How would you like a job that will promise you employment for the next 42 years of your life? How would you like a job that offers great earnings, benefits, and a great retirement? How would you like to have a job that is exciting, stimulating, challenging, and gives you access to some of the most important people on earth? People like the president of the United States, the king of England, and other world leaders?
Well, you can. All you have to do is answer the advertisement. The one that says, “Wanted! A Man to Turn Electric Lights On and Off”.
That’s right. That’s all you have to be willing to do.
One who answered that advertisement was Ike Hoover.
As a young man, Hoover apprenticed as an electrician before joining the Edison Electric Company in the early 1890s. His boss assigned him to the Executive Mansion of the President of the United States, later known as the White House, to set up a new system of electric lights. In the early days, candles lit the President’s house. Those were followed by gas lamps. Then, in 1891, the Executive Mansion became the second government building to receive electric lights.
Benjamin Harrison was the president, but because electricity was such a novelty, he and his wife distrusted electric lights. They were concerned that the electricity would jump the circuit and electrocute them. They did not want to die. So, when Ike finished installing the electric lights, President Harrison asked him if he would leave Edison Electric to become the Executive Mansion’s electrician. But Hoover’s main job would be this: turn on and off all of the electric lights in the President’s house as the first family needed.
What a dumb job!
Anybody can do that!
But the President asked Hoover first, and he said, “Yes.”
That “yes” changed the trajectory of his life.
Gradually, as Harrison became confident that the lights wouldn’t kill him, Hoover’s job became one of maintenance. He used his electrical expertise to ensure the lights continued working and to install new wiring and appliances. Over time, Hoover’s role expanded until 1904, when President Theodore Roosevelt asked him to become a White House usher. That lasted until 1909 when the president promoted him to Chief Usher.
Chief Usher was a vital position. It was an administrative role that required executive ability. His responsibilities included planning and executing all White House social events, as well as ensuring that all guests, including foreign heads of state, received proper hospitality from the White House. Hoover daily communicated with the president and his family. Sometimes these exchanges were private and confidential, but over time, Hoover became a trusted confidante to many presidents.
Hoover served in that position until he died of a heart attack at age 61. President Franklin Roosevelt offered the White House for the funeral service. Ike Hoover’s family gratefully declined, but the President and his entire cabinet served as honorary pallbearers.
When you first began reading this message, you were perhaps thinking that turning light switches on and off would be a boring job to have for 42 years, and you’d be right. However, Ike Hoover did not view it as a lifetime job. Rather, he viewed it as an entry point, a means of gathering experience and expertise, and a way to provide such service that he would inevitably advance. And he did.
A wise man once said, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” If your work feels dull, consider how even the simplest responsibilities can open the way to greater opportunities. Approaching each task with dedication may open paths you had never anticipated. Yet his commitment and flexibility enabled him to rise to prominence and earn trust within the White House. That shaped his remarkable life. His experience demonstrates that embracing ordinary tasks with purpose can lead to better things. And it all started when he said yes to a simple question, “Could you turn on the light switch for me?”
Mark
Dr. Mark Edge
The WorkEdge Company
Telephone: 903-245-7851
Email: workedgetexas@gmail.com
Website: www.workedgetexas.com
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