Zeno D. Edwards was born on September 20, 1952 in Plymouth, North Carolina, after Zena W. Edwards, his mother and namesake, returned home to give birth to her second child. Two weeks later, Alfred W. Edwards, his father, brought Zeno and his mother home to Richmond, Virginia, where Zeno was raised and attended public schools.
As a student throughout grammar school and high school, Zeno excelled in the study of mathematics. During those days, he preferred numbers over words. When his mother asked him if he had completed his homework, he would always respond, “Yes.” Then she would immediately ask, “Did you do anything else besides math?” He would have to respond, “No.” He would retreat back to his room to finish his homework.
That paradigm shifted during his junior year in high school when Zeno found himself in jeopardy of failing his English class. Zeno and his classmates had been given a special written assignment, to be completed within a six-week timeframe, on any subject that the students chose. The assignment accounted for thirty percent of the final grade for the semester. As always the case with the English class, Zeno procrastinated and waited until the last minute to decide what he would write about. The night before the assignment was due, he found himself staring at a blank note pad. Desperately, Zeno finally came up with a plan: He would write a poem, which he had never done before, about a girl in class whom he was secretly infatuated with. He thought that if he made the poem long enough (at least twenty verses), the English teacher would give him a passing grade. At a minimum, he hoped she would give him credit for being creative. To his and the other classmates’ surprises, the English teacher made a special announcement: “We have only one A on this assignment. I want Zeno Edwards to read his beautiful poem to the class.” At the end of the year, the English teacher wrote in Zeno’s yearbook, “Never stop writing.” That was the inspiration that he needed.
As a student at North Carolina Central University, Zeno continued to write poetry. He joined the school newspaper staff and wrote a weekly column with a continuous soap-opera-type poem about a mysterious girl that he liked on campus. His column was a big hit on campus, especially with the coeds.
Zeno D. Edwards started a career in corporate America in 1974, after graduating from North Carolina Central University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He had a fascinating corporate career, having served at five fortune 500 companies, working in eleven U.S. cities and thirteen different countries. Throughout his diverse corporate career, he served in several critical leadership positions ranging from a controller on three levels (Regional, National and International) to a sales and operations general manager with full profit and loss responsibility. During his many struggles and encounters at corporate America, while trying to deal with the unwritten rules of corporate behavior, Zeno utilized effective business letters to take on many causes throughout his career. He often recalled his mother saying to him as a child, “let you pen be your sword.” He quickly discovered that having the ability to communicate (both oral and written) was a powerful skill to have as a leader in corporate America.
During his thirty-three year tenure in corporate America, he witnessed so many fascinating tales, some good and some bad, and he learned a lot of lessons regarding the human spirit. “One of my fraternity brothers once told me, ‘I knew you would become an author someday because intelligent people do great things, and then they write about their experiences.”’ Zeno said.
Note to the Readers
Thank you for reading my first novel. As a leader in corporate America and a college professor, I’m often asked to share my stories. THE FOUNDATION: We Are Our Own Worst Enemy is just the beginning. Now that I’m officially retired from corporate America, I have more time to write books and share more stories with the world, in the future.
Zeno D. Edwards
Zeno D. Edward’s favorite authors are Ayn Rand and John Grisham.
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