Upward & Downward Mobility: A Work Memoir

In a candid, informal style, writer Tom O’Connell traces his work life from his early days in the 1930s and 1940s as an orphan in a Catholic Charities group home upward to top leadership roles in Massachusetts. He recalls challenging careers as CEO, educator, writer, columnist, host of public affairs show “It’s Your Life” on Boston’s Channel 25.

People known nationally and locally emerge in this book: Entertainer Victor Borge, Gov. John Volpe, Gov. Mike Dukakis, TV Newsman Dick Flavin, Boston Globe Cartoonist Paul Szep, Gov. Frank Sargent, Mayor Kevin White, City Councilor Dapper O’Neil.

The memoir takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of job searches and major achievements as he moves upward from Granny’s house next to the railroad tracks to appointment to the Governor’s Highway Safety Committee, CEO of Massachusetts Safety Council, inclusion in Who’s Who in the East, and selection in Cape Cod Life’s 25th Anniversary Issue as “one of the top 100 influential people” on Cape Cod.

From heights of upward mobility and success, O’Connell also reveals periods when he plummeted from those heights into times of downward mobility when faced with divorce, illness, bankruptcy and other challenges.

“Tom re-creates the ‘Anything is Possible’ myth of American culture after World War II.” –W.A. Cole, Book Reviewer

“It’s the lone wolf story of a soul who will not sacrifice his values.” –Dr. Finbarr Corr, Author, Therapist, Professor