John W. Thomson grew up in Florida, where his mother was a teacher and his father was a postal worker. “My mom and dad believed very much in the concepts of working hard for that you want and making sure you’re properly prepared for that you pursuits are,”he recalls. After college, he went to work as a salesman for IBM. By the time he left—28 years later –people were thinking he might someday be CEO of IBM. Thompson didn’t think that was likely to ever happen, however .Instead, he chose to become CEO of Symantec.