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Chapter 25: Polaroid Corporation

I really liked the people in Chevron Research. There were 1,050
employees in the Richmond lab, of whom 500 were professional, and
half of these had doctorate degrees. A smaller lab located in La Habra
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tion. Contrary to the stereotypes about scientists, these fellows had a
wide degree of interests outside of work. Some were members of city
councils and school boards. I even found that two were expert orchid
growers and one a widely known expert on chrysanthemums.

I felt increasingly frustrated at opportunities for progression
within Chevron. No one ever left a personnel management job except to
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retirement. One day in reading the Wall Street Journal I happened to
glance at the want ads. A company, name unknown, outlined its desires
for a Personnel Manager and indicated a salary of $24,000 a year. At
the time, I was making $16,000. I decided to prepare a resume of my
experience and send it to this unknown company. I received no reply.

Several weeks later, I got a call from the Vice President of Po-
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several locations around the United States to interview people whom
they had selected from among those who had answered their ad in the
Wall Street Journal. That evening, I drove to the San Francisco Airport
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we talked until midnight. He told me that I would be hearing further
from them in a couple of weeks. About ten days later, he called me
and invited me to come to Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company’s
headquarters, to be interviewed by members of Polaroid management. I
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with me in order to secure her assessment of home prices, food prices,
schools, etc. He agreed. In Chevron, it was considered almost treason
to consider employment in any other company. I did not want to lie. I
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