It's a long way from washing dishes in an all-white restaurant in Loveland, Ohio, to the top of a multimillion-dollar corporation. But Joshua I. Smith, the son of a schoolteacher who worked in a factory to earn enough money to educate his children, has traveled it, overcoming not a few obstacles along the way.
Smith is the founder and chief executive officer of Maxima Corporation. Headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, this company, begun in 1978 with less than $15,000, is an integrated information-management and computer-consulting firm serving both business and government. Its annual revenues exceed $60 million, and it has more than a thousand employees in forty-six locations across the country. The company has regional offices in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Dayton Ohio; and Atlanta, Georgia (which is headed by Smith's son).
Sitting in his quiet office at Maxima headquarters, this unpretentious man freely explains what brought him where he is today. Smith's whole persona radiates success - his handshake is firm, and he puts a visitor at east. The wealth of certificates and documents on the walls of his vast, well-appointed office bespeaks outstanding business achievements and wide community involvement.
Devoted Parents
I was very fortunate, Smith says, to have had parents who devoted their time and energy to bringing up eight children. As I look back to the time when we were growing up, I find it was the most enriching part of my life. My father was a deacon in the church, so that environment had a major influence on our lives. There was no substitute for this kind of exposure.
I inherited a lot of my father's character and more of my mother's personality. My father worked his way through college, as he did through the rest of his life, getting his degree from Kentucky state. He was the first of his family to achieve this.
My mother was a very attractive woman, more of a quiet personality. But she had a spirit about her that made her very tough. She played the roles of housewife and mother, and this paid vast dividends to the whole family.
Smith's father was a bright, affable person, sensitive and perceptive. He was principal of an all-black school in Kentucky, but because black teachers were paid so badly in the South at the time, he decided to move north. He borrowed a truck and moved his family to Ohio, taking a job in a milling-machine factory. The elder Smith was determined that all of his children receive an advanced education. He died in 1960, having realized that dream.
Young Smith learned the value of hard work at a very early age, running errands and cutting grass at age ten. I seldom had to ask my parents for help; I was content to earn my own, he says. At sixteen, he started working as a dishwasher in a restaurant, but he soon was promoted to short-order cook and from there to night-shift manager. Only a year later, he was given charge of the entire restaurant, supervising six full-time employees, all of whom were white and older than he.
I never wanted it said that I didn't do my best at whatever job I took, Smith
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