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Norman Style
By: Joseph W. Norman
Jack, 27, has been a Software Engineer for L3 Communications in Orlando, Florida since he graduated from college. He has big plans for his future and he shares many of his insights in a candid question and answer session.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I want to feature Jack because he has been a great influence on me (as has my brother Chris as well). You get to read about me every week, but my two brothers are just as motivated and passionate about their respective interests as I am. Chris will be featured in a future "VIP Profiles." Enjoy this step into the life of another one of the "Norman boys."
VIP: Give us the short story. (Briefly explain your family, education, work experience, etcetera…not too deep yet).
LJN: Born and raised in
My running career scored me a scholarship to
After graduation I was bartending and not really ready for a true blue engineering career yet, however, one found me. It turned out L3 Communications - Link Simulation and Training, a military subcontractor that I had interned with after my freshman and sophomore year of college had been keeping tabs on me and looked me up once they heard that I graduated. Its funny I remember the conversation with my mama like it was yesterday. It went like this:
Mama: L3 called and I think they want to offer you a job.
Me: Ehh, I’m pulling a grand a week bartending.
Mama: Does bartending have benefits?
Me: Yeah, it has tons of benefits.
Mama: Are they health benefits?
Me: Uhh, no.
One week later I was living in mama’s basement and beginning my career at L3. I spent about ten months in that basement and was quickly ready for a change of scenery so I took a transfer to our L3 branch in
VIP: What are some interesting things you have ever received or given as gifts? (the flask to Mama Bear maybe…haha)
LJN: My mama once gave me a “glass of shut the hell up” …because my brethren and I kept quoting that line from Happy Gilmore. It was great. We were having the typical Norman family dinner and the brethren and I were carrying on as usual and I asked my mama if she could grab me a glass of milk while she was up. You have to understand that my mama is one of the sweetest, soft-spoken, well-mannered women I know. So, when she came back with a glass that had a post-it in it that said “Shut the hell up!” I nearly peed myself. And in fact, I think my kid brother Joe shot milk out of his nose because he was laughing so hard.
Another story involved a gift that I gave to my mama. My mother was a board member of a local organization (name excluded to protect the innocent) and she used to always come home and say “Geesh …those meetings go sooo much longer than they need to. Some of those people just talk, and talk, and talk." So one day I suggested to her that she should bring a flask (of water) to the meeting and every time someone is droning on for too long quietly pull it out, take a swig, and silently offer it to the people sitting next to her.
Now, my mama has never drank a drop of alcohol for as long as I’ve known her, and her fellow board members know this. So I figured for my mom to do such an act would not only be hilarious, but it might help move her meeting along. Anyways, this was a running joke in our house for awhile and when Christmas came around, I decided that to help my mama out by getting her a flask. Not just any flask, a nice flask with the engraving:
“To Mama Bear,
For those rough days...
Love, Jack”
She loved it. It actually made her cry, and to this day even though I don’t think she’s ever taken a drink out of it, she still adorns it proudly on her book case.
VIP: With your current efforts, personal and professional, what is the impact you try to have on people on a daily basis? (How I would ask it: When you leave a room, what is it you want people to be saying or feeling because of Jack Norman?)
LJN: “Wow, what an inspiration” …that just about sums up what I would like people to think about me when I leave a room. I love instilling a person with an undying zest for life, even if it’s for just a moment. Not only does it make an impression but I believe if everyone on this planet harbored an undying zest for life it would be a better place.
VIP: What are some of your goals? (3, 5, 10, whatever you prefer)
LJN: 3 year: I want to finish my Executive Masters in Business and Administration at the University of Central Florida, move to New York City with some of my friends and family, and pursue some real estate opportunities, and entrepreneurial endeavors involving my little brother's business in personal marketing services and training, my father's business in sales of a green cleaner, and whatever other ideas we can come up with in the next three years.
5 year: To have a focus on one of my entrepreneurial efforts and be making a difference in society with it.
10 year: As us Norman brethren would say I would like to have a “Norman take over of the entire world” strategy in full bloom. It is important for me to be able to leave a legacy that will improve the world for everyone.
VIP: What are some of your hobbies? I.e. what do you do in your spare time?
LJN: I enjoy computers, working out, mountain biking, visiting the local pub with my friends, and researching everything from money management, to business practices, and new technology …you have got to love Google.
VIP: What are some of your strengths and weaknesses?
LJN: Strengths: Confidence, intelligence, great with people
Weaknesses: impatience, too confident sometimes …one of those I should think twice and speak once kind of things
VIP: What are some of your pet peeves?
LJN: Animal hair, unbearably slow drivers, and people that aren’t accountable
VIP: Who are three people, from any time period, that you would like to meet?
LJN: Steve Prefontaine – I respect his mental strength, his toughness and fortitude,
Jesus – He is one of the most influential figures on the planet and I’d like him to answer some questions for me
Adolf Hitler – Although he did it in a negative way, he inspired a nation to carry out outrageous acts with incredible passion. I would just like to learn what made him tick.
VIP: What is some advice you would give a student in college or one that just graduated from college?
LJN: Pre-graduate: Meet everyone you can, and maximize your contacts. Undergraduates are in a unique position to be in an environment where they have access to other intelligent students and also a highly intelligent faculty that are, at the end of the day, there for the students. I believe that this day and age students don’t have an understanding of how many opportunities can be harnessed simply by letting those around them there hopes and dreams.
Post-graduate: Don’t rush into graduate school. Get a taste of the real world first so that you can maximize your higher education.
VIP: What are some attributes of a good leader?
LJN: Motivating and compromising but decisive - one who leads by example.
VIP: Some quick ones; favorite candy bar, food, movies, books, sports, quotes?
LJN Fun Facts:
Candy bar: Snickers
Food: a good steak
Movies: Van Wilder, Prefontaine, Boiler Room, Spy Game
Books: Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Networking and Little Red Book of Selling
Sports: Road Races, Track and Field, Football (Giants football to be exact)
Quotes: “Don’t tell me what you can do, show me" and "The only one that limits you is yourself."
