Workplace Wisdom...
Discover Fulfillment in Life and Work
with Michelle Y. Drake

"My grandmother, Sally Hegle, was married in the 1930s. My grandparents had a farm during the Depression and the dust bowl years in the Midwest (North Dakota). When I was young, I thought my grandmother 'just stayed at home.' But she was an entrepreneur - it wasn't obvious to me. She taught me to work hard so you can play hard; to use what you have (including your brain); to save part of what you have, no matter how hard it might seem at the time; and to never give up.

When my grandparents couldn't make a go of the farm because of a serious drought, my grandfather traveled wherever he could to find work, leaving my grandmother behind with a baby, a cow and a dried up farm. My grandmother tied the baby to her chest, put a rope around the cow's neck and walked up and down the ditches on the sides of the road because that was the only green grass around. My grandmother used to chuckle when she told the story because she said it must have been quite a sight.

My grandparents made it through the Depression and were able to keep the farm. After that experience, my grandmother raised chickens, had a huge garden and apple orchard and used to take her eggs and produce into town to sell when my grandfather took the milk to the creamer to sell. She said she never wanted to go hungry again, and she didn't.

My grandmother is ninety-five today and last year successfully underwent knee replacement surgery because she didn't want to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. I was lucky to have spent many summers with Grandma Sally, who taught me about work, integrity and love."

- Julie Viskup, Law Professor at Champlain College

Labels: inspiration, kitchen to corner office, lipstick leadership stories, mother's wisdom