Learning Retail Banking Service

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.