Name a couple of organizations that you belong to
Scott: The ICIA - International Communications Industries Association, the NSCA - National Systems Contractors Association, CEDIA, and the NDIA - National Defense Industries Association
|
What is your favorite book and why?
Scott: The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin. This book looks at the tiny intellectual insights and events that changed our world forever, from the macro level down to the micro level. It shows the linkage of all things everywhere, and that "insights and events" are never isolated in time or space, only in perception and reaction. This book and Peter Senge's "5th Discipline" taught me that Cause-and-Effect are rarely proximal and life turns on fine points.
|
Name one person that has singlehandedly influenced you most
Scott: My wife, Sandra. She took an energetic and incredibly angry person and gave him unqualified love and acceptance. She helped me find the other Scotts that live inside that completed me as an individual and she helped me come to grips with the Scotts who were so angry and too passionate. When she became ill with cancer (the worst day of my life), she taught me about courage.
|
Do you think that you are successful?
Scott: Yes. Most people measure success in terms of accummulating dollars or "things". I measure it in terms of depth of understanding and intellect (brains) and the opportunity to do things for others who are working hard to make it but who have no other place they can turn to. I try to look out for hard-working creative people who need help through unexpected "bad stretches" in their lives. I get them back on their feet, doing it one person at a time.
|
Name two aspects of your career that you are most passionate about
Scott: 1. The opportunity to learn about and work on things that nobody else will see for many years with the knowledge that when these "things" arrive they can have an enormous positive impact on our lives.
2. The chance to mentor the next generation of creative individuals.
|
What was the most important decision you have ever made in regards to your career?
Scott: There are two. First: To leave the University environment (I have always loved teaching) and go out into the business world, make my way and start my own companies. Over a 20 year period I have started three (3) successful high-tech companies, and am proud that two of them, LIGOS (specializing in MPEG software development) and Communication Design Group (a Design and Engineering company that has thrived with no advertising or marketing to build the name and brand) continue to thrive and prosper. The best part of this has been that I have accomplished more "teaching" following that business path than if I had remained a fulltime university professor. Second: When I was in Washington DC teaching a seminar series and I responded to a telephone call to my room at my hotel from an unknown voice that began the discussion by saying, "Mr. Sharer - your country needs your help. We have looked around, and we believe that you are the only one who can do the particular things we need done. But you have to be certain - because if you say "yes", your life is really going to change, and you are going to give up a lot...". They were right, and the things I have seen and worked on have changed me forever. Mostly, it made me feel very old and tired before my time.
|
What is your favorite hobby or past time?
Scott: I love animals, even the ones who don't actually "love you back" like the Tigers. Spending time with animals and chasing around playing hide-and-seek with the injured and sick stray cats we have taken-in, treated and made part of our family is my favorite thing to do in the evening. I also enjoy working in the garden / outside, but not because I actually "like" it. I enjoy it because it pleases my wife Sandra.
|
In high school, what was your favorite subject and why?
Scott: I did not have a favorite subject - I hated them all. I was good at many things, including science, math, music and painting, but I hated getting up and going to school every day, and I hated studying. (Yes - I really mean "Hate" with a big capital "H"). I didn't get past this until one night in undergrad school when I was studying for mid-terms and I finally "got" the Liberal Arts "connection" - that everything was a part of everything else. When it all finally "fit", I really began to enjoy studying.
|
Can you name one accomplishment in your life most people might not know about?
Scott: I can name several, but back in 1995 I signed an agreement with the US Federal Government that nobody would ever know about them. My wife says there are many more, but I don't think about them. (I think-forward, not back...). Besides - as my one life-long sweetheart and my biggest supporter, she's biased, you know?
|