JOURNAL INQUIRER LIVING / SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 24-25, 2014 23
By Kristen J. Tsetsi
Journal Inquirer
Mountaintop Services Inc. owner
and Bolton Fire Commission
chairman Milton Hathaway has a
small, three-ring binder labeled “Milton’s
Stories” where he keeps notes about the
people he helps.
One page might have some details about
the man who never returned to the homeless
shelter after Hathaway’s recommendation
that he write his skills on an index card
and tape them to the mirror. Another page
might have a few lines about the artist who,
on Hathaway’s advice, broke a 10-year
habit of looking for a husband in bars and
instead began attending church socials.
“If you try to help someone every day, it
will help your personal happiness index
tremendously,” Hathaway said.
Hathaway helps others in part out of guilt
caused by simply having wealth, even
though he wasn’t born into privilege; his
years of business and project management
experienced earned it. He spoke with the
Journal Inquirer about what drove him from
childhood to succeed, how he managed
after leaving his full-time military job to get
hired by Hartford National Bank when it
wasn’t even hiring, and why he is so dedicated
to helping others, all of which are
intertwined.
Q: Did you play Monopoly as a child?
A: I did a little, but the main thing that
interests me about business — I lived on the
east side of the lake, and this real estate guy
named E.J. Hall bought the whole area and
developed it. He was wealthy, and my family
was poor. I hate to use that word,
because I had a really good mom and dad.
It was a matter of watching the lives of the
haves and the have-nots. I told my mother
when I was 10 or 12 that I was going to
buy the other side of the lake.
So, I got 250 acres on the other side. I
didn’t buy it all at once. I bought one piece,
then went around to all my neighbors and
said, “If you ever decide to sell, let me
know.”
Q: What attracted you to the lakeside
property?
A: I was raised on the farm, part of the
property my grandfather lived on. I wanted
to raise my kids in that atmosphere. That’s
how I was raised. Garden, animals. We had
cows for a while. We didn’t have a flush
toilet until I was in eighth grade.
Q: What did it take to become one of
the “haves”?
A: When I went to the University of
Hartford, I worked from midnight to 7 a.m.
and then went to class. I was pretty much a
straight-A student in high school, but being
smart doesn’t mean you can go to the bank
and get money out.
I only planned to go to college for two
years because I thought that’s all I could
afford, but then Pratt & Whitney hired me
as a machinist. That’s where the money
was. I had a $500 debt when I graduated. I
went down to the financial aid department
and said I needed $500 to pay for my last
semester. As soon as I got in the military, I
paid it back within 12 months.
Q: What does it feel like to now be in
the position E.J. Hall was in when he
inspired the young you?
A: It helped me put my son and daughter
and wife through college, and that’s
probably the biggest plus of it. Without my
business experience, I never would have
been able to make that happen. I think
that’s the big thing, is that I was able to
help my family, and then I was pretty much
in a spot where I try to help somebody
every day. It seems unbelievable, but if
someone comes in front of me looking for a
job, I make one phone call. All the experience
I have, I figured out a way to help
people.
I spent 22 years on the board of trustees
at the Open Hearth homeless shelter in
Hartford. I studied what they did to get
there, and they all basically had the same
traits. I have a presentation I give to groups
on how to get to a homeless shelter, if that’s
where you want to go, or you can have a
much better quality of life, if you want to.
Q: What are the qualities shared by
those in homeless shelters?
A: Not taking care of health. No social
support system. No goals and objectives.
Mental health problems, or alcohol or
drugs. Not a believer in a superior power,
or not into religion at all. More than half
have done jail time, and once they start on a
downward path, they start losing their support
system. Their happiness index is also
low.
Q: What are the habits of a successful
person? Is it as simple as “the opposite of
the habits of an unsuccessful person”?
A: It’s not enough to be successful. You
have to keep happiness up and have a
strong belief system. I’ve never met an
atheist who was successful, based on my
terms. The successful people I know also
try to help someone every day, and they
have confidence in their own abilities.
Q: How easy is it for a person to turn
things around?
A: When I was at Open Hearth, a lot of
people were depressed. I’d give them an
index card and say, “Give me your skills.”
One would have one skill, another would
have six. In 22 years, no one gave me a
blank card. There were carpenters, lawyers,
cooks, people who could play a musical
instrument, plumbers, truck drivers. All of a
sudden, they just looked at me like they
were a different person. Like they were
worth something.
Q: When you got out of the military
full time, you were hired by Hartford
National Bank after you were told they
weren’t hiring. How did that happen?
A: I’d done a lot of research on the
executive vice president. He asked me the
first question: “Why should we hire you to
work here? You don’t have any experience.”
I said, “You’re right. Neither did you. When
you got out of MIT, you went in the Navy
and didn’t know anything about the Navy.
After you did that, you went to work for
Prudential, but you didn’t know anything
about insurance, and they promoted you to
vice president. And when you came here,
you didn’t know anything about banking.”
He hired me.
If you came to work for me, I’d know
more about you than your mother does
before we even met. The person I’m interviewing
asks, “Do you want to know anything
about me?” I say, “No. I know everything
about you. I want you to tell me about
me and my company. And tell me your
happiness on a scale of 1 to 10.” (Laughs.)
If it’s 7, there’s the door. I don’t want to
spend any more time with them. I don’t
want anyone in my circle unless, if they’re
having an 8, I hope they’re having a bad
day.
Conversation with Milton Hathaway
‘It’s not enough
to be successful’
No comments:
Post a Comment