Career Track
Pam Fischer: Following a Passion for Traffic Safety

Pam FischerIn March 2007, Pam Fischer was appointed by New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine as director of the state's Division of Highway Traffic Safety. The division's $13.2 million budget funds highway safety programs to reduce drunk and aggressive driving and enforce seat belt use.  Why walk away from a stable corporate career to enter government? The departure was actually a continuation of a long-standing passion. "My focus all these years has been trying to make a difference —to save lives," she said. The government position gives her a "bully pulpit" for continuing this work.

Before joining the state government, Fischer served as vice president of public affairs for the AAA New Jersey Automobile Club, where she had started as public relations manager and worked for more than 20 years. She was an active advocate on traffic safety issues, including child passenger safety and the graduated driver's license law. Through work on a variety of high-level state commissions and committees, she has been closely involved with passage of a number of legislative initiatives in Trenton, including bicycle helmet laws, making seat belt use a primary offense, safety belts on school buses, and the nation's first 8/80 child booster seat law.

Fischer, 48, who lives in Long Valley, NJ, with her husband and their son, is a native of Hershey, PA, graduated from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA, in 1981, and completed the Wharton Advanced Management Program (AMP) in 2005.

Career Insights

What has she learned from her career? She recently shared some of the insights she has gained on her own career path:

  • Follow your passion: Fischer's passion for traffic safety developed and grew over her years of work in the field. As a public relations professional, she felt good about working for a cause that saved lives. "I always felt I was working for the guys who wore the white hats," she said. Her interest became more personal 6 years ago when she was in an accident with a drunk driver. Fortunately she was not seriously injured. This passion for traffic safety has shaped her career. As she looks around her staff in the state office, she sees that it has also attracted people from diverse backgrounds, such as insurance, who share a common concern for this issue.

    She used to think her intense passion might be a career liability (and she does recognize the danger of becoming overzealous). But peers in Wharton's Advanced Management Program pointed out that they admired her passion for her work. They saw it as an asset. "You need to follow your passion," she said. "You hear about people in jobs for many years, and they wanted to do something else. We all spend so much time at work, why not have work be something you feel good about and that feeds your soul."

  • Network, network, network:  "Build relationships, and know who people are," she said. Her job in the New Jersey government came out of the blue after she spoke casually to a colleague involved in traffic safety about a desire to explore the next phase of her career. In January, she received a call from the NJ Attorney General's office (which oversees traffic safety) to ask if she would be interested in the appointment. After a 3-week whirlwind of interviews, they offered her the job. "I looked at my husband and said I might not get another opportunity like this one," she said. "I jumped in with both feet, or as I said, 'I strapped on my seatbelt and went for a ride.'"

  • It is not about you: Pursuing a passion requires a degree of humility, particularly in a public position that places her in the limelight. The cause needs to come first. "I have to make sure I don't overshadow what we are trying to accomplish," she said. "You have to be careful about that. If you are not, it becomes about you."

  • Don't forget what is important: When she took the job in government, she made it clear that her family comes first. "At the end of the day, I always felt that my work is important and I believe in it, but it will not keep you warm at night," she said. "Don't forget your family." She noted that she has a standing appointment for breakfast with her son in sixth grade and sees him off to school before heading into the office. And they often share ice cream at the end of the day. "When I sat down with the governor and attorney general to discuss this position, I told them I am a mother first," she said. "There may be times, I have to drop everything because my child needs me."

  • Don't be afraid to explore: "When you are starting out, you don't always know where you want to go," she said. "Keep your options open. Interesting things may come your way. Be willing to try them, and a whole new world may open up for you. Life is an adventure."

Discovering Another Passion

At Wharton's Advanced Management Program, students write a fictitious magazine article describing their future careers. At the time, Fischer envisioned that she would move into the top leadership at AAA, not leave the organization for a job in government. Such a position might still be in her future someday, but for now, she is happy to have an opportunity to have a broader impact on traffic safety through state government.

While she gained many new insights on business and leadership at the Wharton AMP, it also unexpectedly reawakened another, very personal, passion for her. One session with a conductor/composer, who explored insights from the orchestra on leadership, reignited an interest in music that had been dormant for many years. When she returned home, she bought a baby grand piano and reimmersed herself in playing. "That is one part of the program that I remember most," she said. "It reawakened my passion for music."

    

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