My American Dream Story
Gallup Research shows that 70% of Americans believe the American Dream is achievable. And 31% of U.S. adults report their families have achieved the American Dream, with another 36% saying they are “on their way” to achieving it, according to Pew Research.
I’m one of the 31% of U.S. citizens who believe they have achieved and are living their American Dream. What’s more, as I recounted in this book’s Introduction, I’m also a product of the American Dream: my ancestors immigrated to the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century, seeking a better life than the one they had in Eastern Europe.
But I also feel extremely grateful and lucky regarding the circumstances of my life today. I’m married to a wonderful person, live in a comfortable house, enjoy my work, and have two smart and talented children. I’ve also had some happy successes in my career. I owe much of that success to my upbringing in a supportive environment and the many opportunities handed to me, which not every American child experiences.
I grew up surrounded by books, newspapers, and magazines. My mother was a public school librarian, and she regularly brought home the latest books for my brother and me. My father read five newspapers: Boston Globe, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, and Jewish Forward. Our family also subscribed to Newsweek, People, Sports Illustrated, and U.S. News & World Report. You could say we were “news junkies.”
As a teenager, I fulfilled an early dream of writing for a newspaper in Brookline, Massachusetts. Like many American Dreamers around the world, I’d been highly influenced from watching movies. I became attracted to journalism after viewing “All the President’s Men” — the story of two journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who uncovered the Watergate scandal that led to Richard Nixon’s resignation as President. Later, after I became an editor of the high school newspaper, The Brookline Sagamore, I achieved another dream when it won a Gold medal from Columbia University’s School of Journalism for being one of the best high school newspapers in the country.
Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in "All the President's Men." Photography from Alamy
The Sagamore’s faculty adviser, Sandy Fowler, convinced me to study something other than journalism in college, though, believing that the best journalists become experts in a subject, such as science or music, and then find publications where they can write about it. I chose the subject of business and enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which had both an excellent student newspaper and business school.
During college, I had a summer job at The Boston Globe newspaper. Mostly it was calling and interviewing people over the telephone. There was a close political race for governor of Massachusetts, and the Globe wanted to get a pulse on voters’ sentiment. The work also included market research for local advertisers. It was extremely boring and nothing like the glamour of Woodward and Bernstein. I never got to write and publish a single sentence.
After college, I worked in New York City with Backer & Spielvogel Advertising. The agency, which later was absorbed by Saatchi & Saatchi, produced memorable campaigns for brands such as Miller Lite, Sony, Wendy’s and Campbell’s Soup. We also introduced Hyundai into the United States. (Article on Hyundai Launch) Over the next two decades, I worked in management roles for several successful companies, including BIC, Chinet division of Huhtamaki, Digitas, Pitney Bowes, and Snapple Beverages.
Through the years, however, I still had one major unfulfilled dream: writing and publishing a book. Then, in 2014, I stumbled happily into teaching and consulting. That work placed me on a path to writing my first book — Make It In America—and finally fulfilling an ultimate dream.
