Oct. 19, 2008

By Courtney Stern
UNC Athletic Communications

Wrestling is a sport of dedication and sacrifice. It takes tremendous commitment and determination to be successful. Wrestlers practice every day, all year to be triumphant. Their hard work conditions them for meets and championships. It also conditions them for the real world. As wrestlers, as student-athletes and as Carolina students, Bobby Shaw and Brian Baglio gained the work ethic needed to succeed in the work place. And with a little help from the UNC wrestling family, they have found a place to succeed.

Baglio and Shaw are two of the top sales representatives at TTI, a global manufacturer of power tools and floor care equipment with divisions in China and North America. The company's CEO Joe Galli is also part of the UNC wrestling family. Galli graduated from Carolina in 1980. He was the 1980 ACC champion in the 142-pound weight division.

Baglio began working at TTI in June 2007, following his graduation from UNC with a degree in communications. He now works in the floor care division where he does product marketing and product development for cordless products. Baglio credits his success in the business world to the competitive attitude and work ethic he developed as a wrestler.

"Wrestling at Carolina, you have to have dedication and a strong work ethic. That is something that really carries over," Baglio said. "Being able to adapt, adjust, improvise when situations come up whether it be at practice, making weight, or in a match, it all carries over to the work force. An athlete at Carolina really pushes that work ethic and that competitive edge."

After graduating from UNC with a degree in exercise and sport science, Shaw pursued his dream of going to medical school. As his dream of medical school faded, he began interviewing with pharmaceutical companies and eventually with TTI. Shaw believes that being a former wrestler helped him stand out.

"Right away they have a perception of you. You're probably an extremely hard worker and you're someone who knows about sacrifice and knows about dedication. Nobody is going to out work a wrestler," Shaw said.

"My dream of going to med school didn't pan out and without UNC wrestling I might still be trying to do that, or I might be lost. It was really cool to have a network where I ran into Galli and he said, `Give me your resume, I think you'd be a great fit for our company.'"

Despite an early struggle to find his place after college, Shaw now manages eight sales representatives and markets and sells power tools in the New York City area. He has found tremendous success at TTI.

"Thing are never going to be easy. Wrestling taught me to never quit. Always give 100 percent and someone will notice."

Through his strong work ethic and dedication, Baglio has found great success as well. John Duartes, who was Baglio's manager for 13 months, said that Baglio's high-energy level and leadership qualities were contagious to his peers and placed him on his current path to success.

"His dedication, competitiveness and persistence helped him earn the top sales rep spot during our peak selling season. He was directly responsible for growing many of his key accounts by over 100 percent," Duartes said.

"Brian is extremely coachable and always looking to improve. His recent promotion is attributable to his work ethics and ambition. We expect that he will continue moving forward in our company and his career. It has been a pleasure working with him."

Galli believes that Shaw and Baglio have succeeded at his company because they share a set of traits common to all Tar Heel wrestlers: hard work and perseverance.

"They're leaders, they put the effort in, they have a high energy level, and they work very hard to achieve their goals even under difficult circumstances," Galli said. "Right now we're in a challenging economic environment, but these wrestlers don't know the meaning of failure, or of excuses, they just go out and make it happen."

Wrestlers sacrifice every day to succeed on the mat. They give up their social lives, they diet and they go out on the mat alone to face any challenge. They know how to stand up alone and put it all on the line. They push themselves past their limits every day to be the best athletes they can be. Their determination extends beyond the mat. It makes them successful leaders.

"Being a college athlete is a tremendous way for a young, high-potential individual to develop a foundation for success in business," Galli said.

"The keys are all about achieving your full potential, and that means hard work, it means being a leader, it means enduring challenging environments and getting through that and still delivering. In athletics that means winning, and in business that means delivering your numbers, but it all works out to be the same thing, so I can't imagine a better training ground for a young executive than as a student-athlete at the University of North Carolina."

Charlie Hulme contributed to this story.

Brian Baglio

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