About my logo

My first job out of high school was in a machine shop. Being paid piecework, we hustled all day. But the work was routine, repetitious and boring. As factory workers we lived by the time clock, and were pretty much faceless entities, a pair of hands to feed a machine. My primary job required 15 different hand movements every 17 seconds. (See "The Room" for a more profound description of factory life).

I like to be recognized. I like to be a little different. Hard to do wearing a uniform and being known by a clock number.

We had a time card for each job worked. We wrote in our name, job number, checked off boxes for department, operation and so forth, posted quantities, and punched in and out on a time clock. It wasn't long before I stopped writing my name as "Daniel Pelley." I combined the D and the P into the one symbol you see centered in my logo, and I used that symbol while working in that shop three years full time and then four years part time while I was in college.

I don't know if anyone else in the company ever really noticed my symbol or cared, but it mattered to me. Because I wanted to be somebody other than a pair of hands, a faceless clock number in a uniform.

The years went by, and the road of life took me far away from the factory. To being a manager. An executive. To the boardroom. And the speaking platform. But I've never forgotten where I came from. And that's why my blue collar time card symbol with the addition of a diamond as a border became my professional logo.

My logo reminds me where I came from. I've never forgotten that. I attribute a large part of my success as an executive, a consultant and an educator to having as much respect for people who come to work and do routine repetitious work every day as I do for the most innovative professional or the most successful executive.

Oh, in case you were wondering: Why a diamond instead of a circle, square or rectangle? I chose the diamond simply because isn't as common as the others. I wanted to be a little different.

About me: Dan Pelley's career experiences range from the production floor to the boardroom and the college classroom. He has worked in companies as diverse as metal stamping, foundries, pharmaceuticals, computers and electronic components, hospitals, nursing homes, motor carriers, distribution, retailers, social services, government, quasi-government agencies, a major art museum and an airline. He shares his experiences through programs and seminars for companies in New England and through this blog.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.