My First Job: Zita Gustin, executive managing director

February 4, 2007

My First Job: Zita Gustin, executive managing director

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Zita Gustin

Current position: Executive managing director, Greater Seattle Chapter of eWomenNetwork, an international business-networking organization for women.

First job: Boot salesperson at the Big Bear Store in Billings, Mont. They trained me to sell Tony Llama boots. That didn't last long, because on my own I started doing their merchandising displays, then window displays. I just didn't like the way things looked in the store so I put my creativity to work. Pretty soon, they began to see how the window displays were attracting shoppers into the store. And the merchandise sold better!

What I learned: One day, when I had been there for about a month, I went to use the pencil sharpener. After a crank or two, I could tell the thing was full, so I opened it up, dumped it out, then put it back on the stand. My gosh, you'd have thought I had just saved a child from an oncoming train! The owner had been watching. He told me it was a rare occurrence for an employee of his to take the initiative to see something that needed to be done and actually do it. That day, I learned it's the little things we do that are the most telling about who we are. I also learned creativity, initiative and pluck are very good things.

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