>> I started off in chemistry in pretty much a traditional chemistry curricula.
I was influenced very early by a gentleman who pointed out to me that practically anybody
who was in the world of chemistry was going to be in some way involved in a subset of chemistry
that we call polymer science or polymer engineering.
You know, in the old movie "The Graduate" when the actor says it's plastics man plastics,
well that was sort of the sub story there.
And so, you know, my undergraduate career was in chemistry.
And then I was in an interdisciplinary program
that involved chemistry, physics, and polymer science.
And then I did my PhD in the world of polymers.
So the very early focus came from a recognition that if I was going to be in this arena,
that this is where the activity or at least some huge portion of activity was going to be
and where people were going to be willing to pay me to do what I liked to do.
I think the next piece of a career focus came in my early days with Dow Chemical.
A senior manager at Dow and I crossed paths on an airplane one day
and he says, "Don, what do you want to do?"
And I was totally unable to answer that question.
And he says, "I'm going to see you again shortly,
and you need to be able to answer that question."
And when I analyzed that it was not, "What do I want to be?"
But "What do I want to do?"
And as I thought about that I came to the conclusion that when I saw him again
and he asked me again I said, "I want to be part of the decision making process
of where this company goes and technology and business innovation."
And he said, "Perfect.
Now just make sure that how you spend your time and the things
that you do are going to prepare you to do that."