Professor Chapman was born and raised in New York
City and graduated from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, with a
BA in Fine Arts. He went on to the University of California, Berkeley to earn a
BS in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Engineering in Municipal
Planning.
He brings the experience of at least two careers to
his professorship at Union: a career in management and international corporate
consulting with Procter and Gamble, and a career as a Captain of the U.S. Navy.
He now serves as a full-time Professor with Union’s Bachelor of Science
Program.
STRASSE: You served in the United States Navy for 28 years, achieving
the rank of Captain. What started you on the path and what kept you on the path
to being a U.S. Navy Captain?
Here is my story. My father served in the U.S.
Coast Guard and was into sailing as a hobby. I was raised as his crew and
enjoyed the sport during summer breaks from school. During my high school years,
we moved from New York City to Sea Cliff, a small town on the north shore of
Long Island. We joined the local Sea Cliff yacht club and raced our Star boat
on Long Island Sound. The sea became part of me.
While I was at Williams College, the local draft
board kept reminding me that, as soon as I had my degree, they would be
drafting me into the armed services. I wanted to be sure that I would serve in
the U.S. Navy. As a result, I decided to enlist in the Naval Reserve and apply
for Officer Candidate School (OCS) as soon as I had my BA degree from Williams.
I was able to implement that plan, and it worked out fine for me and the draft
board.
Upon graduation from OCS with the rank of Ensign, I
married, and my wife and I began our married life in Chicago. The Navy moved us
there so that I could attend their six-month Combat Information Center (CIC)
School just north of Chicago. From Chicago, we moved to San Diego to spend the rest of my first enlistment on a
destroyer that was home based in San Diego. My first assignment on the
destroyer was as CIC Division Officer in charge of the training and well-being
of the 12 enlisted men in that division. That assignment impressed me with the
importance of proper training (managerial as well as technical) in preparing
for any assignment in any organization. It was also the first real management/
leadership position that I had ever held, and I thrived in it. I thoroughly
enjoyed my first active duty assignment.
I left active duty to return to school with very
mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was committed to obtaining a Master’s degree
and, on the other hand, I did not want to be discharged from the Navy. As a
result, I decided to stay active in the U.S. Naval Reserve while completing my
graduate work. That way, I could continue to grow in the reserve while learning
new theory and skills in graduate school that I could apply in the reserve. I
also believed that the combination of a BA degree and a MS degree would best
prepare me for whatever final career path I would follow.
However, I now had a wife and two small children to
support. We wanted to remain in California; so, I applied to and was accepted
at the University of California, Berkeley. Living in the Bay Area also enabled
me to join a U.S. Naval Reserve Ship Program in San Francisco while I
simultaneously earned a BS degree in Civil Engineering with a concentration in
Municipal Engineering and a Master of Engineering degree in Municipal Planning
at Berkeley.
Armed with my BA, BS, Master of Engineering
degrees, and several years of experience as a division officer in the Navy, I
started interviewing for a position in the public sector. I was also advised by
the Berkeley placement director to interview with Procter & Gamble. Procter
had openings at their Sacramento plant in operations management, and that
opportunity seemed to resemble the division office manager/leader role that I
had in the Navy, including a well-managed training program to prepare me for my
first assignment in the private sector. I decided to join P&G.
Just as I was completing my initial P&G
training at Sacramento, my Naval Reserve Ship Unit was recalled to active duty.
By now I held the rank of Lieutenant and was assigned as Navigator on one of
the three destroyers operating out of San Francisco. After three months of
refresher training, we headed for the Western Pacific, and I had the
opportunity to put my celestial navigation skills to good use.
On the way home from the Western Pacific, I found a
small group of shipmates who wanted to learn celestial navigation. I organized
the group into a class and at sunrise, sunset, and noon we took our sextant
readings and plotted our way back across the Pacific. During the day, we had
discussion groups on the theory and practice of celestial navigation. This
experience reinforced what I had learned during my initial Navy assignment:
that I have a passion for teaching and the personal satisfaction that comes
from helping others achieve some of their life goals.
I was released from active duty a second time and
returned to both my P&G assignment in Sacramento and the Naval Reserve Ship
Program in San Francisco. My Navy rank and experience qualified me for the
position of Commanding Officer on a destroyer escort (DE). I applied for and
was accepted for that assignment. For the next three years, I was able to use
what I was learning about management/leadership at P&G in my role as
Commanding Officer of the DE and, at the same time, use what I was learning
about management/ leadership on the DE in my P&G assignments.
Toward the end of my DE tour of duty, I was
promoted to the rank of Commander and assigned as Commanding Officer of one of
the three destroyers in the Naval District’s Ship Program. With this role, I
was again able to put into practice what I was learning at P&G as well as
what I had learned in my time in the Navy. I made sure that my officers and men
were being properly trained for their jobs, especially in the area of leadership.
We stressed the platinum rule in our leadership training: “treat people as THEY
wish to be treated.” I also further developed my managerial style: management
by walking around. After two very successful years as Commanding Officer of the
destroyer, I was promoted to the rank of Captain.
P&G then moved me to Cincinnati to manage their
Shortening and Oils making and packing operations at Ivorydale. In Cincinnati,
I joined a Large U.S. Naval Reserve Surface Program and was assigned as
Commanding Officer. I completed that two-year assignment by personally
enlisting my eldest son into the U.S. Navy. I then officially retired from the
Navy—and that’s my story to the question of what started me on the path and
what kept me on the path of becoming a U.S. Navy Captain.
STRASSE: What lessons did you bring from your military experience into the
business world?
Before I answer that specific question, let me say that because most of my Navy
career overlapped my career with P&G, the learning experiences went in both
directions. What I was learning in the Navy I was able to bring to P&G, and
what I was learning at P&G I was able to bring to the Navy. The results
were amazingly synergistic!
As an example, during the five years as Commanding
Officer of the destroyer escort and destroyer, I focused on technical and
leadership training for my officers and men, emphasizing the specific needs of
each individual, as well as their promotional needs as required by the Navy. I
also developed my own leadership style of “walking around,” having informal
discussions with individuals and groups, and just getting to know my crew as
individuals. I was able to bring the learning from those experiences to
P&G. At the same time, what I was learning at P&G through formal
training and work experience, I was able to bring to the Navy. It was a
wonderful combination.
Now back to your specific question. I brought two
very important principles from my Navy experience to the business world. The
first was that everyone in the organization has leadership potential; it just
has to be recognized and nurtured. This leadership potential is accomplished in
the Navy through the enlisted Petty Officer Rates, the training that Petty
Officers receive, and their advancement process.
The second key principle that I brought from the
Navy to the business world was the importance of proper leadership and
technical training for all assignments. This principle includes the importance
of followers having input to that training and the key role that leaders have
in making sure that exemplary training takes place.
I also learned an important personal lesson from my
Navy experience. I learned that I have a passion for teaching and mentoring
others and thoroughly enjoy the personal satisfaction that comes from helping
others achieve some of their life goals.
STRASSE: What current projects are you most excited about?
I am currently working on three projects that I believe will greatly benefit
our students as well as the university. They are:
·
Starfish (My Union Success Team)
·
The new General Education Program
·
The changes coming to Faculty Council Governance
I have been a member of the Summit committee, and I
expect that the university Faculty Governance changes that have been
recommended by Summit will strengthen our Faculty Governance structure and
operations. Once implemented, these changes will eliminate current governance
overlap, fill in voids, and generally improve two-way communications between
Faculty Council and university staff, administration, and faculty. I look
forward to my role in this implementation in 2014/15.
STRASSE: What does “social responsibility” mean to you and how do you live out
that value – both here at Union and outside of Union?
I believe that to be socially responsible, every person, as well as every
organization, must act to benefit society. I lived that value during my years
of service in the Navy as previously described. P&G encouraged its
employees to become involved with service work in their local communities. I
managed baseball, football, and soccer teams while working in Sacramento and
Cincinnati. I am now living that value by helping my UI&U undergraduate
students attain a B.S. degree.
I have taken some time to realize the true meaning
of “social responsibility.” However, I now firmly believe that my personal
challenges are to leave the organizations that I touch in better shape than when
I found them and to leave the people with whom I come in contact with a
positive emotional experience that they will never forget.
I will finish with two quotes from Albert
Schweitzer (1875-1965) that are meaningful to me:
“As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible
but more mysterious.”
“Everyone must work to live, but the purpose of life is to serve and to
show compassion and the will to help others. Only then have we ourselves become
true human beings.”
