What this CEO learned about business from detasseling corn for $1.50 an hour

‘Break the impossible task down until it’s just the next tassel, the next conversation—and have fun.’

A teenager manually detasseling corn in Minnesota. July, 1974. [Photo: US National Archives and Records Administration]

I don’t consciously think about my first job when I meet with leaders in the electronics industry to talk about trade policy. But my young days in an Illinois cornfield will always shape how I view, and do, work.

My hometown in western Illinois had maybe 10,000 people if Western Illinois University was in session. I grew up with a single........

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