Time to Give Thanks

Have a blessed Thanksgiving and I will be back blogging after the holiday (and some recovery). With so much bad news these days, let's think of all of the many blessings that we do have. When times are tough, we forget. Let's make this a time to remember...

Excuses, Excuses...

I have a great excuse for not posting for a few days...honest!

I have a bridge in my mouth that is three teeth - three crowns over two live teeth with the center tooth having a root canal. Should be no pain in the root canal tooth - right? Wrong. It has hurt since the day it was supposedly complete. Well, I broke off a piece of the crown over the root canal tooth so I went to the dentist. I figure the Dentist will pop off the three connected crowns (or bridge), take a new impression, send away for a new crown, and put something temporary in its place. Wrong. He took off the crown (after numerous hits to the head with what I call his "dent puller"). He tells me the root canal tooth is the problem because it has broken underneath the crown and now after the entire root canal process, he now has to "pull" the tooth. How bad can that be? After all, it's a dead tooth! Well, after more shots to the mouth (my worst phobia), he tries to pull the tooth. It breaks. He tries again. It breaks again. After numerous dig out attempts, the tooth is finally out. During the ordeal, he slipped while pulling and gouged the inside of my mouth at the gum line. So now I have a torn up inside of my mouth, a swollen face, extreme pain in my bones around my jaws, head pain like a shaken baby... Not to mention that I'm currently immuno-suppressed so I'm on antibiotics for infection. We'll just add this to my ruptured disc and hope I now have your sympathy. Give me a few days to recover and I'll try to post intermittently in between. Thanks for listening!

"Good to Great" - First Who...

I hope you've had an opportunity to pick up a copy of "Good to Great" and have started reading it. If not, there's still time before I begin to really delve into it. However, I thought I'd share with you what I think is the most important chapter of all (in the spirit of "take the best and leave the rest", this chapter is not one of those that you can ever leave), is "First Who, Then What".

You can train anyone to do almost anything. Good people to surround yourself with are those who want to jump onto your 'bus" (your company), because they believe in your mission or something else that excites them about being part of your team, as opposed to simply working for you because they happen to have a skill set that you need. The former will follow you anywhere. You will never hear them say "that's not my job". The latter will fall apart if you make a course correction and ask them to do something different. They will say "that's not my job".

Your people are not your most important asset; the right people are.

In the Beginning... There Ought to be a Law

I've often thought there should be a license to have children. Anyone can have or help create a child - but do they qualify to be parents? Back when I was born, I think it was automatic that you get married and then raise a family. Back then, people who had no children were thought of as unfortunate (there must be something wrong and how sad...). My parents didn't have me (their first), until they were married five years. That was long for then. The next in line was my brother and he was born four years after me - long too. I think my sister and youngest brother were unplanned. I know my youngest brother was because my father used to refer to my little sister as the "caboose" (she had red hair). When my youngest brother was born, my father handed him to me at the door when they came home from the hospital and proclaimed him to be mine. I was thirteen then. It wasn't something new though. I had already taken care of my siblings from the time I can remember. I was six when my sister was born. I recall standing over her bassinet at the foot of my parents bed in the middle of the night trying to quiet her cry. I knew where the bottles were kept and remember trying to get one in her mouth so she would stop crying. I'd hold it for her until she fell back to sleep, nearly falling asleep myself. I don't ever recall one of my parents even waking up through any of that. By the time I had my own family, I felt as though I had already raised one.

I know that things are different today and people do decide not to have children or to have them later, etc., and I think that is a good thing. However, there are still too many people out there having children who should not. And sometimes, the greatest little blessings of all come to those who don't plan on it.

Sights and Sounds...

The birds were back and desperately trying to dig out the remaining seeds that were lodged way up into the feeder; someone needed to shake those seeds down! The otter was back and playing while headed upstream before making his turn and heading back down. The geese were loudly honking at each other in support of flight as they flew overhead in their formation. Off in the distance, you could hear the gun fire of hunters sighting in their rifles for opening season on deer next weekend...

The trucks from the pulp mills and the grain trucks from the local farmers were headed up and down our road. There's a nice buffer of land between us and the road so you know their presence without them being a nuisance. The corn is coming in late this year and the farmers are busy. I find peace in the knowledge that there's a farm right near our property. I love to see the combines move diligently throughout the day and into night during the harvest. It grounds me to the earth.

The days were beautiful fall days in the northern midwest and even though things have turned from glorious color to a fall-like brown, the scenery was breathtaking. With the sky blue with some white clouds and the creek running along, even the brown grasses surrounding the stream were just another beautiful phase of the color changes that occur throughout the year.

The air was crisp and the nights into the high 20's. The daytime air was clean and clear and refreshing when it hit your face. I suspect that we will soon see snow...

Smell the Roses...

The weekend is for rest and renewal - DO IT!

I'm working on a new idea for a line of products that I can sell in the future. As I move through the investment and patent/trademark process, I'll share some glimpses. This will not happen overnight but I thought you'd enjoy the process. This is all about releasing my creative impulses - something I missed terribly while I was involved in administration. I have friends in the "arts" and they've been very supportive - a great friend from my old company, my daughters and son, and my sister-in-law. They all have experience in running successful businesses in unique ways and are known for their talent. This is great "networking" indeed.

Working the torch, working on the above project, and making some handmade Christmas gifts for my family is how I will be spending my weekend - how about you? Enjoy!

The "Good Old Boys Club" is Alive and Well...

Don't kid yourself, it is very much a major obstruction to women trying to break the glass ceiling. If you're a man, please take note - do your part and help create an environment where you can fully support your female superiors if you respect and admire their work. If they're good to you and you like working for them, protect yourself and your own position/career by creating ways to work around the "Club".

Trust me, men can always find something in common with a woman. In today's world, many people (men and women alike), are interested in many of the same things - such as family, politics, fishing, camping, boating, snowmobiling, antiques, cross country or regular skiing...and the list goes on. Even if you and/or your woman executive is not into physical activity, there is always something of interest you can talk about with each other. The same old drinking, football, baseball, working out, racquet ball, tennis, golf, and the typical "water cooler" talk doesn't really cut it anymore, unless the woman executive happens to be interested in one of those things too. (This is more likely to happen with women under 50.)

If your desire is to rid yourself and your company of an upwardly mobile woman, then the Good Old Boys Club can be a cruel way to keep her isolated and out of the loop. However, if she happens to be the right person for the job and your future (as a man), wouldn't it be in your best interest to do your part to be a modern executive and rid yourself of the burdens and stigmas of the past? Not to mention the risks involved of potential claims of gender bias, etc. Real men are not threatened by smart women - they enjoy their company and intellectual challenge.

In the Beginning... I knew the score at 4.

By the time I started kindergarten at the grade school across the street from my house, I already started showing signs of being independent. By the time I was 4, I already had lived enough life to know that I was pretty much on my own to fend for myself. When I started school that day, my mother made the effort to walk me across the street and stand in line with me and the other children, along with their mothers as well. As my mother tells the story, I turned around and looked at her and told her she could go home now. I was in line and perfectly fine, and she could just go home now. Even though all of the other kids' parents were sticking around for the doors to open, I felt like I knew what I was doing and was no longer a child. I'm sure I hurt my mother's feelings that day, but more importantly, it was a symptom of a little girl who had taken on so much responsibility already in her young life that standing in line alone for the start of school just didn't seem like that big of a deal. This is just the beginning of a long line of parental responsibility falling unto the oldest child - me.

"Good to Great"

When I became a member of my company's Board of Directors, I (and the other new members), received a gift from one of the other members. It was the book "Good to Great", by the same author as "Built to Last". Since I had great admiration for the person who gave it to me, I read it from cover to cover - several times. As with any good business model book, you take the best and leave the rest. In my case, I felt there was a lot of things that could be applied to my own company. I studied it, I followed it, and I got most of my team to believe in its wisdom. I'll be talking a lot about elements of "Good to Great" as we journey together. I thought you'd like to know in advance so that you can read it for yourself. I promise that you'll get at least one good thing from it.

In the Beginning... Touched by an Angel (or 2)

In my first post, I revealed that my mother suffered from debilitating post-partum depression. As a result, she would not care for me. She allowed me to lay in my cradle untouched and uncared for. My aunt Yvonne shared this with me after my mother's death (my mother died at the age of 54 - my Aunt told me this a few years ago). She told me the story of how my beloved Grandmother would come over to my house when I was born on her lunch hours from work to care for me. She'd change me, feed me, and rock me. When my Grandmother was not available, my Aunt would pitch in. My Grandmother ended up to be my lifetime savior in many ways which you may hear about throughout my blog. But I think it all started the day I was born and it continues today as I believe she is with me in spirit always. My Aunt is still alive and I love her dearly, but I don't see her very often since she lives so far away. I still talk to her on the phone on the days that she remembers me. I did get a chance to see her recently though and I am very grateful. You see, my aunt now suffers from Alzheimer's, something my Grandmother suffered through at the end of her life too. I am sad that I have to witness both of my saviors going through this horrible affliction. I am sad too for my Uncle. Luckily, he is a wonderful person and takes exceptional care of my Aunt. Even now, they remain a very loving couple. And for that, I am also grateful.

What IS "24/7" anyway?

It's obvious that no person actually works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So what does it really mean? From my experience, working 24/7 means that there is not a waking moment in which you don't have your job on your mind - either in the foreground or background. In may case, as a CEO/COB, it meant that the welfare of the company (and most importantly the people), was always on my mind. I thought of myself as a COB/CEO first and all other duties came second. This is because as COB, my first responsibility was to the shareholders - period. My first responsibility as CEO was to the company. You can see how these two issues must live side by side as one supports the other and visa versa. However, as both, my first duty was to the shareholders, as it was for every other person who served on my Board.

What 24/7 did not mean to me was that I was forever and always present so that every employee (in my case, the employees were the shareholders), could see me on a constant and continuing basis. However, it did mean that I needed to have a sufficient presence and to be available to every executive officer and more importantly, to my Board, at any time on any day. And, I was.

Caution: Perception is reality, as they say, and to insure that everyone feels like you're working 24/7 in    an executive role, trust me, they need to see you. Unfortunately, this is not always best for the business. After all, there are trips to make, outside people to see, events to attend, and outside projects that will need your attendance. Sound like an impossible situation? It is.

Insure that your Board knows your schedule and fully understands your 24/7 commitment, and agrees that your schedule, whether in or out of the office, is in the best interest of the shareholders. Then, you must get your executive team to agree with the same as it serves the best interest of the business. Two distinctly different challenges.

Beware: You have no security of position unless your Trustee and the bank fully support you. (There are countless possible scenarios where this would not matter. One such situation that comes to mind is when the shareholders have the majority vote and are afforded the right to vote on your election as a Board member. Typically, but not always, the Board elects the Chair - but not always.) Everything here also hinges on what type of relationship you have with the bank, what type of contracts/agreements are in play (if it's not in writing, it doesn't exist), and what type of debt load you have. (Being well-collateralized does not necessarily change this.) And, you need to fully understand the type of power that the Trustee holds.

Confused yet? It's simple: Trust no one. If you are "king of the hill", there will always be someone who would like to knock you off the hill. It's life - it's reality - it's business - and, it's ugly.

In the Beginning...

I was born full-term to a mother who smoked, drank, and suffered from clinical depression, not to mention debilitating post-partum depression. I weighed in at 5 lbs 11 oz and was the first born of 4 children. I'm still "petite", but I'm stronger than I look. Just ask all of the attorneys who have gone against me!