Making It Happen

Mike Goss’s unique career path weaves through several industries with VT as a common thread.

photos courtesy of Mike Goss

It’s easy to see how Mike Goss’s career reflects his personal motto: “Don’t just LET it happen, MAKE it happen.” He’s worn many hats over the years, as a vertical-transportation (VT) technician and manager, decorated Vietnam War veteran, certified Project Management Professional (PMP), teacher and more. Despite growing up in a town that had only six elevators, Goss developed a fascination with lifts, which shaped the course of his professional life. His first elevator experience was during a visit to Tacoma, Washington, at the age of seven. Goss tells your author he lost his balance as the department store elevator lurched upwards, and he fell face-first into a brass plate reading “Otis Elevator Company” on the cab floor. As a young student in Pendleton, Oregon, Goss would write letters to Otis asking questions and requesting information, eventually accumulating a thick, three-ring binder full of publications from the company. In junior high school, he built a five-landing scale model elevator using items that were available to him: fishing line, brass tacks, balsa wood, nuts and bolts and components from an old toy train. His prototype won a blue ribbon in that year’s science fair. So apparent was Goss’s interest in elevators, his high school friends gave him the nickname “Otis” (and still call him by it today). 

His friends and family still call to tell him about the elevators they’ve taken recently. 

Through his correspondence, Goss got to know the branch manager and superintendents at Otis in Portland, Oregon. At the age of 16, he set up an appointment at the branch office and requested a summer job. “They applauded my interest, but they said I couldn’t get a job with Otis until I was 18,” remembers Goss. 

Goss would have to wait a while longer for that opportunity. He served a tour of duty in Udorn, Thailand, at the height of the Vietnam War. During this time, Goss received an Air Force Commendation Medal, and an early promotion to Staff Sergeant, for finding and solving a wiring problem that affected all F-4 Phantom II fighter-bombers worldwide. Once stateside, Goss was stationed at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina — a short distance from a regional branch of Otis. He worked from midnight to 8 a.m. for the Air Force, but his passion for elevators prompted him to find a way to work for Otis, too. Goss recalls: 

“I applied to Otis for a helper’s job. Of course, I lugged along my three-ring binder containing Otis literature I had been collecting. I met with the district construction superintendent and explained that the Air Force could change my hours or my duty station at any time. He said that was OK, and I worked as a construction helper on day shift and an Air Force avionic technician on graveyard shift.” 

Goss’s double employment didn’t last long. His commanding officer found out about his unauthorized civilian job and responded by moving him to the day shift. When Goss called his boss at Otis to let him know what happened, he was told there’d be a job waiting on him after his enlistment was up. During his senior year at Portland State University, Goss was offered a highly sought-after spot in the fast-track management program at Otis. He relocated to San Francisco, where he rotated through regional offices to learn about the various departments of the company, and, later, Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked as a sales representative estimating and selling new installations and modernizations projects. Eventually, he realized that his position with Otis required frequent moves for his young family. After a rejected request to be assigned to Portland, Goss decided it was time for a change. He was hired as U.S. Elevator’s Portland branch manager, where he achieved an impressive 480% sales increase during his second year. Goss moved to Haughton Elevator around the same time that Schindler acquired the company.

Ultimately, he decided to start his own business, Goss Consulting Inc., selling and implementing business computer hardware and software. For 20 years, Goss taught evening courses on sales, marketing, management and business computer operations at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. “By day, I was an elevator salesman and, later, a computer store owner. By night, I brought the outside world into the classroom,” said Goss. 

Other career highlights include teaching bankers how to win more business as senior VP of a bank and instructing engineers and project managers as a certified PMP. He often used elevator construction projects as examples in his lessons. Goss believes, “Once you’ve been in the elevator world, it becomes a part of you.” His friends and family still call to tell him about the elevators they’ve taken recently.   

Contemplating what to do next, Goss says he hasn’t decided —“After all, I’m only 75.” He has a few ideas though: traveling the world with his wife, dancing at his grandchildren’s weddings and delivering motivational keynote speeches that inspire audience members to take that extra step. Measuring his success by the success of those he’s helped, Goss says his next chapter is just beginning.