A First-Generation Professional Profile: Cindy Campbell
Michelle Hoover: Do you remember the first time you heard the term “First-Generation Professional”? What were your reactions when you heard it?
Cindy Campbell: I think that was probably when you said it. I had never heard of it. And once I read the definition and heard the definition, I thought, “Oh, I'm one of those.” I still didn't really think about the implications of that until I got further and further into asking, “What does that actually mean?” I graduated from college in 1981, and now, at the end of my career, I can actually look back all the way to graduation and see how being the first in my family to do this really played out.
Hoover: Take us back to the beginning: Where did you grow up? What was life like for you?
Campbell: I grew up in a small, rural North Carolina town. No one in the family had gone to college, and I don't think they really thought about it very much. And at that time, I think college was being touted as where you go to find out what you're going to do with your life. People didn't go in with a really concrete plan. It was more of, “Well, if I just get there and I graduate, things will work themselves out.”
They tracked kids back then, and I was in the college track. And friends were going, so it's like your friends are going to camp, so you may as well go, too. So I was like, “Oh, okay, well, I'll go.” I think there were probably between 10 and 12 folks from my graduating class in high school who went to the same college that I did, and I don't know that any of us had a terribly concrete plan for what we were going to do once we got there.
Hoover: What did your parents do?
Campbell: My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and my dad worked with the postal service. He actually retired the year after I graduated college. He's like, “I've had enough. I got this one through, so I'm done.”
When I look back, I think there were both stated and implicit expectations from family and relatives and others. It's like, “Okay, you graduated now. Why aren't you doing more? What are you doing? Why did you go?” That kind of thing. I was a late bloomer in that regard. It took me a couple years to get my footing. My first job was as a temp secretary. I can't even remember exactly how I left there. It's kind of like, leave that one and make incremental moves upward. I was a temp, now I got the job with benefits. Now I got this. Now I got that. In thinking back, I don't think I was a proactive participant in moving myself up because I wasn't selling myself. I wasn't trying to move up. And in each case that I did get a better job, it really was through the benevolence of someone else who said, “You know, I think you can do this; why don't you come try this?” I'm like, “Well, okay, if you think so.”
I remember one of my first jobs. I had just gotten married, and I relocated, so I'm now in a new town. And I just got a job as an admin assistant for somebody who happened to be an IT executive in the company. They taught computer classes and that kind of stuff, and one day my boss says, “You know, have you ever thought about teaching computer classes?” I'm like, “No, I haven't.” He's like, “Why don't we try that?” And he just sent me off into the IT group to teach computer classes. He got a new assistant.
Now, my degree was in education, so I guess he thought, “Okay, we got plenty of technology people in there, but we really don't have anyone who actually knows what they're doing in terms of teaching.” So that's kind of how my career began.
Hoover: And then what happened?
Campbell: So, I left that job and went to [the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University]. So I've left education and now am an IT support person at Duke.
And, it never occurred to me—I don't think I ever applied for promotion. Ever. Never asked for one, never asked for a raise. I was just kind of content that this is where I am, and this is where I'll stay.
But somehow I managed to keep moving along. The Internet was booming; classes were moving online. Duke was spinning out a subsidiary, custom exec-ed business, and I was asked to go join that effort. I initially didn’t think it was a fit for me—I’m not a big pie-in-the-sky, visionary-type person. And the people in charge were like, “We need people who actually get stuff done, who take the vision and turn it into something concrete, and that's what you do.” So, I went and gave it a try.
Hoover: So this is another opportunity that found you. Looking back, why do you think you didn't ask for a raise? Or seek other opportunities?
Campbell: I have an inherent trait or flaw in that I just assume that I don't know as much as the next person. And I had moved into an area, executive development, that I didn't train for. Even working in the IT world, once I got to the business school world, it was a whole different ball game and playing catch up. Once I caught up and felt like I was in the groove, I was quite happy with what I made. And my mindset was, if I get a raise, great.
That was how I thought, but one time, after a big project delivery, the head of the project said: “You know, I don't know what this woman is making, but she needs a raise. She did all the heavy lifting at that delivery.” All I could say was, “thanks.” And, later on, at some point, I felt like I was making too much money. I did! I questioned my value, am I actually worth this much?
Hoover: In all of these cases, it's others seeing your potential before you see it yourself. What made you step into the opportunities that you were being offered?
Campbell: I think part of it was loyalty to the person asking. In the case of doing design work for executive development programs, I had senior people say to me, “I think you can do this; I need someone who can do this,” to which I'm like, “Well, I want to be there for you. I want to try and do this.” So in each case, I really saw my job as making the person at the front of the room look good. I never needed to be at the front of the room, and I didn’t necessarily need credit for what I did.
Hoover: So you didn't need recognition; you never asked for a raise. What did you need? What kept you professionally satisfied?
Campbell: I think in a lot of cases, it was doing something that we hadn't done previously. It was, “Can we do this and figure it out?” When I was doing client work, that recognition from the client, not colleagues, was huge. When they're coming directly to me for things and recognizing me, that was huge validation that we created something really good, and people are happy with it.
Hoover: You’re from a small town in North Carolina, and your work has taken you around the world. Where have you been that you're like, “Oh, my gosh, I'm really here?”
Campbell: CIA headquarters. And India, dressed in a sari and at a palace. I thought, “This is kind of wild!” My parents never really understood what I did or why I was in these places. They would say, “She's in China, or India or Hong Kong.” And I think their friends would say, “Well, what is she doing there?” and I don’t think they could ever answer them.
Hoover: How do you think being an FGP has helped or hindered your professional progress?
Campbell: I think it hindered it in the respect that it didn't occur to me that I could be more. I would have settled at many points along the way if it weren’t for the opportunities that were presented to me. I didn’t seek or envision doing more and wouldn’t have done more had I not been exposed to people who pushed me to try.
Hoover: What life experiences have you had as an FGP that translate into positive, productive workplace behavior?
Campbell: The culture, the family that I grew up in, you help people who need help. Whether it's a person you know who lives right next door or it's a family member or it's a casual acquaintance. You show up to help, and you don't have to be asked. So I tended, especially when I had people working for me and with me, not to delegate as much as I should have. The positive of that was, I was seen as someone who's willing to get in the trenches with you, who was not going to give you a directive and then go home for the night. I'm going to stay and make sure that you have what you need and that we get it done as a team. That was very positive.