Richard S. Moscorelli

”Just Do It”

 

 

      Why are world travelers interesting? World travelers have an aura about them that speaks for itself. A sense of confidence, sureness, and ability to connect with people are seen in the person who seeks strange lands. These traits and many more were seen in the speaker Mr. Michael Buisan when he spoke at Santa Fe College to a mixed group of students and faculty. Michael Buisan is a United States citizen who has traveled throughout Asia as a manager for Nike brand clothing and footwear and more recently working for an independent contractor supporting the Nike brand.

     Mr. Buisan started his career with Nike at the lowest level seeking to move to work overseas. He made that leap to an overseas position in Yugoslavia in 1982. As the airplane was making its decent into Yugoslavia Mr. Buisan recalls thinking to himself,          “what the heck am I doing?” He learned what he had to do with a lot of on the job training and his ability to connect with people on a personal level.  The ability to connect and build rapport with strangers helped him to succeed in his work in Yugoslavia and Nike moved him to other positions in other foreign lands.

    Michael Buisan had a sureness about him and an ease with how he spoke in the presentation which gave a clue about his experiences. He spoke about handling situations in his employment with Nike that enabled him to build the skills necessary to manage and coordinate a team of people in a successful manner.  

            All of the experiences and successes with his career he spoke about showed in his confidence to get the job done and just do it. Even if he was not one hundred percent sure on how he was going to manage a project. The confidence he showed in taking on the project in India was incredible. Starting from an empty field with a few trees and grass and turning it into factory complex was awesome. The challenge of training a large group of workers in skills not previously used in that area was an epic task which my hat goes off to Mr. Buisan and his team for pulling it off and supporting the local people in the area.

            Mr. Buisan had an infectious personality which pulled me to him like a moth is pulled to a flame. I think it had to do with the fact that he had a genuine care for people. He cared about the people he had working for him along with the families of those people. These things are important to me and I think they are important to most people. He even cared about the villages around the factory he helped build in India. I would want to work for a company that cares for its folks like he did. Emulating those caring leadership qualities to a future employer from what I learned in the presentation is probably the most important thing I took away from this event. Thank You Santa Fe.