Sam Kirk’s 17 years with Southwestern Company taught him about business and the “real world.” He decided to apply that knowledge by educating teens about entrepreneurialism and helping them have the tools and knowledge it takes to not only run a business, but succeed.

Southwestern Company Alum

I have had the privilege of getting to know Sam, his wife Cynthia – and more recently, their oldest son Eugene who participated in the Southwestern Company summer program the past two summers. Having taken tours of the Youth About Business facilities and attending their awards banquets has opened my eyes to how much the Southwestern experience can be applied to help others. I know many of the people who carry the sample case are service-minded – but Sam and his family have taught thousands of young people how to be self-reliant and knowledgeable when it comes to business and life. Youth About Business has spread beyond the home base of Nashville to various sections of the country including the Northeast, Midwest and South.

An excerpt of Southwestern Company from the Nashville Parent article:

“Real-world experience has become the hallmark of the non-profit YAB, which was founded by Sam Kirk 13 years ago. “I think it’s important that we give students the opportunity to discover how America works,” says Kirk. “One of our themes is that we give students the skill-sets that will help them rise above their circumstances,” he adds. Kirk himself engaged in his first business experience at the age of 16 as a salesperson for the Southwestern Company, working with Southwestern for 17 years before leaving to start YAB with a simple mission in mind: providing young people from low-income and under served communities the opportunity to chart their own destinies and possibly own their own companies.”

More from the Nashville Parent article. Find more testimonials about Southwestern Company »

It is not the great food that makes you take a step back when you enter the room, it is the incredible caliber of student that fills it.  Each week as Dan Moore announces the winners I am inspired by their accomplishments off of the bookfield.   I recall telling the students I worked with as a Sales Manager that they were most likely going to be successful with or without Southwestern.  Southwestern is merely a catalyst to get you where you want to go faster with better preparation.   These students have learned to overcome challenges and live by Spencer Hays’ motto, “There are two kinds of people in the world: Some find an excuse, and others find a way.”

Last Thursday we were honored to have Southwestern alumni Sam & Cynthia (Dishman) Kirk join us at the President’s Club dinner.  Their son Eugune is going on his second summer with Southwestern and was enjoying some well earned steak.  As the dinner was winding down, Sam recalled how he was with Southwestern for seventeen years and built a tremendous organization.   Sam and Cynthia started Youth About Business, a non profit organization, ten years ago to provide entrepreneurial training to young people in America’s cities.

Sam mentioned to the students headed to the bookfield that one of the greatest lessons he learned at Southwestern was the meaning of success.   So many of us have trouble feeling successful even when we accomplish amazing things.  Sam reminded us that success is doing your best every day.  There are so few things in life we can control, but when we lay our heads down at night we know if we did our best – and that is how we should measure success.   I am so blessed to still work at Southwestern where I have wonderful mentors that surround me and remind me of these lessons.  For those of you who are not so lucky I thought I would include a poem that I think you will recall from your years on the bookfield.

The One in the Glass
by Dale Wimbrow, ©1934

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that one has to say.

For it isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife
Who judgment upon you must pass.
The person whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

He’s the person to please, never mind all the rest,
The one with you clear up to the end.
And you’ve passed your most dangerous and difficult test
If the one in the glass is your friend.

He may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum
And think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartache and tears,
If you’ve cheated the one in the glass.

(Slightly edited to make it more genderless – this is all about doing one’s very best – and no one knows what that is except ourselves!)

In fact, I’d like to thank Mr. Neville, the fourth grade teacher at Bow Elementary in New Hampshire, for being my golden name my third summer on the bookfield.  His testimonial and recommendation of the Volume Library boosted my sales tremendously.  A recognizable name has always been a great way to build trust.

Recently The Tennessean published a slideshow of photos of the Southwestern Company and several of the locally famous alumni who have worked in the summer program.  It includes local Tennessee alumni:  Former Metro Councilman George Armistead III; Tennessee entrepreneur Jim Ayers; US Representative Marsha Blackburn; Retired Southwestern CEO, Ralph Mosley; Tennessee entrepreneur Ted Welch; Tennessee entrepreneur Sam Kirk; and current Southwestern CEO and Chairman, Henry Bedford.

National alumni included:  Former Federal Prosecutor, Ken Starr; Texas Governor, Rick Perry; and Evangelist and Best-Selling Author Max Lucado.

Also included in the slideshow are various photos of Southwestern headquarters on Atrium Way in Nashville and student dealers in training at “Sales School.”

In seeking out our “Rich and Famous” alumni, it has been the bookpeople whose names may not jump out at you that intrigue me the most.  Many of our alumni who have created successful businesses and lives do not live in the public eye.  They have taken the skills they learned at Southwestern and have become the “Millionaires Next Door”. 

Check out some of our Alumni Spotlights  and look for more success stories of Southwestern alumni in the coming weeks.

Who do you know that sold books that should be on our “Rich and Famous” list?  ]]> http://www.southwesternalumniblog.com/southwestern_company/the-tennessean-slideshow-of-famous-southwestern-alumni/feed/ 0