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An Officer and

a Gentleman

Jesus Blasquez, SCC’s Director of Client Services,

delivers his “Final Lecture” to SCC clients and staff THEN . . .
Jesus in 1997
After 21 years with SCC Soft Computer, Jesus Blasquez, SCC’s Director of Client Services, at his first
bid us farewell as he delivered his “Final Lecture” to SCC clients and staff—sharing SNUG conference
lessons learned about leadership and finding your own voice, the most important decision
you’ll ever make, working for a living, and life in general.
On Working for a Living
On Leadership “You’re a solution set. That’s why
your employer hired you.”
“You don’t know what you don’t know.”
Be mindful that solutions often
Jesus opened with lessons learned as a newly commissioned 2nd create new problems or unintended
Lieutenant in the US Army. He completed OCS (officer candidate school) consequences; look for potential flaws.
at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was assigned to Charlie Company | 2nd Be willing to escalate issues out of
Battalion | 125th Infantry—in charge of the infantry qualifying range —with your control to upper management, but
1
no experience or guidance, other than what he’d learned in OCS. “escalate solutions.”
He quickly discovered that nothing in his training had prepared him, and
he had no model for what kind of leader he should be.

After a chaotic first day, he spent the night reflecting on what went wrong, On Life Lessons
and started Day 2 with a new perspective. He gathered the NCOs (non- “Who you marry is the most
commissioned officers) and asked for their help, starting with learning who important decision you’ll ever make.”
knew what. Once the NCOs realized he wasn’t going to be a typical know-
it-all lieutenant barking out orders with no clue—and that he respected their Accept your partner as he or she is;
experience—each one volunteered to handle their area of expertise, and the problem.”
recognize that “sometimes, you’re
Day 2 was a success.
Jesus’ leadership style: find out who the experts are, form a team, and
get the job done.
On The Road Ahead
“When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” “Find your passion.”
2
With a medical technology degree and an MBA, Jesus embarked on a career in
healthcare spanning several decades—learning many valuable lessons along Jesus left us with this final thought:
the way. He reminded us that each of us is a competitor, and healthcare is just “Find things to balance yourself
going to keep getting more competitive. “Technology is changing rapidly … outside work.”
make sure you have the tools to compete in this marketplace, benchmark where He’s already filling his days with the
you are now, keep your skills up-to-date … and stay competitive.” things he’s passionate about. And,
1 A squad = 10 to 12 men; a platoon = 4 to 5 squads; a company = 4 to 5 platoons; a of course, spending time with his
battalion = 4 to 6 companies; there are about 2,000 men on the infantry battalion rifle range
with stations set up for soldiers to qualify on various weapons and prepare for combat. family—his one true passion.
2 “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the
fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning, a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun
the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or
a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” (From The World is Flat |
A brief history of the twenty-first century by Thomas L. Friedman)
~ Martha Abell Shrader

NOW . . .
Jesus in 2018, at his last SNUG conference
(still smiling!)