My first product design job out college was at Fitch RichardsonSmith, in Ohio.  The design, electronics and marketing groups were looking for a new home theater product line. After our first day at Harman Kardon in California, we were told to go home after the Rodney King verdict was announced.  

Working as a consultant embedded within another corporate culture taught me a great deal about being flexible, collaborative and patient. Lessons I would benefit from in my later experience living and working in Germany.  I saw the high-level of attention paid to visual and physical details and elemental complexities of addressing products within a series.