Lessons From Mentors

Going Global

2010-07-15T10:24:00.001-07:00

Although Phillips Industries had been doing a great job of introducing us to the Pacific, European, Middle East, and African markets we felt we needed to be more directly involved. To achieve that, we established an office in London and Hong Kong. The goal of these offices was to support the Phillips efforts. We staffed them with sales, service, and systems support. Typically a senior marketing associate managed them.

By the time we made this decision we had all spent a great deal of time in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) market. We selected an experienced Sales Management associate from our West Coast Area.

The Hong Kong office we decided to staff with a relatively new Sales Management associate from our Chicago office- Mike. That may have been one of my better career decisions. Mike went on to manage the EMEA operation, then our Eastern US Area, and finally became the president of our worldwide operations, including sales, service, and manufacturing. During his time in this area we opened manufacturing operations in China, Germany, India, and Brazil. In addition we completed a Joint Venture Partnership with IBM.

Consider this a prologue. Each of these events require a chapter of their own to fully appreciate their importance and impact on my own career.

As one would expect, this period in my career required a great deal of travel. By now my responsibilities included all world wide Sales and Marketing activities. To assist me I asked one of my better Area managers in the Midwest, Chuck, to manage our US operations.

I also made sure that when I was home I devoted as much time as possible to supporting and following my family’s activities. The two daughters who remained in Canton were very active in sports, the marching band, and social activities with their friends. They were both also getting ready to move on to college. Patti went on to Bowling Green University and Karen to the University of South Carolina.

We went to their games, band performances, performed chaperone duties whenever possible. I am sure I missed a lot with my traveling schedule but I tried to be sure I was always home on weekends when they were involved in their extra curricular activities.

I was always proud of their achievements and regret that I did not have even more time to be involved in their activities.

Lessons learned:

1. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Find capable people to help.

2. Look for people who are willing to devote the time and energy to succeed as leaders.

3. Don’t try to do their jobs for them. You do not have time and it will not help others develop themselves.

4. Don’t rely totally on other companies to develop your international markets.

5. Always stay as involved as possible with your family. They provide your base, support, and great sounding board.

6. Don’t be afraid to instill the policies that you know work in other countries and cultures. ( More on this later.)

Mexico and Brazil

2010-06-16T13:35:00.001-07:00

Mexico and Brazil

I want to start with Mexico because it was our first and longest international relationship. I recall my first interaction with the Mangino Group in the mid 1960s. At that time they were a manufacturer of safes and vault doors through an agreement with us. They were just beginning to successfully market and service our ATM products. They were also very well connected to the Banking industry in Mexico. Mexico was experiencing very difficult economic times and The Group could not afford to make the necessary investments in parts to continue servicing our ATMs. This was another one of those unique Ray and Earl business decisions that cemented a great relationship and demonstrated our willingness to support this market at virtually any cost. They decided to provide the necessary parts to Mexico at zero cost if the Mangino Group committed to continue to provide service and reimburse us when they could. Well they did both and I believe because of that we enjoyed a significant share of that market for a long time.

I was asked to become a member of the board of the Mangino group. As a board member I was able to spend at least two or three days every quarter interfacing with very important officials of the Mexican Banking industry and establish a great relationship with the Mangino family that still exists.

It was in the late 70s that a manufacturing and distribution group in Brazil to visit Sao Paulo to discuss possible marketing arrangements contacted us. Ray and I made that first trip together and it was a very memorable and educational trip.

This was my first trip to a country that was in some economical and social stress at the time. We were advised not to bring or wear any valuables or bring much cash. We were chauffeured or escorted at all times. The inflation rate was so high that people literally did not keep cash in their pockets and went to their bank or an ATM to get enough cash for only their immediate needs. They would be known to go to an ATM 4 or 5 times a day to serve their shopping needs. The value of money was calculated daily and zeros were added to currency values depending on the date. Invoices all had a price escalation clause indicating the amount to be paid based on the value of currency on the date the invoice was paid. I brought $100.00 in cash with me and it was worth less than $50.00 when I left a week later.

The primary reason for our visit was to discuss ATMs with the largest bank in Brazil, the Bradesco Bank. The distributor that invited us wanted to demonstrate to the bank a superior solution to their ATM services that could be provided by the distributor and Diebold. We were picked up on the roof top of our hotel by the banks helicopter and flown to the landing pad next to the banks headquarters facility, which was about 25 miles outside of Sao Paulo. We were escorted directly to the Chairman’s office, which interestingly he shared with the entire executive staff. I was the most unique arrangement and philosophy we had ever experienced. All of the bank’s executives were seated at a very large boardroom type table. Each had their own filing cabinet behind them and a private telephone on the table. There were also additional chairs available for small meetings. Ray and I and our distributor were placed in a chair grouping at the head of the table with the chairman.

Before our discussion began, I had to ask about the arrangement. The Chairman said it was designed to facilitate good communications. There were no secrets tolerated and when necessary they could elicit an opinion from the entire group immediately.

We were, then, introduced to the group and the reason for our meeting. Several times we were interrupted with questions from other executives and the chairman solicited opinions from the other executives. All in all, the entire meeting went very well and led to a very successful distribution arrangement and eventually a manufacturing operation.

The meeting was finished a little early, which allowed the helicopter pilot to offer to give us an exciting tour of Sao Paulo. He flew us over some very beautiful grounds and parks and then flew through the city below the building tops. What a thrill. Unfortunately Ray was not as adventurous as I and left early to return home. I finished the week visiting several other banks to get a feel for the size and feel of the market.

Lessons learned:

1. Supporting a valued distributor in hard times assures great results when times improve.

2. Always look for distributors who are well connected with your market target.

3. Always be open to new concepts and ideas, ie…the Brazilian communications philosophy.

4. Take time to get to know both new cultures and new countries.

5. Spending personal time, i.e.…meals, home visits, and customer visits help cement lasting and very supportive relationships.

Going Globa

2010-06-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

In the early 1980’s we began to market our system outside the US. We initially worked through large partners who had a global sales and service presence. Our most largest and most successful relationship was with Phillips Industries of Holland. They provided us with entrees to major banks in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Europe, Tai Won, Singapore and South Africa. We opened small offices in Hong Kong, and London to provide them with sales and technical support. We did work with other large companies but the Phillips relationship seemed to work the best for us.

In the other major markets, Mexico, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and South America, we developed specific distributor relationships.

All of this development work required extensive travel to establish good working relationships and provided me with the most memorable experiences of my life. Unfortunately it took me away from home and my family for long periods for about three years. It was also during this period that my father and early mentor passed away and my mother began to suffer from some of the early effects of Alzheimer’s. Fortunately with the help of my family I managed to get through all this and still help move our business forward.

Again thanks to my family and my great support from my Diebold team, I was able to recover from a case of pneumonia that I contracted on one of those international trips. My recovery was about a month and I was not able to leave my home or do any work during that period. Thanks to my great assistant Mary Anne and a super team the business carried on very well.

I will discuss key country experiences in subsequent chapters.

Lessons learned:

1. Global market development takes a great deal of your personal attention and energy until solid relationships are established.

2. It pays to establish as many international personal relationships as possible.

3. Spend time in the homes and in recreational activities with key international contacts.

4. Never forget the importance of family and friends when in personal distress.

5. Trust your team to continue what you have started in your absence. In fact you will learn they will perform at a very high level during those times.

Incentives

2010-05-10T12:23:00.001-07:00

I have always believed in the power of good incentives. There were several that we initiated that really worked well for us. Of course the salary and bonus programs did their job for the most part, but in order to raise the level of performance beyond normal job performance you need special programs.

In the late 70s we started a sales program called Master’s Circle. In order to qualify you must have attained 100% of your sales quota in all product categories. The winners and their spouses & significant others were treated to a 4 day vacation in a first class resort in the US, Mexico or Nassau in February. It included separate seminars for the employees and their guests, lots of opportunities to socialize with our executives, learn about new products and services before they were released, and of course lots of time for their favorite recreational activities and great dinners and partys. One of things we did to create excitement for this program was make sure we sent spouses and significant others where we could constant reminders and updates as to their mates progress toward the final goals.

In the late 80s we instituted a similar program for our corporate Quality Excellence Program. This is worth a chapter of its own and I will talk more about it later.

One of the most successful incentive contests we had was called “Top Gun”. It was put in place shortly after the successful movie by the same name. We were faced with a small recession, orders were down, inventories were up, but we thought with a little extra effort and incentive we could turn the situation around. We initiated the contest in September. The top performers, spouses, and significant others, in each of our 11 divisions and International in addition to Masters Circle were flown to St.Thomas for a week of fun. The only required events were one business meting for about an hour and a closing cocktail party and dinner. The rest of the week was spent doing what you wanted or participating in group excursions if desired. For this event we really solicited the help of spouses and significant constant notifications and reminders of the event. This program turned the business concerns to a very positive result by the end of the year.

Lessons learned:

1. Money is not the only incentive that motivates people.

2. Including family and or partners in contests helps incentivize the employee.

3. By making the prize more fun than work the word gets passed along to all those who did not make the cut.

4. Always include spouses and significant others in meeting and even design some meetings for them. It helps them understand, feel included, and allows you to learn what’s on their minds.

5. Only choose high quality locations and include only high quality programs.

Sales Support

2010-04-28T10:18:00.001-07:00

Sales Support

There are two programs that I believed made our sales efforts effective. They were our sales support philosophy and our incentive programs.

We made sure that our sales organization had technical support through the development of a very skilled field organization that worked hand in hand with our sales people, customers, and installers. They provided technical support to the sales person, and assisted the customer in the development or their customized ATM software and processing systems. After the sale they worked with the customer and our installation team to assure a smooth efficient installation of the hardware, test and install software and systems, and finally assist in the training of the customers personnel.

An outstanding and dedicated software development group at our home office supported the field teams.

Finally we offered our sales teams an outstanding home office customer visitation program. They were encouraged to invite customers to Canton at our expense. The customer was accommodated in the best hotel in the area and transported by limousine. All meals were hosted by a home office executive (Often the President or Chairman). This gave the prospect or customer the opportunity to get to know the management team and gave us the opportunity to demonstrate our corporate commitment to our products, philosophies, and customer satisfaction. Then the customer visited our display area, where all the company’s products were on display and demonstrated by experts on each product. If the customer requested specific information about a product or system they were visited by and expert or escorted to that specific department for a more in depth presentation.

In addition to this program, as a part of our community support initiative, we took advantage of the annual NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement festivities to host 50 to 75 of our best customers for a great weekend of parties, golf and of course the enshrinement and the game.

We also insisted that the offices that had professional sports teams have season tickets to those games and regularly invite customers and prospects.

At major conventions, we always hosted luncheons, a provided a suite for our sales people to entertain their customers and prospects. Early in the history of the ATM the Bank Administration Institute initiated an annual convention devoted to this market. We thought it was such a good idea that we committed to hosting a cocktail party for the entire convention. In return for our commitment to do this we were given the premier center front location for our booth. These parties became quite famous because we always brought in famous entertainment and held them in very memorable locations. The only speech that was made was a welcome to the party and thanks for the business. We never tried to sell anything.

Finally we hosted an annual Christmas luncheon for the New York bankers at the 21 Club. Again the only speech was from Ray, who just said Merry Christmas and thanks for the business.

Lessons learned:

1. Sales of complex hardware and systems require professional support programs.

2. Always make sure that the sales, support, and service organizations operate as a team.

3. Getting to know your customer in a comfortable environment is very beneficial.

4. The involvement of top management in the sales process is an important part of the sales process.

5. Demonstration of support to your community and your industry is good for your employees, customers, and the community.

6. A great message is delivered when you don’t try make a sales pitch when you are entertaining.

Corporate Sales & Marketing

2010-04-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Corporate Sales & Marketing

Sometime in the early 80s Ray and Earl decided that I should assume responsibility for the sales & Marketing of all the company’s products.

The next ten years of my career required me to be away from my family frequently. In addition to taking on all corporate sales, we also decided to begin to go global. More about that in later chapters.

It was during this period that our three girls were really beginning to establish themselves as both good high school students, and talented musicians. I regret how much I missed being a more active part of their successes and failures.

Missy our oldest daughter decided she wanted to go to a high school for the deaf in Tennessee. Reluctantly we agreed that it would be a good program for her and easier than her public school teachers having to be concerned about her ability to understand lectures and given special attention. It worked out very well for her and she went on to Gallaudet University in DC and earned a bachelors and Masters degree. She is now a very successful counselor in a girls school in Los Angeles and does great work for her church interpreting the bible and teaching sign language in Eastern Europe on a volunteer basis when she can.

Patti in addition to her studies became an accomplished drummer, softball player, and a better golfer than her father. She was part of the highs school marching band and our local drum and bugle corp. She went on to Bowling Green University became the lead drummer in their marching band, and got her BS degree. After working in several positions she decided to go to Ashland University and got her Masters Degree in Divinity. She is now a counselor at Ashland University.

Karen was also a good student and became an accomplished flutist. She was also in the high school marching band. She went on to the University of South Carolina. Became active in a sorority, helped with the football-recruiting program as an on campus guide. After graduation she became active in her sorority as a visiting representative of the sorority assigned to help with recruiting and local chapter reviews and training. After that she began work in the insurance industry. She also got her masters in marketing at Case Western Reserve. She is now a vey successful executive at Progressive Insurance Company.

Unfortunately their mother Jan passed away before the girls had established their current successful careers. I know she is a proud of them as I am. She had a great deal more to do with their molding and mentoring than I did because of my travel and work commitments. I hope I was able to help some.

Lessons learned:

1. Your work and career are never more important than your family.

2. When you are home give as much time as you can to helping your family further their desires and development.

3. Cheer for your children whenever you can.

4. Stay in contact with family even if you are on the other side of the world.

Customer Mentors

2010-04-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Customer Mentors

My first customer mentor was Al from Atlanta. He was the father of “Tillie the Teller”. Earl, my boss at Diebold, introduced me to him. Al was an early adaptor of ATMs. Although he had deployed a competitor’s equipment, he liked our system and customer service philosophies. Al introduced us to a number of our first customers in the South. He eventually replaced his equipment with ours and used our equipment when he moved to two other financial institutions. Al also became a very good personal friend who I could go to for advice on the financial institution markets and new products and marketing ideas as we developed them.

I was also able to develop a mentoring relationship with an executive from each of the two largest financial institutions in the US in the 70s and 80s, Dan at Bank of America and Fred at Chase Manhattan Bank. Both became good friends and advisors. They were both very instrumental in getting the market really started.

I also had a great mentor in Las Vegas that helped us get into the casinos. Another mentor in Miami that moved to the west coast and helped us with both the California and Washington markets.

There were a number of others that seemed to want to be helpful when you were open to them and delivered on your promises. I believe these mentors were responsible for our success.

Lessons learned:

1. Always be open to advice and assistance.

2. Don’t over commit and always deliver on your promises.

3. Get to know your customers on as personal a basis as possible.

4. Ask your good contacts for advice frequently, It will serve to solidify your relationships.

Selling the Market

2010-04-08T13:31:00.001-07:00

This phase of market development presented several challenges:

First, we had to convince the market that we had a superior and reliable product.

Second, since we were not known as a systems company, we had to convince the market that we could be competitive with companies like IBM and NCR.

Third, we had to convince the market that ATMs would supplement their marketing strategies by providing an exciting new service that their customers would use.

For most of 1975 we focused or attention on getting the first 30 or 40 customers involved in our previous product successful with our pilot program. Then we began to focus our sales efforts on the large to medium size financial institutions that we knew would be a positive influence on the market. Remember at this time interstate banking was not allowed and a significant number of states did not allow bank branches.

The pilot installations and one single sales success really started a significant positive market change.

One of my early mentors in this process was the IT manager for a small local bank. John was very helpful is both testing and critiquing our early ATM software. More importantly he suggested we develop online transaction processing capability and helped us along the way with real world testing. As a result we were the first company with the ability to implement real time online transaction processing. Yes, even before IBM and NCR. That took care of that challenge. Well more on that later.

One of the ideas that really helped with the consumer acceptance issue came from a bank that was an early adaptor using Docutel machines. In order to humanize the machines and make them friendlier, they named them. In this case “Tillie the Teller”. AL, the VP of marketing for the bank, became an important mentor and a great friend of mine. Virtually all the early adaptors of ATMs began to name them. It was a great marketing idea and helped us sell ATMs.

However the key event in moving this market was the decision by Bank of America to purchase 100 ATMs from Diebold. This was not only good for us but energized virtually all financial institutions to make sure they stayed competitive with this giant financial institution.

Lessons learned:

1. Always keep your eyes and ears open for mentoring.

2. Always take the time to prove your product or system in a controlled environment prior to full release.

3. Be on the constant look out for new marketing ideas and spread the word via your sales force.

4. Never assume you cannot achieve sales success if you are not the biggest and most experienced. Ie…Bank of America.

Developing the ATM Market

2010-03-31T09:03:00.001-07:00

After infusing our sales, marketing, service, and development teams with people experienced in technology, and systems, we were ready to begin the process of market development. I believe there were three philosophies that gave us the impetus for success.

1. Our firm commitment to customer satisfaction.

2. Our commitment to provide outstanding service and support to our customers and associates.

3. An unwavering commitment to always doing the right thing in all circumstances.

Here are just a few examples of those philosophies at work. Ray, our Chairman and CEO felt we had not fulfilled our commitment to customer satisfaction with our first ATM offering, the imports from the UK. He called me to his office and expressed his concerns and directed me to offer each customer who had purchased one of those machines their money back or one of our new systems at no cost. To give you some idea of the courageousness of that decision, the impact on the companies bottom line was nearly a negative20% . The impact on our ATM business was a delay in any profit contribution for at least a year. As it turned out the decision was received so well that the real impact was a kick start to our business. This group of customers willingly became our pilot group and subsequently our biggest boosters.

We understood from our discussions with our customers that ATM systems had to be available to their customers 7/24 on a very consistent basis. In keeping with that requirement and our service philosophy we established the following policies.

1. Service response to a system down would be less than 2 hours.

2. If the system were not back in service in 4 hours a notice would be posted in our home office system and in my office.

3. If the system were not back in service in 8 hours, I would make a personal call to the president of the bank, explain our actions and assure him that the problem would be resolved. I also gave them my direct office number and my home number in case they need to reach me for any reason.

4. We also established a strict ratio of geography and number of systems a single service territory could support.

5. Finally to assure control of these policies and facilitate the reporting, we established a central dispatch system in our headquarters to give every customer an 800 number to report problems on a nationwide basis. Eventually this system was implemented for all of our products.

Fortunately, there were very few alerts that ended up in my office because our field teams really responded to the situation with great enthusiasm.

One of the most difficult policies for us to implement was to limit the areas we would allow our sales force to sell to because of the service area restrictions. For example there were just not enough banks with a confined geography for us to keep our commitments to in the Dakotas and other areas like that. As much as it disappointed our salesmen and some customers in those areas, “It was the right thing to do”.

Going back to our decision to replace or reimburse our original ATM customers, although it was very costly, “It was the right thing to do”.

The lessons learned were somewhat obvious but worth repeating.

Lessons learned:

1. A firm commitment to superior customer satisfaction is one of the primary keys to success with any product or system offering.

2. Providing outstanding customer service not only provides customers who are willing to give positive testimonials, but willing to reorder your products and systems.

3. “Doing the right thing” forms a solid basis for all decisions and in many cases allows you to make difficult decisions without remorse.

Changing The Sales Culture

2010-03-24T10:35:00.001-07:00

Changing the sales culture of a 100 plus year old company is challenging. Most of our relationships with our customers had been with the security and facilities organizations in Financial Institutions. We had begun to establish some relationships with the retail bank as we developed the pneumatic tube and remote drive in banking business. However we determined through many discussions with financial institutions and our consultants study that we needed to now learn to communicate with the marketing, retail, and systems organizations. In addition as we were developing this market, we needed to elevate our contacts within financial institutions to the mid and upper management levels.

The new sales specialists we were hiring would help us make these changes in disciplines’, but we knew that penetrating higher up in the organization would require the time and efforts of myself, the most senior managers in the field, and our upper management.

Since I had been working in the field for a couple of years developing the new drive in banking product line, I concentrated on the senior level Area Managers in the field. I asked them to get me appointments with senior level managers at the large and medium size Financial Institutions. We went in as a team, which was, myself, the Area Manager, the Diebold representative assigned to the account, and the ATM specialist for that region. I wanted to make sure that all of our personnel involved with the account were introduced at these levels. Earl, Ray, and Joe, our National Sales Manager, also participated in this process by arranging introductions where they had previous relationships. They also joined us on a number of calls in the field.

There were also a number of traditional events that helped this process. At all the major conventions we hosted several luncheons for the senior level managers of financial institutions at very prestigious restaurants. Because Ray was an avid baseball fan, we owned season tickets to all major league teams, and bought tickets to all playoff and World Series games. Finally, we hosted an annual Christmas luncheon for all New York Financial Institution executives at the 21 Club. Now all the ATM specialists and myself were included in these events.

As a result of all this effort, our sales organization was introduced to a higher level, which enabled them to get the audiences they needed to persuade prospects to consider Diebold as their supplier of ATMs. This was a courageous task for many of them because their current contacts were not happy with them going ever their heads. Fortunately, because they were an experienced sales force, in the majority of cases, they were able to manage the situation.

I do not want to leave you with the impression that we forced this strategy on them. Prior to initiating the plan, we all spent a great deal of time in meetings, both group and one on one, explaining the reason and expected results of our plans. We also made sure we listened to their concerns and adjusted were their recommendations made sense. I felt that by the time we initiated our activities we were in sync and would be successful. It did accomplish our goals. I think some of the specific experiences might be interesting and educational. I will discus them in the next chapter.

Lessons learned:

1. Changing a culture requires good communications and support from all levels of management.

2. Using entertainment allows you to establish more informal relationships that are very helpful.

3. Allowing the people who will be effected the most be part of the planning process helps the process of culture change.

4. Approaching the customer as a team, demonstrates to the customer that this is a company not individual program, and has the full support of management.

5. Finally, we realized that this approach assisted our sales efforts in all product lines.

Creating a New Culture

2010-02-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

We spent the better part of the next 5 years changing the culture of the Diebold Sales, Manufacturing, Service/Installation, Administrative, Data Processing and R & D organizations. They all had to understand and embrace the new world of technology oriented; systems, and self service products.

The sales organization was the biggest challenge. They had to develop new contacts and prospects in their existing accounts that in many cases their old contacts did not even associate with. We were asking them to talk to data processing, systems, and retail bankers instead of security and construction people. In some cases where they had moved up in the organization and made contacts with higher management in financial institutions it was easier. Unfortunately that was not the norm. In many cases the sales people were afraid to go to new people, fearing they would upset their established relationships. We were aware of all these challenges due to our interaction with this organization during our Product Management days. The frequent trips to the field helped develop an understanding and empathy for our field organization. This also helped me select, orient, and develop the five new Automatic Banking specialists that were hired to provide support and sales assistance to our field organization in the field. We wanted them located in the Five Area Sales management offices so they could be closer to the field and become part of that culture. We also added account managers for the larger financial institutions and a field support organization.

The field support organization was designed to support the sales and service team with customer specific systems designs for proposals and installations, training for our customer and sales personnel, and service support related to systems issues. As you can see this was a very critical resource. Interestingly it was the first time, as a company, that we ever employed women in a professional salaried position interfacing directly with customers. Another culture change for our company and I discovered later for some of our customers also.

I think it is worth a short digression here to relate some of the challenges these women faced. As much as I tried, I am not sure I completely prepared them for some of the situations they might face. Inappropriate advances were made by both some of our people and customers. Our employees were easy to deal with. They were terminated immediately. Unfortunately you cannot terminate a customer. However I did find myself a few times having to have a very serious discussion with customers. Having committed to our associates that any inappropriate behavior was unacceptable, I did tell, even, customers that we would cease our relationship with them if the behavior continued. I recall one convention where I found our first and best support person, Judy, crying in the study of the suite we had rented for entertaining and socializing with our customers and prospects. It was the last day of a very busy week and she had worked long hours every day. She had just forcibly rejected a married customer that she had worked with for some time back in her territory. She was both shocked and worried that she would damage our relationship with the bank. I reassured her that she was more important than any customer relationship and we can fix the relationship by doing the right thing. I spoke to the banker and asked him to apologize to her the next time she had occasion to be in his bank. He apologized profusely to me and did put her at ease over the next few weeks. I told her to take the rest of the night off and moved her to first class with me for the trip home. We talked a lot about a number of similar situations that she had endured but was afraid to talk to anyone about. I think I was able to assure her that she was more important than any customer that could not use proper decorum when working with her and she should not be afraid to tell us about these situations. This of course prompted me to call the entire field support team into Canton and discuss our policies regarding these situations. It was also a great opportunity to get their input on all the issues they were dealing with.

I will discuss the sales and service culture changes in the next chapter.

Lessons learned:

1. Take time to understand why people resist change.

2. Help everyone understand the reason change will be good for them and our company.

3. Take time to listen to the people who are interfacing with your customers.

4. Do not hesitate to demonstrate your moral and ethical principals to both associates and customers.

5. Always treat people as the valuable asset they are and be sure to let them know it.

The Beginning of a New Era

2010-02-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

About a week after the consultant’s presentation on Cash Dispensers and ATMs, I was asked to join Ray and Earl in Ray’s office to discuss the presentation. They asked me what I thought and I said although I understood the reasoning behind their recommendations, everything I had been reading and hearing from our customers indicated a potential new business opportunity for our company. I realized this was only a gut feel not necessarily based on hard facts, but to me it was a strong feeling.
Ray took a minute looked and Earl got a nod and said they agreed. Then he said however we don’t think we can be successful with this kind of a product with our current organization structure or talent pool. We would also have a problem with our existing sales and service organization. What they proposed was the establishment of a new Automated Banking department separate from all other existing organizations in the company.
Then he said we want you to run that organization. He added you would be provided all the resources you will need, justified by business plans, and we want to run it as though failure will mean you are out of a job.
I thought for a few minutes, convinced that this was a great opportunity, and agreed to take on the challenge.
I discussed it with my wife over cocktails that night. We always had cocktails without the girls before dinner. She was a bit concerned about putting all our eggs in one basket but agreed to support me in the decision to go forward. The girls were still a little too young to understand all the implications but agreed.
I need to mention another type of mentor that entered into my life around this same time. It was my executive assistant, or secretary at that time, Mary Ann. We affectionately referred to her as MA. MA helped me in so many ways and stayed with me for the remainder of my career with Diebold. MA was a long time employee with the company and really knew many of our associates, their skills and attitudes; she knew where the bones were buried, so to speak. She was also an outstanding organizer of my schedule and very busy travel itineraries. Most importantly she was not afraid to tell me when I was making mistakes or did things to offend others.
We started our new department, The Automatic Banking Division, by moving to new quarters north of the city across the freeway from the Akron/Canton airport. We began to recruit a new employees in product management, sales, and marketing. We were looking for people with experience or at least a desire to be involved it technology, electronics and or computers. At the same time our corporate engineering, research, and manufacturing divisions began doing the same thing.
Our first task was to develop a strong business plan. Since we had some experience with an imported product, and had a very detailed market analysis done by the outside consultants, we were able to complete this task and get it approved in a couple of short months.
Organizationally, the plan called for a separate sales support team in the field reporting to me. A separate engineering, and manufacturing group with a strong dotted line to me. My own marketing and product management staff. A separate service group both in the field and home office. More about that later. Finally, a separate P & L to allow us to measure our financial progress.
The next year was spent staffing the organization, training our new team, defining our new product specifications, and designing, testing and launching the new Diebold ATM product line.
The next phase of this new venture was probably one of the most challenging I have ever faced. This was the challenge of changing the minds and attitudes of an experienced team of sales, manufacturing, engineering and support people who grew up developing primarily physical security and mechanical service products for banks. This was a new world for them and their customers.

Lessons learned:
1. Don’t be afraid to seize the moment.
2. Always discuss major decisions with your family. You need their support.
3. Always look for new mentors and appreciate their efforts to help you.
4. Always invite criticism and take it seriously.
5. Good communications at all levels is the key to getting the support you need for success.

Managing Multiple CEOs

2010-02-03T06:09:00.000-08:00

Managing Multiple CEOs

Soon after my appointment as Director of Product Management Earl called me into his office for a long chat. That is when he began to be my most important mentor. He wanted to talk to me about managing managers. He emphasized two major points. First, do not try to do their jobs for them. Help them do their jobs by removing obstacles they might face from other departments or divisions. Remember that you must work for them as much or more than they work for you. Second, help them learn your CEO approach to Product Management.

The first point was more of a challenge than I thought it would be. What it really meant was that I would have to acquaint myself with virtually every department and division in the company that might touch or be touched by our Product Managers. I had already done that with a number of them but I had not spent much time with the administrative groups. What Earl really knew was that this effort would provide me with invaluable knowledge about how our company really worked. Boy, was he right. What a great education and opportunity to get to know a broad base of fellow associates and them to get to know me. I was now ready to really assist our team.

The second challenge was not as easy as I thought it might be. The reason was that most of the Product Managers had been in their jobs for a number of years and had not been acting like CEOs and were a little intimidated by the concept. Although they all were aware of my success with this philosophy, they thought it was because I was new and didn’t really understand the Diebold traditions. Eventually we were able to overcome this attitude in most but not all cases. We did it together. I spent a lot of time with each one of them in their meetings with other departments they depended on to perform the work necessary for their products success. I was always careful to just observe and provide my feed back after the meetings. This seemed to work very well. Soon all product groups began to achieve their goals on a regular basis.

In addition to our standard product lines we were able to develop and introduce a very sophisticated electronic security system and began to market a cash dispenser imported from the UK. The cash dispenser was not very successful but we began to hear about other companies like IBM, NCR, and Docutel (now defunct) from our customers. We also began to get questions from our customers regarding our plans for this product line. In response to this Earl and Ray commissioned a major market study to be developed for us by one of the major consulting firms. They came back with an extensive study, which ended with a recommendation to get out of the business. In their opinion, automated cash dispensers and ATM were a fad that did not have long term potential. I did not agree. I found out soon after the presentation the Earl and Ray did not agree either.

Lessons learned:

1.To be a successful leader of other managers you must understand that you work for them as much or more than they work for you.

2. Be empathetic with the concerns of your team when you are attempting to introduce new philosophies of management.

3. Go with your managers to face difficult situations but don’t provide feedback until you are alone with them. Then let them change on their own.

4. Don’t be afraid to listen to your gut. Consultants are not always the last word.

Learning Retail Banking Service

2010-01-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

When I started this assignment, our challenges were in the product development area. We were in the process of introducing a new very innovative Drive up banking system. The system had the flexibility to be installed virtually anywhere on the banks premises’ and could be controlled by the teller either by line of sight or closed circuit TV. The carrier arrived at the drive up actually presented itself to the customer by extending an arm to the car. Of course it had a sensor to prevent damage to the car. It was called the VAT III system because it was the third generation of pneumatic tube remote banking drive up systems and we called it a Visual Auto Teller. My initial efforts were to encourage our engineering and manufacturing teams to design a very cost effective high quality system.

Now we had to go about the business of proving the product in the field. I began a year of extensive travel all over the United States. In most cases I was requested by the salesman to assist with a new sale or to help a customer who was having problems with our new system. In a number of cases I was asked to view a new installation or service problems experienced by our installation and service department. Fortunately my associate Bob came out of the service and installation area and was very helpful there.

At virtually every stop I learned something new and was able to communicate great suggestions from our customers and field associates. The team in Canton was very responsive and within 6 months we had a very successful and profitable new product. Remember, they took ownership and they took responsibility for making sure we were successful. We expanded both our production line at the main assembly plant and increased our capabilities at the pneumatic systems facility.

This was only one product in our line of drive up banking products. We also manufactured drive up windows and drawers and a more robust remote system that could handle larger pay loads. The VAT III system became about 60% of our business.

In those days the most interesting markets were in what was called the Unit Banking States. These are some of the states where branches were not allowed; Arizona, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, and a number of others. This presented those banks with a unique challenge to provide convenient services to their retail customers. Because they could not use the branch to reach out to their customers, they needed to make the experience of visiting their bank an easy and fast service. Remember all their customers had to go to the same place for service.

We designed some very unique installations. 6 – 12 lane drive up systems were common. I many cases with closed circuit TV because of space required. I remember one very unique installation in Minneapolis. Bob and I both visited the site to help plan the design. This bank was located in the center city and wanted to be able to provide remote banking services to 15 locations throughout to cities downtown walkway system. We had pneumatic tubes going throughout all the building is the area. What a challenge to our designers and the banks legal department getting permits. Well it took some time to implement but it all worked just fine.

We also learned that much of our service problems were caused by insufficient training of the customer’s tellers and management in the proper operation of our systems. We created a new customer support group to design training documentation and programs to help the situation.

All in all this first year was a great success for all our associates and me. Soon I was asked by Earl, my boss to assume the responsibility for all products and the Director of Product Management.

Lessons learned:

1. When your associates assume responsibility for results, great things happen.

2. You can never get enough time in the field with both customers and your own associates.

3. Don’t hesitate to change your approach to solve a problem.

4. Constant and clear feedback to the associates who are responsible for doing the real work helps them improve and makes their jobs easier.

5. Constantly recognize your associates for the successes that are achieved.

CEO of Remote Banking

2010-01-12T07:51:00.001-08:00

CEO of Remote Banking

My new career started with a great learning experience. I of course lived in a hotel during the week and drove home every Friday and returned Sunday evening until the family moved. This first 6-week period with the company was spent in a practical learning mode that was invaluable.

Every morning I met with our customer relations manager, a seasoned experienced salesman, for coffee before breakfast with visiting customers. We had customers visiting us nearly every day. In addition to teaching me customer relations William also thought me everything he knew about our products and systems and how they worked. For the first two weeks I was required to spend at least 4 hours each day observing product presentations and demonstrations in our display hall and accompanying the groups on our plant tours.

At that time nearly everything was done in the main plant. Administration, accounting engineering, manufacturing, service, and a dinning hall. We had three other manufacturing facilities. One down the road that manufactured the bulk of my products and one in a near by town that manufactured metal under counter furniture. The only other manufacturing facility was in upstate New York where we manufactured Pneumatic tube systems and large mechanical files. The only other offsite facility was a warehouse. At his time we manufactured Safes, Vault doors, Drive in windows, Remote banking Pneumatic tube drive up systems, Metal furniture, Safe Deposit Boxes, Night Depositories, File systems, Pneumatic Tube systems, and distributed a cash dispenser made in England. We also provided complete delivery, installation, and service for all of our products.

Most lunches and dinners were spent with visiting customers. I spent the remaining part of my days learning about the remote banking business. Here is where I put on my CEO cap and started to roam around the entire company learning from everyone who had anything to do with my products. I also had a great assistant, Bob, who had been in the department for many years and could point me in the right directions. He was a great help and a great mentor to me. In addition, I was assigned a very capable and experienced secretary who was of great assistance in directing me to the right places in our company and knowing who really was important to our mission. Connie was with me for about a year.

I talked to engineers, manufacturing foreman, the manufacturing men and women on the line, packers, shippers, accountants, order entry people, the documentation group, sales, advertising, and salesmen in the field.

This was an interesting experience because I don’t think any other product managers took the CEO concept to heart. Some times I had to explain to people why it was my business to talk to them and why I had the responsibility without the line authority. I think this is where I really learned to lead rather than manage people. Because I did not have authority over them I had to persuade, encourage, and motivate them to do what I thought was necessary for success. Eventually they began to understand the concept and started to help me. That is when real success began to happen.

Lessons learned:

1. Informal time like breakfast, lunch, or dinner is a great way to understand your customers needs and desires.

2. Never underestimate the value of learning from experienced associates.

3. When moving into a new situation spend time understanding and listening to the aspirations of your new associates. The return in the form of support and assistance is invaluable.

4. Take the time to learn all your company’s products and systems and how they work together or compliment each other.

5. Talking and listening to the people who do the work that makes your products perform will provide the best input you will ever get to maximize your results.

6. When others begin to take ownership of your business and assume responsibility for results, you will see great results.

Beginning My Greatest Business Adventure

2009-12-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

Beginning My Greatest Business Adventure

This adventure began with a phone call from a previous mentor Mike. If you recall Mike took a position as the assistant to the President of Diebold, Inc. in Canton, Ohio and I replaced Mike as the chief of staff for Owen at NCR. One day Mike called to ask me if I would consider a change in careers. He knew I was not totally happy with my position. I had been trying to find a position in the sales organization at NCR and every time I found an opportunity Owen gave me a lecture and a big salary increase. Mike caught me at just the right time. My frustration had begun to affect everyone around me and even my family.

I accepted an invitation for my wife and I to spend a weekend in Canton exploring an opportunity with Diebold in Canton, Ohio. Mike organized a day of interviews for me at the company and Mike’s wife spent the day showing Jan Canton, Ohio.

The position I was asked to consider, was the Remote Banking Product Manager. After spending about 30 minutes with Mike at breakfast, I was brought to the main office and introduced to Mike’s boss the President of the company, Raymond. At that time the company was relatively small and Raymond liked to be involved at all levels of the companies important decisions. Ray, as he preferred to be called, was an impressive and very formal figure upon initial introduction. As I got to know him he became very fatherly. In our initial introduction he expressed some of his philosophies of business and the vision he had for Diebold, Inc. He also expressed his description of the position I was being interviewed for. In his mind I would be the CEO of Remote Banking with the responsibility for all decisions and dotted line authority over all departments that would effect the marketing, sales, service, quality and costs related to this product line. At the conclusion of our discussion, he explained that the decision to hire me would rest entirely in the hands of the man I was to spend the rest of the day with. The man I would report to.

I was then introduced to Earl who became the most important mentor in my entire business career. He took great pains to spend the rest of the day showing me around the company from the offices to the labs and manufacturing facilities. I am not sure I even felt like I was being interviewed as much as sold the company and the opportunity that Earl envisioned. That evening Earl, Mike, and their wives took Jan and I to dinner. The next day we had a 4-hour drive back to Dayton to discuss what we might do if the job was offered. I liked the opportunity and Jan liked the community and its size (100,000 plus citizens) to raise our three girls.

The call came Monday the next day, I accepted and in two weeks we had found a new home and I started my new career. I had to commute every Friday and Sunday for about four weeks. That gave me uninterrupted time to earn my new team and as much as possible about my new company.

Lessons learned:

1. Never lose track of your mentors. You never know when you will need them or they will need you.

2. It is always a great benefit to have a partner who is willing to help make major life decisions.

3. Using the term CEO to describe a product manager is both enabling and motivating.

4. A great way to get a job candidate to open up and discuss what is important to them is to sell them your organization and show them around.

5. As you will see later, I learned the value of great customer relations.

The New Chief of Staff

2009-11-13T13:55:00.001-08:00

The New Chief of Staff

As our family is beginning to settle into our new neighborhood in Kettering, Ohio, my business life gets very interesting. First, a word about the neighborhood. It is a very friendly and close group. The school our children attend is a block away and they can walk to school. The swim club we belong to be also a block away and the girls started to swim competitively there. Our neighbors were very friendly and helpful. In fact, it was our neighbor, Ron, an IBM employee, who took my wife Jan to the hospital the give birth to our third daughter Karen. We had some great times in this neighborhood.

As the new chief of staff, I was sort of on my own. My old mentor Bill was still around, but my newest mentor Mike and left the company. Non-the less he was able to help my by phone.

Let me first describe my new environment. I was now managing the Domestic Marketing Division planning, budgeting, and administrative staffs and acting as a liaison with the three major Division VPs that reported to my boss. They were the VP of Industry Marketing, the VP of Product Marketing, and The VP of Systems Development. This probably sounds fairly routine. What made it interesting and challenging for all of us was my boss’s work routine. A company limousine picked him up every Monday morning and delivered him to either the Dayton airport or the NCR airport hanger for his weekly trip to either LA, Washington, New York, or other locations he wanted to visit. To make it easier for him the company provided apartments in the major cities, which he kept supplied with clothes and toiletries. The only thing he needed to travel with was his brief case. He returned on Friday evenings and held a staff meeting for all is direct reports and myself every Saturday morning at 9:00AM. He and I met at 8:00 to brief him on significant issues that I felt he needed to deal with in person or issues that required my input prior to his meeting with the team.

One of my early projects was the re- organization of the division. This new organization elevated the three VPs from their previous Director positions and organized the division into three disciplines. Each new VP including my boss was allowed to select their own office locations and decorate those offices any way they desired. In Owens case and one of the other VP’s their wives had a very strong hand in the decorations. I had the challenge of supervising the actual construction, redecorations, and control of the budgets.

While that was going on we were developing an new strategic plan for the Domestic operation. As we came closer to the finalization of that plan, Owen did spend a little more time in Dayton. He also curtailed his travels during the Holidays. He and I spoke at least once and many times two or three times a day by phone depending on the situation. He also felt free to call me frequently at home. Unfortunately or fortunately this was before cell phones and he had to send messengers to find me on the golf course and take me to a phone to talk to him. This happened twice when I was helping entertain company guests during the week.

As you can imagine, with Owen’s travel schedule, I became the liaison and confidant to both Owen and the VPs who reported to him. It was a great experience and I learned a great deal about high-level relationships and management from a corporate point of view.

From time to time I would also have the privilege of going to lunch in the famous NCR Horseshoe room in the main office building. These were usually times when a domestic or international retail customer wanted to learn more about our product or systems plans. I could represent the entire repertoire in Owens place. The Horseshoe room was a very special experience. By tradition the company’s Top executives ate lunch there everyday and the group often included the Chairman and or the CEO. There were often guest speakers and always a short movie on NCR history or current company activities. If you can imagine the seating was at a giant horseshoe table with a capacity of over 50.

There were also times that I traveled with him. If he was making speeches I was always on hand to write and revise those scripts. Once he called me at home at 11:30 PM to ask me to get on the company plane the next morning to fly to Montreal and rewrite a speech he was delivering the next evening. What a trip and what an experience these two years were. I often had to call Mike or go visit Bill to get advice.

Lessons learned:

1. Never lose track or contact with your mentors.

2. How to walk the line between the boss and his direct reports without losing your own credibility.

3. How to lead without a title.

4. How to understand the perspective of the overall company.

5. The value of spending quality time with your family whenever you can.

A New Career Path

2009-11-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

I became so intrigued and involved with the Strategic Planning Process that the Staff Director of the Domestic Marketing Division recognized me. Bill asked me to join his staff and head up the planning efforts of the entire division. As you will see Bill played a role in several succeeding career positions. I agreed and became the Planning Guru.

There was one small detour about a moth later that lasted about two weeks. NCR experienced its first labor dispute in an organizing effort. The members of the company went on strike to be allowed to form an independent union. The company could live without our machine production but service parts had to be made. All able bodied non-union personnel were pressed into duty. Because tunnels connected all the buildings on the campus, we could arrive at our normal office locations, change into work clothes in the men’s room and travel to our production stations via the tunnels without being seen by the union members picketing outside. It took about a day and a half to learn how to operate a screw machine and the same productivity level as the union workers and we were able easily to satisfy our parts requirements. In fact we did so well we only had to work two to two and half days a week to accomplish the same level of output as the regular operators. Although this experience was satisfying from an accomplishment point of view, it left me with mixed emotions. I had just demonstrated to the manufacturing organization why costs were so high and the tactics that had brought us to this situation by the faulty attitudes of our workers. I did not understand these kinds of attitudes. I would later learn that they are very real and pervasive in our manufacturing environments. I thought it was a sad situation for our economy.

After that episode I spent the next six months coaching, reviewing, revising, and finalizing the first NCR Domestic Marketing Plan. The process significantly changed the thinking and direction of NCR in the US from a mechanical cash register company to a sophisticated systems provider. It helped integrate the Computer, Software, Electronic Cash Registers and Accounting Machines, Systems, and Service into a powerful market force in the US. We were also able to significantly change the sales philosophy and organization. Unfortunately I was not able go witness the implementation of the entire plan because I left NCR before it was completed.

At this time my boss and a lifetime mentor, Mike, left NCR to become the Assistant to the President of Diebold, Inc. The Vice President of the division, Owen, then asked me to take Mikes place as Director of the division staff. I agreed to do this on one condition. I wanted to get involved in line management. I felt too much time in staff positions would hamper my overall career goals.

Owen agreed to watch for appropriate opportunities for me if I did a good job for him. What I did not realize at the time was the tremendous exposure to the overall management of a company that I was about to experience. The next year as Owen’s Staff Director is worth a chapter of it’s own.

Lessons Learned:

1. Some mentors are with you for life.

2. Good strategic planning can influence amazing positive changes in behavior.

3. The importance of a well-communicated plan of attack.

4. The potential negative impact of misdirected union attitudes.

5. Good, conscientious, quality work gets recognized when you least expect it.

Learning the Systems World

2009-10-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Learning the Systems World

I started my in the systems world as a systems analyst in the Retail Marketing Department of the National Cash Register Co. The “Cash” as the locals referred to it. I spent the first month learning about the new Century Series computer that was just being introduced to the market. An interesting anecdote, this was 1965, and the first 16k Century delivered to our facility required a room 20 X 30 Ft. Just to give you a benchmark. My iphone has a memory capacity of 7.1 GB. . After my indoctrination, I began to design systems specs for the programmers focused on retail merchandising.

Soon a new product called an electronic cash register, the 280, was developed to replace the original mechanical cash register as a very sophisticated point of sale input device. These coupled with the Century computer provided a complete merchandising and inventory control system for the Retail Market place. I was asked to help design those systems and introduce the concept to major retailers. I was promoted to Account Manager a position developed to support our field sales personnel in their sales efforts. I was assigned to Marshal Fields and Sears in Chicago, Thalheimers, in Richmond VA, a large holding company in St. Louis.

We also made presentations and entertained visiting customers and prospects from around the world. The company owned two very impressive homes that were used to house our guests. Our international guests stayed in the Wright Brothers mansion. Our domestic guests stayed in the Kettering Estate. Both venues were maintained, as they were when the original owners lived there. For example the Wright Brothers library was as it was during their lifetime and the Kettering estate had a bowling alley and a skeet range on the property. We also had a world-renowned NCR country club at our disposal. If fact while I was a member we hosted the 1967 PGA Championship tournament. Talk about perks. This club was for employees only and the cost for membership including a locker and all greens fees was less than $200.00 a year.

It was also during this period that I assisted in the installation of the first computer in a department store at Thalheimers in Richmond. What an experience. The night before we were to go live with their accounts receivable and billing system the CRAM (Card Random Access Memory) crashed and we had to spend the entire night reconstructing files. We made the deadline.

I also remember the first presentation of the new 280 electronic cash register. The processor chip was not ready yet so the terminal was wired to the main computer in the next room. A bit of a sham but did demonstrate the capabilities of the terminal. The customer was Sears and we wanted to impress them. I could not stand the deception so I spilled the beans at dinner. They understood and became our first customer.

Near the end of 1967, I was asked by Bill our department manager and my latest mentor, to represent the retail marketing department at a training session on a new strategic planning process the company was implementing. I was so intrigued by the process; I asked to be the facilitator for our department. That started a whole new career path for me. Bill encouraged me to pursue this new path and stayed with me as an advisor for the rest of my NCR career.

Lessons learned:

1. The value of good systems design prior to coding a program.

2. The potential impact of computers and data processing on the business enterprise.

3. The skills and techniques necessary to successfully manage a major corporate account.

4. How a good mentor guides you through challenges and new learning experiences.

5. The value of honesty in everything we do.

My Government Service

2009-10-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

My Government Service

Because of my age and family situation, I was never eligible for the military draft. However, my next promotion with Xerox to Government accounts manager in Dayton, Ohio did give me the opportunity to help the logistics group that supported our troops in Viet Nam from Wright Patterson Air Force Base. At that time, this base was responsible for all military logistics, new aircraft development management, was a SAC base, and housed the Foreign Technology Division. In addition my team was responsible for the nuclear research labs located near Dayton, Ohio. We all had to have top secret Federal government clearances.

We had literally hundreds of copiers and duplicators operating in these facilities. The usage was so huge that we shipped 1 to 3 boxcars of paper and toner to this base every quarter. I was most proud of how the team was able to help with both the efficiency and costs or copier and duplicator systems at these installations. At the same time we were able to grow our business substantially over the next 18 months that I was involved.

We implemented several programs to facilitate this process. First, we instituted a monthly update of both systems and costs for the base commander to ensure his constant support and develop a personal relationship that would allow us access to him and his staff. That took place every first Wednesday of the month at 3:00AM sharp. Due to the Viet Nam time zone his day started at 8:00 PM and finished at 5:00 AM. He was impressed and very appreciative of our recognition of his scheduling needs.

Second, we were able to help develop systems that made processing orders for shipment of goods and personnel much faster and efficient.

Third, we helped with the processing and distribution of Foreign Intelligence photographs. On key days like May day (Photos from the USSR parade), we provided both service and operations staff , on site, to assure 24/7 uninterrupted operations.

Fourth, we were able to develop a very efficient method for the multitude of engineers working on the development of the C – 5A Transporter aircraft to communicate and document engineering changes. There were over 200 engineers working on this project.

Our team was recognized for this effort and I was invited to represent them at the initial fly in of the aircraft. What an experience just to see this huge aircraft fly. I will never forget the base commanders opening remarks.

He said, “This aircraft is so large that the Wright brothers could have flown the first flight inside the C- 5A. The aircraft is designed to transport a company of men, supporting equipment and vehicles to an unprepared field in the war zone.”

Although it was never used for that purpose, it did transport a lot of supplies into Viet Nam and a lot of refugees out of Viet Nam.

In Early May of 1967, was given the opportunity to attend a special seminar, again in Fort Lauderdale, to learn systems selling in large accounts. I was never able to finish the seminar because our third beautiful daughter Karen was born early the morning of May 4^th. You can imagine my emotions when receiving a phone call at 3:00AM from my wife and a neighbor who took her to the hospital. I was upset, elated, and very concerned that I was not there. Fortunately, the seminar director was very helpful and got me on an early morning flight and I was able to see her, my wife, and her sisters the very next day.

Shortly after that a new branch manager was assigned to Dayton. He had never had experience with the government market. His overall results were not to his liking and he challenged all of his team to significantly increase our order books. I tried valiantly to explain to him that this was mid year and government contracts were established at the beginning of each year and could not be increased until the next budgeting period, which was in 6 months. We were already working on it but would see no results until next year. He could not accept that fact and asked me to resign. My cheerleader helped me get through this challenge and the next phase of my career started about two weeks later.

Lesson learned,

1. Get involved with your customers business and become a valuable resource.

2. Work with your team and get involved with the day – to - day operations whenever possible.

3. The investment of additional resources to assist in critical situations is never forgotten by the customer.

4. Listen to your cheerleaders.

A New Career Path

2009-10-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

A New Career Path

In January of 1964 we were blessed with a second beautiful daughter Patricia. Patti as she is known. This event set into motion some serious thought about work verses family. I came to realize that the last two years I was not there for the development of my children or the personal support I should be providing them and my wife. I began to start searching for a new career.

This led me to taking a position as sales trainee for Xerox Corporation. At this time in the history of Xerox they had only one desktop copier. In the brief two years that I worked for Xerox three new duplicator products were released. The first thirty days of my career with Xerox was spent in training. For the first week I learned product information and demonstration techniques. I then spent the next few weeks with a very interesting mentor in the field. My mentor and field trainer was the top salesman in the branch. Interestingly he was the son of the secretary of the original founder and developer of the Xerox copier company. He brought the Haloids photo coping process into the broad commercial market. Bill’s mother agreed to work for stock instead of salary for the first year of the company and of course became a millionaire.

Bill had great instinctive sales skills and I learned a lot. We would put the domo copier in our car and take it to prospective customers. The technique was the old dog food trick. We would wheel in the system and try to get an audience with the boss. In many cases we ended up dealing with the receptionist or the bosses secretary. In any case we would offer the leave the system for them to use for a day or two and then return to get their reaction. Our success rate with this approach was over 40%. Obviously the dogs loved the dog food. It was then fairly easy to justify the cost verses carbon paper or typing multiple copies.

I learned several valuable lessons from Bill about selling.

I was then given my own territory, which consisted of an area of small businesses in southwest Columbus and then two counties southeast of Columbus. It was relatively virgin territory so I had plenty of opportunity for success. I was able to achieve enough success to get the attention of our branch manager. I along with my mentor Bill were two of the first salespeople in our branch to be selected to go to a national training school in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for the companies new 2400 ‘copier/duplicator system. Here we learned professional selling techniques and office systems philosophies.

When we returned I was made Marketing Team Manager with 5 salespeople reporting to me. I held this position for 6 months. Bill helped me a lot with my new team, even though he was not part of my team. He was always interested in how it was going and had great advice. I recall one episode in particular. I had a new salesman who was fantastic in training and very polished but had not closed an order in the first month of his territory assignment. I asked Bill for his advice and he suggested traveling with my new salesman for a day or two and observing his sales technique. I called Bill after the first day and said he performed great but was still not able to close. Bill gave me another lesson in closing a sale.

Ask for the order and shut up!!! I light went off in my head and I realized that my new salesman could not stop talking. The next day I instructed him to do his sales presentation, ask for the order, and not say another word until I spoke. On the first call after about a minute of silence, the prospect said no because he was going on vacation and did not want to start anything new until he returned. We waited for about 3 minutes in silence while the prospect carried out his own internal conversation and finally said yes. It seemed like an eternity. With great joy I said thank you, told him we would deliver the equipment and train his staff in the next 48 hours and we left. After that experience my new salesman became a star and eventually ended up on the national Xerox training staff.

This first 7 months led to another great opportunity and a challenge, both of which I will talk about in the next chapter. I should also mention that Bill continued to be interested in my career progress even after I left Xerox.

Lessons learned,

1. Become an expert in your products or systems as soon as possible.

2. The principles of good selling work. Get their attention, solve a problem, describe your products benefits in the customer’s terms, help make it the prospects decision, and ask for the order. Then shut up.

3. A negative answer to a question is an opportunity to develop a better understanding of your products benefits.

4. The cold calling process helps you learn what works and what does not work in developing real opportunities.

5. How to identify and find the real decision maker.

6. How to motivate sales people.

7. The value of having a cheerleader at home when things are not going well.

My introduction to the Fashion World

2009-10-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

My introduction to the Fashion World

This was a very exciting time in my life. I was now immersed into the very basics of the fashion world. In order to be successful we had to know not only fashion design but also the fabrics used to make the fashions. Of course a good part of the excitement was traveling to New York every three weeks. I remember staying in a hotel that is now closed but was located about a block from Time Square and only a few blocks from the majority of my market and the Associated Merchandising Corporation Buying offices. AMC was a buying group that negotiated prices based on the total needs of all of its members. Most of these products were of a staple verses fashion nature. They also assisted us in making appointments, hotel reservations, printed a fashion update, and published a list of all buyers who were in the market each week. They were also our contact point for incoming calls and assistance on anything from travel plans to doctors if necessary. I also served on their fabric buying committee because we were one of the top two volume purchasers of staple fabrics like cotton broadcloth and basic woolens.

Now the nature of my mentors was quite different. The people I mentioned in the previous chapter helped me learn how to manage a retail business. The people who helped me understand the fashion world were not part of my organization but part of the fabric markets. They were a native New Yorker, Abe, who taught me how to work the markets. He owned a cotton fabric manufacturing company. He showed me where to go and how to buy. It was Abe who introduced me to the downtown fabric market. There were three or four merchants on lower Broadway who seemed to be able to get inventories of very popular brand name fabrics for about 20% of the normal wholesale price. I would spend one day each week in market shopping this market and about ever other trip would find some fantastic bargains. This would allow me to mix this inventory with my full priced inventory and when I had sales I was able to mark the fabrics down significantly without impacting my margins.

Frequently other buyers and myself would end our day in Abe’s bar at the back of his showroom and discuss the day’s successes and failures. Abe had never been West of the Hudson River and never had a driver’s license or owned a car. We became so close, that Abe wanted to see my store and he took his first trip, by train to Ohio, to see me. I was very excited to see him in my store.

I also remember another experience, with another New York mentor. The owner of a world-renowned woolen fabric house. When you were in the market you were expected to visit his establishment and have lunch with him and other buyers at Shakespeare’s Tavern, which was across the street from his showrooms. Here you had the opportunity to mingle with buyers from all over the world and trade ideas and experiences. Mostly I listened and learned a lot.

Part of the fun of the market was the time I would spend in the high fashion show rooms. After abut three months in the business I began to hear the seamstresses who used our department for their clients talk about wanting more high fashion fabrics. My lunches at Shakespeare’s tavern lead me to several very expensive high fashion fabric houses. In visits to these show rooms fabrics were not just on display but were made into garments and modeled for our viewing. This not only showed the fabric well but also gave us ideas to pass on to our customers. This also led me to using real models at least once a week instead of just mannequins. We also began to participate in the stores fashion shows.

One of the most successful fabric houses specialized in very stylish cotton print. It was a French Company Bouclé Fabrics. They had an annual contest to select the models they would use for their world tour. Because of the volume we did with them we were selected as one of the tour stops in the US. What a great event for us. The show was on a Saturday and the models and their entourage arrived on Wednesday. They modeled on our floor twice a day and then had a two-hour fashion show on Saturday morning. This event not only sold a lot of Bouclé fabrics but also boosted the sales of all our fabrics.

Since the fabric business was primarily a Spring, Summer and Fall business, my boss asked me to take on the Trim-A-Tree business which required one trip to New York to find new and unique Holiday items and then open five shops in the store from November to January with a final sale in January. My last two holiday seasons in retailing, I was at the store from 8:00AM until 7:00PM five days a week and 10:00 PM two days a week.

In addition to this experience during my last year we opened the first branch in our history. We were all frightened that this new branch idea would erode our volumes and the main store. It did not while I was there but probably did as more and more branches were added.

Lessons learned:

1. Mentors are not always obvious, be alert to anyone who is interested in you.

2. The best mentors are not assigned.

3. The people who are on the front lines dong the work and facing the customer always know more than you about your business.

4. Listen to your customer with an open mind.

5. Try new approaches to old processes often.

6. Seek out and learn from peers and suppliers.

7. Don’t forget your family. (More about that later)

My First Business Management Experience

2009-10-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

My First Business Management Experience

Before I get into my first management experience, there is a life experience that was both an important lesson and helped me put a better perspective on family verses career.

It was the event of the birth of our first child. Janet was two months early and gave birth to twins. Mark and Michelle. Mark only lived for 4 days. Michelle was in an incubator for 40 days. Needless to say this was a difficult time for us. Not only was it a sad and very tense, it presented us with a huge financial obligation.

To this day I do not know how Mr. Lazarus learned about our situation, but one day, I was summoned to his office. He asked me about my family and how we were doing. By then we had Michelle home and were learning to become parents and getting past the tragedy of losing a son. So, I said we were doing fine. He told me he knew all about the situation and understood our stress and wanted to help. He told me the Lazarus Employee Trust Fund was paying all my hospital bills and I would have no further obligation to the company or the hospital. Please just go home and take care of your family was his parting comment. I am tearing up a bit just writing about this meeting. What a blessing!

Not long after that meeting, I was promoted to Department Manager of the Fashion Fabrics Department. Wow, at the ripe age of 23, I was responsible for managing a $1.3 million a year business producing a net profit of about $150,000. Over the next four years we were able to grow it to almost $2 million and over $300,000 in net profit. In addition, I after the first year, I was given responsibility for the management of the 5 “Trim – A –Tree” shops in our store. This was a seasonal business that operated from October through December with clearance sales in January. My responsibility in both of these departments was merchandising, display, advertising, buying, sales management, hiring & firing, inventory control and the bottom line.

Thankfully, I inherited a very experienced staff of sales clerks and a very capable assistant manager, Barry. He went on to become the CEO of a national chain of Fabric Stores.

There were three women who were very helpful to me. One was an elderly lady, who was a holocaust survivor. Sophie taught me how to deal with the private seamstresses who came in looking for fabrics for their clients. She often called in sick because of the aftereffects of experimental surgeries performed on her in the concentration camps. She was 70 plus years old and we were just grateful to have her when we could. She was also not afraid to tell me when I was making mistakes.

The second woman was the most experienced salesperson in our department and became a very valuable advisor to me in the area of customer service, basic fabric selections and seemed to know what our customers wanted.

Finally there was our seamstress. She made clothes for our mannequins and live models. She also helped our live models dress and prepare for shows.

Lessons learned:

1. The importance of family.

2. The value of taking care of your employees.

3. The value of listening to the experience of fellow workers.

4. How to have the courage to tell the boss he or she is wrong.

5. The value of listening to customers.

6. How to manage a business to achieve real financial results.

Graduate School

2009-09-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

Graduate School

My year in graduate school was invaluable. This experience provided me with not only an advanced education but also exposure to real business managers and a great lead for my first job after graduation.

There were four reasons this experience was so valuable.

First, 90% of our classes were based on the discussion of cases relating to reading assignments. Not, lectures.

Second, over 50% of my fellow students were either active in business or on leave from a business that was paying for their education.

Third, most of our professors were business consultants.

Fourth, I met a lifetime friend who was always there when I needed a friend to talk to and always gave me great advice.

It was one of those professors who suggested I interview with the F & R Lazarus Company in Columbus, Ohio. I got an attractive offer and started my business career as a retailer.

Interestingly Bill, one of my wife’s associates at her work, also went to work for F & R Lazarus and became a great lifetime friend of ours. Even though Bill was in the school for correspondence, he made a lifetime career in Retailing. As he married, had children, moved from Columbus to Dallas, to Alabama, Cleveland, Long Island and eventually Delaware, we never lost track of each other, our families and our careers.

Lessons learned:

1. Business management in the real world.

2. Advanced marketing techniques.

3. Business economics in application.

4. Business law.

5. How to interact with business executives.

6. The application of logistics principles to the business world.

Later College Years

2009-09-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

In my senior year of college I decided to move out of the fraternity house into an apartment with an old high school buddy and one other fraternity brother. After about six months, I decided to propose to Jan, who I had been dating since I was a sophomore. We got married just before my last semester of college. Jan is not only great support throughout my entire career, but was mother of our daughters. That was also when I decided to go to graduate school. I applied and was accepted at the Indiana University. I promised Jan, if she would work to support me during graduate school, she would never have to work again. Fortunately, I was able to keep my promise.

It was also at about that time my old fraternity roommate, a good friend, Ted, had a great suggestion. He had been working for his father's company two days a week, and was about to go on to graduate school, also at Indiana University. His father's company was the Gibson guitar company. He introduced me to his father as an applicant for his position, which was an internal company truck driver. I got the job. Because it was only two days a week, I could schedule classes the other three days and the pay was more than my pay as a full time night janitor.

It was through this work experience that I learned a different type of mentoring from a union steward who was my partner on the truck. Our responsibility was to deliver parts from warehouses to factory locations and then finally at the end of the day take the ashes from the incinerators to the local dump. My partner taught me how to get along with other workers at the company and in and in particular how to follow the rules of the Steelworkers union culture. I learned a lot about how the hourly worker thinks, what concerns them, and most important how to motivate them. Probably the most important thing I learned was how important good communications, listening skills, and empathy are to the morale of workers.

Lessons learned:

1. The importance of good communications.

2. How to really listen.

3. How to empathize with all types of people in a variety of circumstances.

4. The importance of good morale in an organization.

College Years

2009-09-10T13:28:00.000-07:00

The Initial Independent Years

In my sophomore year in college after a very difficult freshman year my dad came to my rescue again. The company he worked for, The Upjohn company, had a program for the sons of employees who were willing to work nights as a janitor. It was a form of scholarship. They offered us a full-time job, accommodated our studying needs and paid us well, as long as our grades were a B. average or better. I held this job for about a year and a half and although I had to go to work every day 5:30 PM and didn’t finish 12:30 AM, but it was worth it. We really only had about two hours of work to do, and the ability to use all the office facilities and equipment for our homework and we had weekends off to enjoy college life with everyone else.

This job helped in several ways. It probably kept me out of trouble. But more importantly it provided me with enough income to join a fraternity, and move into the fraternity house I was a TKE. Now, I was beginning to become an independent adult.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that even though I moved out of the house mom insisted that I bring my dirty clothes home to let her wash them and I spent most Sundays at home with mom and dad and we always visited Grandma and Grandpa with all the other children, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandchildren every Sunday. These experiences always kept me centered and recognizing the value of family and everything that we do. As I recall the experiences with our large family there were several mentors who in their own way helped me realize my successes and failures in life.

Joining the fraternity provided me with another experience that would be valuable in later life. When I joined the fraternity we were living in a very old wood frame home that was condemned. Fortunately the fraternity had paid off its mortgage and had enough money saved for a down payment on a beautiful historical Mansion. When we moved into that beautiful I was elected House manager and pledge trainer. Now I was beginning to understand the value of becoming a good mentor. I not only had to make sure that our house will was kept financially sound but also was responsible for making sure the property was maintained properly, and all of our brothers had adequate housing and food. In addition, I had the responsibility, to our brotherhood, to develop the new pledges that were invited to join our organization.

Lessons learned:

1.The importance of family.

2. How to manage a household.

3. How to mentor young men.

4. How to recognize the many mentors that came from family and friends.

More of the Early Days

2009-09-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

While I was still a teenager but a little older I was able to get a job as a bus boy and a very large upscale cafeteria in our town. During my high school years, I was able to work at this job on the weekends and in the off-season was when I was not playing football or basketball I could work during the week. Here I began to learn the value of individual and team performance. My first job was that of just a busboy and there I learned to clear a table of four in one minute or less. I also began to develop a system that would allow me to clear that table and closer to 30 seconds. This was important because during busy times there was a customer with a full tray of food leaving the cafeteria line looking for a clean table every 30 seconds. Our goal was to be able to accommodate all of those customers immediately.

Here again a good mentor was introduced to me, it was the manager of this restaurant, Joe. He not only noticed what I had achieved as a bus boy but also began to sense that I had some leadership skills and started to encourage them.

Eventually I became good enough that I was asked to supervise and train other busboys. Now I was beginning to learn how to manage and motivate and develop other people. I also began to understand the concept of teamwork. Eventually I became the head floor manager and was asked to come in early to help set up the food system and make sure all was ready in the restaurant prior to opening the doors. I held this job and a great relationship with the owner and his son until I began my college years.

Lessons learned;

1. Doing more than the job requires.

2. Recognizing the need to support the entire enterprise, not just my own job.

3. The value of developing a good team.

4. The ability to see all the parts of an enterprise.

5. How to work with a good mentor.

6. How and why it is important to become a good mentor.

The Early Years

2009-08-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

The Early Years

I am not sure where to start this journey, but I will begin somewhere early in my life at around age 14. I was an only child. As I recall at that age, although my parents both worked and were able to send me to a private Catholic school, I decided to work at the school doing minor janitorial services to help offset some of the tuition. I think that's where I began to understand the value of education, work and mentors and what it could provide in the way of benefits both to my family and me.

From that point on I always had some form of a job to help defray expenses like books and the in-style clothing that all we teenagers needed to have. I never complained because I enjoy it many of the jobs I had and it provided a lot of the things that I wanted to have the mom and dad could not afford.

It was during this period in high school that I experienced my first attempt at being in the sales and distribution business. I was able to arrange a job with the local news agency that allowed me to sell all the out-of-town Sunday papers at the main corners of our small community, deliver the papers on Sunday to the regular subscribers, and then sell the papers in front of our church on Sunday morning’s after I completed the delivery route.

Dad was a great help in establishing this job, as he knew the previous holder of that position. He introduced us and I was then introduced to the news agency. Dad also helped when the weather was inclement by driving me to and from the street corner and the news agencies picked up by delivery route. However most of the time I used my bicycle to get back and forth and the agency provided a special bicycle for me to deliver the papers. Dad was also my first and perhaps my best mentor.

The way I made money in this job was to buy the papers from the news agency and the difference between what I paid them in what I sold the papers for was for me to keep. The leftover newspapers were taken back by the news agency to be resold in various stores and locations.

Now I was beginning to learn how to sell and how to provide good service to customers and how to make profit. I grant you this is a small business but it taught me lessons that I could take with me for the rest of my life.

Lessons learned:

1. The value of understanding customer needs and desires.

2. The importance of providing good service.

3. Asking for the order.

4. Providing services tailored to the customer’s desires.

Developing a Mission Statement

2009-08-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

This is the second in a series of blogs I will be posting. These are to get you thinking about the direction you want to take your life or your company. Then I will begin to tell the story of my career and the importance of mentors in my journey.

Developing a Mission Statement

Your mission statement is developed only after you have developed your vision and values and looked at your external and internal appraisals through the lens of your vision. Your vision statement and values provide the intrinsic value of your institution and the reason for its existence. They also provide the parameters or framework for the mission. Your mission represents the next logical step in answering what needs to be done to achieve the vision. Together, the vision and the mission provide the purpose and direction that will ensure that you are focused.

Your mission statement is the description of how you will achieve your vision ( or move closer to achieving it ) during a specific time frame. It provides direction to you, and as you grow, to your people. It will help everyone know where the organization is going and what you are trying to achieve in a given time frame.

It has a shorter focus than your vision, usually twelve to thirty-six months and will change based on the socio-economic environment. Whether it is twelve, twenty-four, or thirty-six months is not important. What is important is having a specific time frame and target date. The mission statement serves as the basis for the development of business and peronal goals and plans, and should provide an overall sense of direction and the parameters which will guide decisions. It should address employees, customers, stakeholders, your friends and family and the qualities that make you and your organization unique.

The time frame used in the mission will be dependent upon the situation and overall socio-economic conditions. Care must be taken that the period of time is neither too short, nor too long. Considering the rate of change we are experiencing in the world today, two or three years might be used or you could use a budget cycle. Mission may change with time. As mission are accomplished and new opportunities present themselves, you may find that you need to redefine your mission.

A mission statement should meet the following criteria:

Clear

Involving

Memorable

Aligned with values

Directed at Your vision

Linked to employee, customer and your own needs

Seen as stretch – difficult, but not impossible

Measurable

Before you begin developing your mission statement, review your vision and values. What must you do within the next twelve to thirty-six months to move you closer to realizing your vision while adhering to your values?

Creating a Vision

2009-08-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

As soon as you have begun visioning, you must crystallize your vision with a powerful vision statement. A vision statement is a description of a future. Not the future, but rather a future, a possible future, for which you are willing to take a stand, to strive, to work, and to build your institution. The foundation for your planning process, in fact, the foundation for your institution is your vision of the future and a description of what your institution will look like in the future. A vision gives meaning to an organization’s existence and to all those who share this vision. Before you spend your time on strategies, financial planning, etc., you need to focus on the vision of who and what you want to become. Your vision, when crystallized will act as a source of inspiration and as a guiding light for you and for ever\one else in your organization. It is easy to develop vision statements. You can probably come up with one for your institution very quickly. It is difficult, however, to generate a powerful vision statement.

A powerful vision statement is vivid. You can see, hear, taste, feel, and smell it. It is easy to understand, as well as exuberant and alive. It is filled with possibilities that do not currently exist. A powerful vision statement gives energy and inspires action. It describes a future worth expending energy for; worth being tired for; worth resolving conflicts for; worth devoting part of your life for. A powerful vision statement is generative. It sparks creative ideas and thoughts you did not have before. It generates ideas for new avenues of action, unexpected possibilities, new relationships, unanticipated resources. Q powerful vision statement is not random dreaming; it is an exercise in focused visualization, a technique that has helped develop winners for decades.

Once formulated, your vision statement is something that you can revisit over and over again. It will help you to return to the purpose of your work, to soothe your frustrations, to place your setbacks in context. A carefully crafted vision can add joy and purpose to all your efforts.

Your vision statement is your statement of expression of potential. It is a description of what your and your institution can become, and when effectively communicated, it provides common focus. The only wrong vision statement is one that is developed to please someone else, or one that is written for the wrong reason, or by the wrong person or persons. The right vision statement for you should excite you, give your work meaning and worth, and express much of what you see to be your purpose.

Your vision will inspire and energize you when it depicts a future that is better, brighter, and more fulfilling than the present. Vision makes a difference!