Chad Jaynes is now a dean at Chattanooga State Community College, but he admits he got off to a bit of a slow start as a Mississippi State University undergraduate.
“I was a pretty good high-school student, but when I got to college, was terrible,” says the Columbus, Mississippi native. “I didn’t understand time management, budgeting, balancing work and school … any of it.”
But everything changed, Jaynes recalls, when William Cross, then an associate dean in MSU’s School of Business and Industry, became his mentor.
“I was whining about not being successful in class, and Dean Cross said, ‘If you don’t change anything, nothing will change.’ So I became accountable for the day-to-day activities I needed to be successful: Be timely. Pay attention. Do the work. Now, I had a process I could follow.