Q-Cast
PODCAST | When Uncle Tony Talks, You Listen!
Image courtesy of Joe Sorrentino/ graphics by BNP Media
From the streets of Jersey City to the Navy to nondestructive testing and his own company, Joe Sorrentino of Lean Quality Systems, passes along the knowledge of what he has excelled at−quality assurance, leadership, and management training. Joe sat down with Michelle Bangert to talk about, in part, his latest article for Quality.
Joe: My mother said it was time for me to get out, turning 18 years old in Jersey City. Why don't you go into the Navy or into the armed services?
So, my thing was, OK, I'll do that. But my father died when I was 15. My mother was very sickly.
So, I was working on the streets to support my mother and brother. I'm in Jersey City and, needless to say, I'm delivering liquor, I'm stocking shelves and , I hate to say it, but I was booking numbers, too. And so it comes to the point where my uncle Tony said, "Hey Giuseppe, you gotta make a choice. You turn 18 years old, you're gonna wind up living and dying on the street like the rest of these clowns here."
So, you make a decision. And he looked me directly in the eyes and he said, "Giuseppe, which is Italian for Joseph, you don't have the heart to do what they do." And that was my cue because where I come from, when Uncle Tony talks to you, you listen.
So, it's sort of exciting. So anyway, I went into the Navy. My mother said, "Be a plumber." So, the first thing I asked for when I was at the recruiter was, can I go in as a plumber?
I wound up as a pipe fitter welder, which was sort of exciting because when I was in high school, I was going there to sleep because I worked at night. Going into the Navy was a saver for me.
To make a long story short, my education came from going into the Navy, starting out as a pipe fitter welder, and then pretty soon I was elected, or brought in by people there, that had seen the way I work and wanted me in non-destructive testing. So, two years, about three years after I was in the service, they sent me to non-destructive testing school. And again, I excelled.
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