The best advice I've received over the years started with a former boss.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: FROM JUST OVER THE HILL - Column

WITH COLLEGE AND A LITTLE BIT OF grad school behind me, I struck out in 1958 to "seek my fortune," as they say. I had a degree in physics but I didn't want to spend my days in a lab, so I figured being a sales engineer would be a happy medium. The best salesmen I knew were back-slapping, lunch-buying, joke-telling guys who had all the answers and could talk nonstop. I got a job in sales but a year and a half later no fortune had come my way. But before I moved on, one of my bosses gave me my first lesson:

1) To be good at sales, talk a little and listen a lot.

I was convinced that I was the world's worst salesman, so I went back to technology and taught math and physics at DeVry University in Chicago. I worked hard to develop my listening skills and it helped a lot, mainly because people took it as a sign of my interest in them. I couldn't help it; I really was interested.

2) When you listen, you learn.

I loved teaching, but it was hard to make enough money to feed my growing family, so I joined Cahners Publishing Co. as an editor at EDN Magazine. It was one of my favorite jobs, talking to engineers and helping them write exciting stories about their inventions.

One day my boss told me I should try sales again. I agreed, and because of the attention he paid to me and other salesmen in the office, I became pretty good at it.

3) Practice your public speaking.

I have become a deep believer in Ralph Waldo Emerson's suggestion, "Do what you fear the most and the death of fear is certain!"

I took Dale Carnegie courses and other public speaking seminars and while I may never have become a spellbinder, my comfort in front of an audience increased and helped a lot throughout my career.

4.) Take time for self-improvement.

I managed to become the youngest publisher...