Name:
Gwen Bell
Title:
Founding President
Company:
The Computer Museum
How I arrived at my present job (academic and other influences): I was the Founder of The Computer Museum, which has the most comprehensive collection of computing in the world. Most of the national museums, the Smithsonian and London's Science Museum for example, concentrate on their national products. Computing is international ...and always has been. The ideas in England, Germany, the US and Japan, where first experiments started, were cross-fertilized. I saw the need to tell the whole story like it happened.
How I organize my day: I work a normal day at the office -- 9-5. Generally get on email before I leave home in the morning and have discussions on the phone in the evening.
Amount of time spent working daily (at home and office): 9-12 hours
What I do to get myself thinking creatively: exercise, especially outside.
My problem-solving strategy: Face the problem. After three months of graduate school at Harvard I got a letter asking me to "shape up or ship out". I had a room with a fireplace and mantle. The letter went on the mantle and I shaped up.
What I do to relieve stress: Exercise, dance, drink a glass of wine -- but don't go overboard. Listen to music or practice the piano.
My hero, mentor, or person I most admire and why: Margaret Mead who was on my Board of Directors -- she was a real person, a Mother, and less of a wife. At one of my meetings, another notable asked her, "Margaret why do you chair every meeting that you go to?" She replied, "You need to understand that I always chaired my dolls tea parties." The other person is Jaqueline Tyrwhitt who was my Advisor at Harvard and then my boss for ten years and my colleague for another ten years until she died. I started to work for her doing a monthly journal. I got pregnant and was afraid to tell her. When I finally did, she asked, "How far along is it?" I replied "Four months" She said, "Good you didn't tell me until now because now you know it's stuck." Her philosophy was that pregnancy was health -- I edited the journal from my hospital bed, nursed my children, took them with me to Athens in the summer to live and work with her, She arranged that they would be cared for by the local shepherd's family.
What I do to mentor those who work for me: Share stories with them so that they can learn by analogy. Praise the really good work ... and call the shots like I see them.
How a negative event changed my life in a positive way: Is this negative? When I applied to graduate school at the University of Chicago and really wanted to go there, I recieved a letter on June 30th saying they had closed the program. But they said, if you desire you will be admitted at Harvard. Was this good news or bad?
One event or decision in my life I wish I could go back and change: Sorry that I stopped studying both Greek and French. Would really like to speak another language.
What values are the most important to me and what I value in others: ntelligence -- using the talents they were given, whatever they are.
What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily basis: Learning from history ... for it you don't know the past, you are condemned to repeat it. The Computer Museum History Center, Room 100, Building T12-A. Moffett Federal Airfield, Mountain View, CA 94035 ( left at the Gate, Building T12-A is at the end of the parking lot for the visitor center, next to a booster rocket.)
Last Modified:
Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/gwen_bell.html