Ivan SEIDENBERG

Chairman and CEO of Verizon

When I was eighteen, I got my first job, as a janitor in an office building in Manhattan. I was the guy who opened the door, swept the floor, polished the chrome, and ran the freight elevator. My boss was the building superintendent, an older guy named Bill. Bill hardly ever said anything, but he worked like a dog—harder than anybody else on the crew. It seemed to me that if my boss was working that hard, then I should, too, so that’s what I did.

Once in a blue moon, Bill would actually talk to me. One day, he saw me reading a book and asked me about it. I told him I was putting myself through college at night. About eight months later, he came up to me and said, “You know, there are companies that will help you pay for college while you work full-time.” I asked him which ones—he said to try the electric or the phone company—and I did what he said, applying to New York Telephone. I started a career in communications there that’s lasted almost forty years.

When I asked Bill why he took eight months to get around to mentioning this to me, he just shrugged and said, “I guess I wanted to see if you were worth it.”

Your values, work ethic, and personal standards are always visible, whether you’re a janitor or a CEO. I’ve always conducted myself in business according to that very simple rule: Work hard . . . because somebody’s always watching.

Work hard. . . . Someone’s always watching.