Sorry that we’ve been on hiatus, but I guess the excitement of the times has pulled me away from this series. Fear not, as we’ll meet today a proud, hard-working brotha working on his MBA. Let’s meet Anjuan Simmons.
What is your occupation, full title and work week hours?
Until very recently, I was an executive at a Fortune Global 500 company that is the largest consulting firm in the world. My primary responsibilities involved designing and building technical architectures for our clients and project management. I left my company in August of 2008 after eleven years of service to enroll in the MBA program at Texas A&M university.
Regarding work week hours, if you count time working at the client site, I worked 50 to 60 hours a week. However, with the advent of push email devices like the Blackberry product, my working time was often extended by an additional 10 to 15 hours per week even when working off-site.
How old are you?
I am 33 years old.
If you had to rank the following with regards to importance in your life, how would you (successful career, spiritual clarity, starting your own family, financially well-off)?
I would rank them in this order: spiritual clarity, starting my own family, financially well-off, and successful career. Spiritual clarity is first because without a correct understanding of the divine, then all the other elements of life become out of focus. Only by maintaining a healthy spiritual life can a person make the necessary actions and sacrifices to take care of family, finances, and a career. I have started my own family having been married for six years and having three children with my wife and their health and happiness trumps the often temporary benefits of money and a career. However, we do live in the real world so it is important to me to have the ability to support my family. Therefore, adequate time needs to be allocated to protect my earning potential.
Why did you decide to get married at your age? What is the single most important aspect to consider when deciding to get married?
I got married at the age of 27, and I decided to get married for three reasons. First, I realized from a young age that marriage is a reflection of Gods’ relationship to His people, and it is serious business. I understood that once I married someone, I would have to stay with that person and be completely faithful to that person until one of us died. So, I did not rush to get married and passed over many women who were great people but not worthy of such a huge commitment. Second, I did everything that I wanted to do as a single man. I completed my degree in electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, built my career, traveled the world, dated various women, enjoyed my hobbies, etc. Therefore, once I got married I never thought, “I wish I had done XYZ before I got married, but now I can’t”. Finally, I met the one woman who made me forget about all other women. I lost interest in other women because she surpassed them all. During conversations with or about other women, her name kept coming up. She was the standard by which I judged all other women. By God’s grace, I married this woman, and she is still the most compelling, beautiful, godly, and fascinating person that I have ever met. I encourage single people to understand the seriousness of marriage, live a full life as a single person, and marry the person who meets your superlatives.
The single most important aspect to consider when deciding to get married is whether you can make a total commitment to the person who you are considering marrying. Can you be totally committed whether the person becomes poor, overweight, disfigured, or goes through any number of hard times? If you feel that you can make an unconditional commitment to that person based on the essentials of who they are, then you may be ready to marry that person.
What is one piece of advice you constantly rely upon when making tough career decisions?
When making tough career decisions I take the approach of gather facts and then gather feedback. Tough career decisions often involve emotions, but gathering facts helps to avoid the impairments to judgment that emotions often inflict. This helps to get a “big picture” view of the decision instead of focusing on individual concerns. Once the facts are gathered, then you are better positioned to present them to people whose judgment you respect. Carefully consider their feedback and then make the best decision that you can.
Why did you choose to go to graduate school?
I chose to go to graduate school to add depth to my business skills. I have a very technical undergraduate degree (electrical engineering), and I entered the consulting world to gain business exposure while still working on highly technical projects. I wanted to further refine my skills in the essentials of business such as accounting, marketing, management, and finance by leaving the workplace to enter an MBA program. By developing deep capabilities in business as well as technology, I hope to become better prepared to achieve my long term career goal: become CIO of a Fortune 500 company.
What has been your greatest triumph since ‘coming into your own’?
My greatest triumph since ‘coming into my own’ has been building a family with my beautiful wife. We have three children who are ages 3, 2, and 9 months, and we have made sacrifices to make sure that we can spend as much time with them as possible. Although we may not be able to progress as quickly in our careers as those without children, we take comfort in raising competent and successful kids.
If you’d like to be considered for the YBP Peer Spotlight, please contact us.
Spiritual Information
Thanks for this post. It's nice to know this kind of information!
February 2, 2009 at 5:26 pm