The right stuff: a quarter-century ago, John Bourbeau put his future on the line when he started a risky new business with no guarantee of success.

In 1980 John Bourbeau was running a couple of auto parts stores. He'd been at it for more than a decade. It was a decent living, but it was a seven-day-a-week grind and not exactly what you'd call glamour work.

When a newspaper ad for a company that took people through a career-assessment process caught his eye, Bourbeau decided to go for it. According to the assessment, be belonged in a people-oriented type of business. As it turned out, it was a life-changing move.

A six-month-old Philadelphia-based company then called Right Associates was looking for someone to open an office in Michigan and "own" the territory. The career-assessment firm suggested Bourbeau for the job. With the support of his wife, Mary, Bourbeau decided to chuck the auto parts stores, put his and his family's future on the line and start his own company, specializing in career transition services.

In August 1981 the new business opened in the basement of a rented house in Birmingham, furnished with odds and ends Bourbeau picked up at garage sales. Besides Bourbeau in the role of sales consultant, the staff consisted of a part-time consultant and a part-time administrator.

Success did not come overnight. The concept that a company should assist a laid-off (or down-sized or right-sized) employee into a new career path was virtually unknown at that time, especially in this part of the country.

"Back then few companies helped laid-off employees find new careers," Bourbeau recalls. "I believed in this concept, but whether or not someone else was going to buy it was another story, so I got out there and started banging on doors. It was truly missionary work. We had to educate people on what this was and why it made sense to be a good corporate citizen. At first there was a lot of 'thanks but no thanks, we don't do that.' After a couple of years of scraping by, we saw this concept finally starting to catch on, and now it's a fact of business life."

Today, Right Management of the Great Lakes Region, with 60 full-time employees and 40 part-time consultants, is celebrating its 25th anniversary at its headquarters in Southfield and its satellite offices in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Toledo.

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In addition to career transition services, Right Management now offers talent management, leadership development and organizational performance services. In combination, the two lines of business enable Right Management to help businesses manage the entire life cycle of their employees.

Looking back over the past 25 years, Bourbeau says he is most proud of building a team that is "second to none in all departments."

"If you look at the 60 folks we have scattered at our four offices throughout the state, you will find brilliant people of all ages and backgrounds who make this business work and who share my passion," he says. "We've worked with thousands of people over the past 25 years, and they tell us that getting their careers back on track was one of the best things that ever happened to them. That's really exciting. There's never a dull moment. I get just as excited today as I did 25 years ago."

Right Management of the Great Lakes Region is a Gold-level member of the Detroit Regional Chamber. The company is a part of Right Management Consultants' worldwide network of 300 offices and 3,000 employees. Right Management Consultants is a wholly owned subsidiary of Manpower Inc.