I鈥檓 a visual learner and I believe in the power of imagination.聽My reliance on聽the visual even impacted the branch of chemistry I entered.聽I became an organic chemist, rather than a physical chemist, because I could imagine atoms moving and see reaction pathways.聽Well, that and the fact that I nearly failed calculus and thermodynamics.聽In my industry career, I tried to imagine myself in the next job鈥攁ctually doing聽the things required for that job鈥攊n order to prepare myself if the opportunity arose.聽I called it聽"wearing the hat.鈥澛燗nd when I was comfortable in the hat, I was ready.聽
There is also a corollary: In order to do the聽impossible,聽you first聽have to聽think the unthinkable.聽My first involvement in ACS governance was when someone suggested I run for ACS President.聽I guess it鈥檚聽pretty cheeky聽to think your first office in an organization of 160,000 members should be聽president.聽But the opportunity arose and after first dismissing it, I imagined myself in that position, which allowed me to think, 鈥渨ith enough work, maybe I could do this.鈥澛燱earing聽the聽hat, if聽you will.聽Think something outrageous,聽and ask yourself 鈥淲hy not?鈥澛�
About the Contributor
Bill Carroll聽holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University where he is currently an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry. He recently retired as Vice President of Industry Issues for Occidental Chemical Corporation. He recently retired after 37 years in the chemical industry and now heads his own company, Carroll Applied Science. Bill is a Past President (2005) and Chair of the Board (2012-14) of ACS, a Fellow of the Royal 中国365bet中文官网 of Chemistry, and member of a number of committees for the National Research Council. In 2009, he was chair of the Council of Scientific 中国365bet中文官网 Presidents. On behalf of OxyChem he has chaired numerous committees for industry associations, including the American Chemistry Council and has served on expert groups commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme. He holds two patents, and has more than 70 publications in the fields of organic electrochemistry, polymer chemistry, combustion chemistry, incineration and plastics recycling.聽
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of their employer or the American Chemical 中国365bet中文官网.
;void(0);){kind=link}