About a year ago we decided as a leadership team that we wanted to provide a more consistent and structured way to give back. Through the years we have provided donations, gifts at Christmas time and sponsored other charity events. But this didn’t fully align with our passion as individuals or as a business. This year we have decided to launch a partnership with the University of North Texas.
Looking back at my youth, I came from a humble middle-class family. Both of my parents worked full time and graduated from Senior High, but didn’t complete a college education. They provided me everything I needed to know about manners, right and wrong and work ethic, but I needed to figure out how to get to college and what I was going to study.
Having been successful in music and studied trumpet at University of North Texas (UNT) as a senior, I initially decided to study music education at the UNT. What a great place to be. It is one of the top music schools in the country. I met and played with great musicians from all over the world.
But after one semester, I realized that although I loved music, I needed to find a career that would support my thirst for knowledge and success. Without knowing much about business, technology or any other career path, I chose to study Political Science as a pre-law degree with aspirations of going to law school. Hey, the guys on TV looked pretty cool and I figured lawyers made some money, so practicing law could be something I could make a career of.
I also had an interest in computers, although, at the time, I did not own one or use one. So I studied computer science as a minor. The more I got into the pre-law program and after talking to many lawyers and judges, I realized that the path for great success in law, may not be what I was wanting.
At this point, I was too far into the degree to change it, but I wanted to get more business expertise. So I finally ended up with Political Science, Computer Science and Business as part of my degree.
I go through this story to highlight the fact that I didn’t end up with the degree I went to school for. And it took me talking to people in the industries I studied, to better understand what opportunities were ahead of me. I’m sure every high school and college student have these questions and are trying to figure out what their best path forward is.
As the CEO of Protivix, we are blessed to work with biggest companies in the world. Since 1995, I have been hired to solve their more strategic and complex business and technical challenges. Most of our employees have been consulting for decades.
I’m so excited to be able to announce Protivix has partnered with University of North Texas to provide the undergraduate and graduate students real business and technical insights that will help them with their decisions on studies, career decisions and hopefully help them excel professionally.
We can’t wait to connect with tomorrow’s leaders, hear their questions and debate what is needed to improve business, technology, and people as professionals.
Richard Cano, CEO