Road Warriors: Mark Nynka
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: Pity, if you will, the business traveler. Not the “gets to fly first class and stay at luxury hotels business traveler,” but the rest of us doomed to cramped flights, boring hotels and stale conference rooms.
For our series Road Warriors, producer Michael Raphael is introducing us to the soundtracks people use when they’re out of town, but still on the job. Today, someone who needs music just to get him on the plane.
Mark Nynka: My name’s Mark Nynka. I am a manager at Accenture, and I travel a lot. So when I do, the song that I like to listen to most is by 3 Doors Down, and it’s called “When I’m Gone.”
“When I’m Gone” by 3 Doors Down
I will generally put that on when I’m either on the plane or getting on the plane, going to the client site. That’s where it kind of feels like you’re walking through a doorway, in a way, where you’re leaving your home life, your personal life, everything that matters to you, and stepping kind of through that doorway, and then, be putting on that suit — let’s say, kind of like that Superman suit, I guess — that makes you feel like “now I’m living the life of what my client needs me to do.”
I’ve been traveling now for the better part of 15 years. I started my career as a recruiter and then an HR, human resources, person. And a lot of that is frequent travel to the same location, so it’s almost like commuting across the country on a weekly basis. And sometimes that’s hard, it’s hard to kind of face what you know is going to be a difficult week. It’s sometimes hard to get on that plane and do this over and over again. So the song kind of gets me excited, because I know I can do this, but sometimes I need a little bit of a kick in the butt to say, “Hey, go do this and do it well, so you can come home.”
I often get questions from other people that don’t travel so much, particularly my family, my parents, “Do you ever get nervous about crashes or terrorist issues or things like that?” I don’t know if it’s partially the fact that I have a background in the military that I don’t really get too nervous about it, but it is something that’s always out there — to the extent where, you know, I am almost maniacal about making sure that my insurance is paid up and taken care of. It’s just another one of those hazards of whatever business that you’re in that you think about and you try and prepare for, but you’re pretty sure it’s never really going to happen anyway.
Ryssdal: Our website has a new music section on it, by popular demand. That’s where you can check out Mark’s other favorites and offer up your own.
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