life has taken, especially when looking at my early years. I was told at one time to just be content with my speech impediment to live with it. Another time, I was advised to not even think about college, and later in life, to forget my dream of ever becoming a college president. Thankfully, somewhere in my genetic makeup there must be a gene that promotes motivation, determination, and perseverance (I think). Whatever it is, a good amount was passed on to me by my parents who both were dedicated and hard working in good times and in times that were extremely challenging.

We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.

—Walt Kelly

As a child in Michigan, my parents were a bit concerned about me. At an early age my stature was quite a bit smaller than my peers. In fact, from early elementary school through high school, I was always the smallest male in the class, actually second smallest my senior year! My health has always been pretty good, except for hay fever every fall. The big drawback for me was a rather severe speech impediment—stuttering. It was difficult for me to say three words at a time, and in later years it was impossible to answer a telephone! This wasn’t good for self-esteem, but at that time in history a student’s self-esteem wasn’t really a high priority in school. The concern and worry about my stuttering didn’t really surface until my entry into the second grade when we resided in the big city of Adrian. My parents signed me up to meet twice a week with a speech pathologist. There was one other student in the sessions with me and we went through an hour or more of exercises designed to relax our throat muscles. We would try to speak to each other without stuttering and usually ended up laughing at each other and not speaking clearly at all! After two years of exercises and therapy we both quit, and we both continued to stutter.

Believing my life of stuttering was to be with me forever, my early years in Adrian, and soon on the farm, convinced me I would stutter the rest of my life, and definitely I would be short as well! In hindsight, I realize that most of the change that was to affect my life actually began with a series of events between the ages of ten and twelve. My early memories somehow always seem to reflect on this time in my life. There were three incidents in my childhood, any one of which could have changed me, physically or mentally. It was the