Terrence Cummings
April 10th, 2023
Discover what's happening at Guild:
1. Expanded commitment: You’ve known Guild as an education benefit, but we are expanding the ways we support you in achieving the career goals you’re working toward.
2. New look and name: A new logo, bright colors, and bold design are part of our new look. So is a new name: you can just call us Guild. While education remains at our core, we want our name to reflect the expanded way we serve America’s workforce.
*Important note to Guild members and learners: Rest assured your Guild benefit and access to learning programs through your employer are unchanged.
“This is Guild’s turning point – our fork in the road where we really focus on shortening the distance between ‘I think I can’ and ‘I’m doing it’ when it comes to education and career mobility for workers.”
Terrence Cummings, Chief Opportunity Officer at Guild
There’s an opportunity gap in the US today – an unfair divide between potential and opportunity for workers – and Guild is doubling down on our focus to address it. Starting now, Guild’s expanded commitment to bridge the opportunity gap will show up in our shortened name, new look, and, later this year, additional products and services.
Each of us has turning points in our lives; sometimes, companies have them, too. This is Guild’s turning point – our fork in the road where we really focus on shortening the distance between “I think I can” and “I’m doing it” when it comes to education and career mobility for workers.
This is especially meaningful to me because of how opportunity unfolded in my life.
My career mobility story: Finding opportunity
As a Black man, society told me I was born in the “wrong skin.” And I was born in the “wrong place” — Washington, DC, back when it was known as the murder capital of the world. My father was in jail, my family didn’t have much money, and my home was an unhealthy environment — the end of that story often tells itself. But through coaching, sponsorship, and access to opportunity, I’ve been able to tell my own story.
I reached my first turning point in life when my mother had the strength and love to send me to live with my aunt in New Jersey. Suddenly, I went from being in the wrong place at the wrong time to being in the right place at the right time. My aunt served as my first coach, asking me big questions and helping me to thrive in my new environment. She opened my eyes to the opportunities around me — like college — and cultivated my appetite for learning. Above all, she taught me to look for opportunity everywhere, and that opportunity is often found where you’d least expect it.
“Above all, she taught me to look for opportunity everywhere, and that opportunity is often found where you’d least expect it.”
Terrence Cummings, Chief Opportunity Officer at Guild
Fast forward eight years, I moved out to Boulder, CO, where I was working full-time at a burger restaurant during a break from college. It was there that one interaction changed the course of my life.
It was an ordinary night, and I was ringing up a customer for his meal and asked him about the credit card he was using to pay. That led to a short conversation about customer service and core values. After his meal, as he was leaving, he turned to me and said, “I think you’d like this book I wrote.” That book was Good to Great, and he turned out to be Jim Collins, a best-selling author.
I read his book, and whenever Jim came into the restaurant, I would find a reason to talk to him. I didn’t exactly know why at the time, but I knew these interactions were significant. Some part of me recognized that it was an opportunity and one that could've so easily slipped by.
About a year after meeting Jim for the first time, and many conversations later, he offered me a job working for him. He became a mentor and friend, and he sponsored my way into a consulting firm called McKinsey & Company. That launched the rest of my career.
My story says two different but important things:
- No matter where you come from, you have potential, and your goals are possible, and
- Opportunity often shows up in ways you wouldn’t expect — and when it does, you should grab it
I think about this a lot: How can we make a world where you don’t need the luck I had to find opportunities? How can we increase the odds of success?
“How can we make a world where you don’t need the luck I had to find opportunities? How can we increase the odds of success?”
Terrence Cummings, Chief Opportunity Officer at Guild
Guild’s expanded commitment to unlocking opportunity
Access to education has been core to Guild’s DNA from the start. But we can do more to enable opportunities and meaningful turning points for workers. We can help them navigate the lifelong process of learning and gaining new skills, prepare them for new roles, and give them the tools and support to achieve life-changing outcomes.
Guild’s expanded commitment to workers and learners means we’re evolving into more than an education benefit; we’re becoming a launch pad for career options. This is Guild’s turning point, and I hope it will be yours, too. Because I believe – and everyone at Guild believes – opportunity should be within reach for everyone. Starting now, we’re beyond excited to make strides in closing the opportunity gap and unlocking opportunity together.
So, here’s to potential and much more to come.
About the author
Terrence Cummings
As the Chief Opportunity Officer at Guild, Terrence is helping break down barriers so talent can meet opportunity.
