Stuck in the middle...again

Have you read this book “Boom” by Tom Brokaw? It’s about reflections of the sixties. So, I got to thinking about growing up in blue-collar South Plainfield, New Jersey. Our house was on the tracks down by Boro Park where we played all our summer ballgames and the sewer system emptied into the toxic trickle we called a stream eating through our green, summer grass. As you’ve probably heard from your grandfather… life was simpler then. Crayons came only in primary colors and we hadn’t officially been told that cigarettes did anything to you except make you look cool, like you were hangin’ out with James Dean, Bogie or Robert Mitchum. Boys had pompadours and girls wore girdles. Most of us escaped our high school years without any serious criminal blemishes on our “permanent” record…and it was off to college we went. Little did we know the world was going to explode…and us along with it. Much later we heard about some of the neighborhood guys who didn’t make it, ending things too early. Why them and not us?

It's 1963 and I remember sitting in English 101 my first week in what felt like the 13th grade at my new school. This guy Dr. Schwartz kicked off class by rattling off a list of books asking if we had read them. It seemed like every one of my classmates raised their hands and kept them up as the good Dr. eyeballed the room. I could feel him checking me out every once in a while to see if I was ever going to raise my hand. I shrunk in my chair asking myself; how could I possibly pass a class like this, starting off so far behind? This could only mean one thing. I heard the crinkling of South Plainfield Shop-Rite shopping bags in my future. Unlike the academic pass I took in High School, I was actually going to have to do some work if I planned on getting through college. Damn.
It wasn’t but a couple of days later I got introduced to the group “bull” session soon called “rap” sessions. We started talking about things like Civil Rights…Viet Nam, politics, religion and social issues. Before you knew it, my friends and I were reading Conrad, Melville, Nabokov, James Baldwin, Dostoevsky, Zola and Faulkner, investigating C.O.R.E., the SCLC and SNCC among others. Made the impossible Dr. Schwartz happy as hell. We had some great arguments…and he called that class? I looked forward to his “rap” session each week. Whatever the issue…we were curious and our conversations were serious. And then we jumped into the middle of the fray joining demonstrations, voter sign-up drives, marches etc. All the while, there was the musical backdrop of our revolution as we inhaled Folk music and Rock & Roll. We had all the righteous indignation our ignorance allowed…but we were serious and above all…we were involved.

Eventually, reality set in. Our hair was too long for mom and, of course, dad wanted us to pay rent. We needed to buy some of that $.40 a gallon gas for the wreck we had in the driveway. So, we sucked it up, cut the hair, bought some work clothes and hit the pavement until we landed a job. Bought a car and got married. Whew, that was fast.

And so, we found ourselves at the beginning of a career. I began by remembering maybe the only good advice my father ever gave me: “keep your mouth shut and learn something before you start handing out advice and opinions…nobody cares what you think!” So, I shut up and stalked the three most successful managers …Tom Kocaj, Roy Badgley and Frank Ziegler. I determined this by researching whose department had the biggest budget and who seemed to get the most important assignments. They called me kid and teased me pretty hard until the shop steward threw a snit and shut down one of our key departments costing the company more than $100K/hour…when they were unable to sway him politically I was able to get him to see the error of his ways after a night at the Travelodge Bar and about a 55 gallon drum of scotch that he brought home with him in his bladder. The next morning he marched into Badgley’s office and announced…”I worked it out with Wyckoff, so we’re back to work”. Well, I was driving for daylight from then on and continued to be the quiet guy in the corner of the office offering opinions only when asked…things worked out pretty good. Roy taught me how to dress, Tom showed me how to run the manufacturing floor and Frank showed me the tricks of getting the most out of the budget. I was their point man with the Union. I had a mortgage to pay…a kid to raise…and a career to manage. But I was there to learn. It was no different for most of my buddies. We were serious about taking care of our business. No video games…no drunken brawls…no fantasy baseball leagues…we had families to protect and our eye was firmly on the prize. We still had some fun but were careful never to hit the ball out of bounds.

So, I guess…as we struggle to fill our staffing assignments and find people for the jobs our clients offer…as we suffer the self-righteousness of students turning down internships because they expect twice as much hourly pay as the real world offers and their parents embrace their “rights”…and adults turn down jobs and employment opportunities preferring to remain unemployed rather than subordinate themselves to an early morning schedule or someone else’s rules…I remain confused.

You see, I also know that there are CEO’s earning 700 times their average employee, boosting their stock price by shearing their rosters…people who have given their lives for their work and their company only to be shown the door…as these executives somehow remain guilt-free riding in private jets and earning those eight figure salaries plus bonuses…and I find myself caught in the middle. Seems to me we need to fix both extremes and thank God we’ve got the middle class who somehow holds onto traditional American values…a belief in God, family, honest work and the importance of passing down to our children…how to grow up to be men and women of good character. God Bless the hard working, sane people of our country who continue to have pride…pride in themselves and in their work. Now if we can just find a President who believes in all of us…all of us who make America….well, America.

My Job...One at a Time

My Job…One at a Time

Sometimes it’s too early to read a new room…the people have to hit you back. For this reason, I live in diners. You get what you smell. I mean, some are dark, others light…musty, gray or bright and fresh but always…I mean always, there’s the coffee and sweet pastry perfume. And even those trying to be restaurants instead of diners, everybody still gets the same sausage and eggs. It’s impossible to eat at a Jersey Diner and keep your elite on.

A couple of years ago I started carrying a business diary. I’m not at all sure why it worked for me. I hate to write things out…no patience…but it became storage for my assorted thoughts, ideas from meetings, idle meandering and a junk drawer for contract numbers, accident claim numbers, customer service agent’s names and promises…and gave others the illusion I was organized. With this in mind, I took to carrying it with me, at least when my ever-shrinking memory allowed. So, on this particular Saturday… early morning, it was no surprise that I had my business diary and a book I was reading on my hip when I decided to try an old diner I’d gotten too used to passing since I’d moved to town.

Fewer than a dozen people sprinkled the shadows of the weathered Formica furniture as I inhaled the familiar smell. I dropped my diary and “Every Man Dies Alone” at a single booth as I scouted the Rest Room sign. I hated their choice of automatic hand dryer over brown paper towels. I was brushing the wet residue on my jeans as I zeroed in on my booth deciding between eggs or pancakes when I spotted the big, bad-assed street kid picking up my books and walking toward the door. “Hey, put my books down” I barked. Long, greasy hair, bandana…tattoos…leather vest…and of course, the standard issue size 14 motorcycle boots…He fired back a smirk and kept strutting. “Hey kid, give me my books back.” He wasn’t trying to get away. He was showing off. Center stage. Moments like this are like trying to take a jump shot when you’re 50. Your brain is telling you to wait until you hit the peak of your jump… until you realize you’re already back on the ground. Despite years of bar room and schoolyard fights…my brain was flashing yellow lights all over the place. Too angry to back down, I caught up with him. “Give my books back now, “ I threatened. Puffing himself up and fully enjoying the spotlight, predictably…out comes the knife and it’s partner…a nasty yellow, stinking smile. “These are my books now old man.” Ok, I’ll tell you what kid”….as I snatched my diary out of his hand…”you keep the book on one condition”…You’re back here in 30 days…with my book. But you’ve got to actually read it…and I’ll give you another one to replace it…not exactly “Belly of the Beast” …he didn’t kill anybody…didn’t go to jail…and no celebrities giving self-serving speeches about him. So began the journey of changing some of what I’ve been bitching about…one person…one event…at a time. Guess who just bought his first pair of Ferragamo kicks and is digging Edna St. Vincent Millay?

Culture Fit & Staffing: is it all talk?

I’ve known Bob for twenty years. When he found himself President and equity partner in a small but prosperous distribution company, he thought he had finally arrived. He said to me at the time he got the job how excited he was to at last be in a position to worry about things like vision and strategy. Finally, he would have a chance to focus on the important aspects of business.
One night over dinner recently he recounted his story. About ten thirty Monday morning, the first wave hit. Two of his star managers walked into his office and announced with all the resignation of a fighter being carried out of the ring, that they could no longer tolerate working together. Pushing back a meeting with his CFO, Bob decided to dedicate the necessary time to bring these two back to earth. After a forty-five minute counseling session, they agreed they could work it out.
As he later left his CFO meeting, one of his staff cautioned that the service department was threatening to sabotage one of his best sales people because he didn’t treat them right. Jumping into another personnel crisis, Bob put his afternoon schedule on hold to meet with the service and sales team.
Two hours later, he found himself trying to put what was left of his schedule back together and salvage something productive out of his day. Bob complained that he sometimes felt that upwards of seventy-five percent of his week was sometimes spent on personnel related issues - resolving conflict, mentoring, hiring, firing, coaching or pumping up the team. Bob was so busy trying to put salve on the wounds and reduce or contain the casualties of so many of his team during the workweek, that vision and strategy became distant strangers.
Talking with a number of colleagues and entrepreneurs, Bob’s not exactly residing in an exclusive club. More and more business owners and managers of large organizations have lamented what they term the unfortunate but necessary time they must spend on issues that get in the way of productive work caused by clashing personalities, raging egos, conflicting styles and insecurities. These issues can sometimes be magnified by our prevailing focus on building a team comprised of different levels of experience, skills and styles in the hope that the result generates quality and quantities of work greater than the individual parts of the team.
Personnel issues are terrible for morale, stifle productivity and cause turnover which can be costly in many ways. One answer is to share with new and existing employees your plan to build a positive culture at your company. What is it that we, as managers, are striving to build? What is our vision of the culture that would work best for us? Is it a culture that promotes open dialogue and eliminates the usual tendencies that businesses have to compartmentalize responsibilities? Are we trying to build a team of people who collaborate across departmental or organizational lines? Why do we want to build this and how will it help our company achieve which of its goals?
Put the reasons for building this culture into logical perspective so that people understand what goals your company has and how you hope to accomplish them. Once people understand what it is you’re aiming to accomplish, you can support them by giving them specifics about how to work together. Offer examples about how people and organizations can collaborate to succeed. And then, reinforce this information by pointing out examples where excellent cooperation resulted in great work and happy customers.
Leaders and executives have long sung the song of clearly painting the vision they have of where their company belongs in the future. They talk about their industry, their organizations, their management structure and the tactical plans they believe necessary to motor them ahead of their competitors. But, as we approach the dawn of our twenty first century and we come to understand and grasp the importance of the impact of people in our business, it is time to clearly address in our strategic plans, the shape, design and texture of the culture we believe will allow our vision to become a reality. Then, perhaps we can get back to the business of work.

Finding Great Jobs for Great People

I was raised at the back-end of a black road. Our games were played in the dirt and dust…and occasionally the mud and slush. It was here that my youth delivered its lessons and challenges… mostly from the endless ball games…all of them…and of course the crazy sometimes violent fights that entertained us between and during our games. Out of this came character lessons of loyalty, pride, work, honesty, self-respect…truth and fear; packaged in those days of summer, outside from dawn to dusk as scores got settled only to begin anew.
The rest of the year it was about the school days offering up a warm place to go and the continued challenges of forging friends and enemies with captains and soldiers each building reputations and sucking up the consequences and the spoils. We learned from the glory and the embarrassment that came with each changing year. And it molded us. Taught us how to behave. Taught us about honor, respect and to have a work ethic.
So, what’s become of us that our views of character…of character and values upon which the responsibilities and journey to adulthood are drafted?
I’m watching this slow, on-again off-again recovery as my clients begin asking us to provide them with great candidates and we struggle to find willing, capable people and I’m wondering what’s going on? People refusing to leave unemployment because if they accept a job they’ll forfeit the government paying 65% of their COBRA benefits added to the overwhelming cost of day care that they figure they’re financially better off staying on unemployment (which now lasts a couple of years) collecting two-thirds of their working pay and staying home with their kids. Then there are people who do need to work, accepting jobs that are “temp to hire” and when the client offers to hire them at an increase in salary, the candidate demands more…more salary, more benefits, more, more, more….until it frustrates everyone involved and we begin our search all over again. And our candidate chooses to sit home rather than get paid to work, not giving a thought to honoring their word or their commitment. These are just a couple of experiences that give us insight into our culture that cause us to re-examine our thinking about how people work and live and the choices we make.
We tell our clients to look for strong core values in anyone they hire. We can always improve someone’s skills but there’s no fixing someone’s true character. Companies should build on these character traits as the foundation of the culture they build with their work force. But we all struggle these days to understand how some people think. I believe it has to do with their beginning.
The tides of change in our culture make doing the right thing harder with each passing day. Walking the line…bellying up to the bar with your money on the table…nothing to hide, trusting human nature…seems that men…who can leave their money on the bar... number fewer by the day. We keep thinking we can learn our lessons from a cold man’s stone. It’s just too often too late for too much of it.
So, a perfect game is ruined by an umpire’s mistake. And a young pitcher responds to the disappointment and obvious slight to his history with dignity and grace suggesting that “it’s a mistake, that’s all”… the umpire searches him out and apologizes admitting he made a “terrible mistake”…and the umpire is humbled by the fans cheering him the following day and the young pitcher’s grace. And what’s everyone talk about? There are editorials and commentaries calling for instant replay to solve this terrible injustice. It’s said that “perfection can be the enemy of good”. Let's not "paint the lily" here. Think about the world you want to live in...a world where the character of accepting how things may not always work out perfectly or the sterile, robot’s game of perfection where we make no room for humanity or for people being people. This is one of those things that is already perfect. Let's not change perfection. Let’s celebrate grace, good will, honest work and man’s humanity toward their fellow man...then let’s move on. We can find jobs for some great people who want and need to work. As we mold our young and mentor people entering the workforce…we can reinforce the traditional values that made us envy previous generations and helped build our country. Let's fix our character now and in the meantime maybe we’ll actually fix some other stuff while we're at it. I heard something about an oil problem in the Gulf we can take a look at....

Getting the Job

It’s 1969 and I need a job. Just out of school and trying to figure out how to pay my own rent and do my own laundry. We landed a man on the moon, Senator Kennedy failed his swimming test as his picture earned a spot in dictionaries the world over alongside the word “coward”; Manson and his family slaughtered 5 people in the Hollywood Hills, Civil War zealots in Biafra were starving 3 million of their own people, Woodstock rocked 350,000 in a mud soaked American love fest, Ratso Rizzo went boffo in Midnight Cowboy, Nixon took over and February 11 marked an historic occasion for generations of boys as Jennifer Aniston sprung forth into the world. God Bless America!
In those days, it was the classifieds that led us to jobs. I can remember feeling pretty discouraged reading those ads as I quickly realized I had no marketable skills. I was an English Major who worked his way through school making money on menial summer jobs such as mixing cement, tarring roofs and cleaning cesspools. During semesters Harris Gordon taught me how to play cards for money to win and I could hustle guys when they pressed me on the pool table. I always wondered how Harris filled out those applications where they asked for last name first and how he had to explain to people: “no, it’s right this way, honest.” I ended up at one of those Employment Agencies in Plainfield. I had no idea how they worked. I just read it didn’t cost me any money, they find the job for me and I wouldn’t have to run around trying to beg for work.
So, I toss my black raincoat on over my best slacks, dress shirt and tie; spit-shine my shoes and head out the door. Up a set of creaking stairs, I felt like I was in a Hitchcock movie opening the door to find an older woman who properly asked if she could help. Looking over her manicured hair and chipped nails I could see a half dozen metal desks, chairs and dividers. I noticed no one was smoking. That was unusual. Pretty good, I thought. (Of course, I was token a pack of Marlboro’s a day at the time but I was happy to see I didn’t have to deal with the smoke.) Half an hour later, I finished the paperwork and they showed me to the last cubicle on the right. Some old guy in a white shirt and tie stood up immediately shaking my hand, motioned for me to “sit, please”. After a few questions he said, “let’s see what we have for you”…and he pulled his index card file toward his face explaining, “these are my job orders”. I held my breath as he theatrically and methodically fingered through the cards, occasionally pausing, always muttering under his breath before reluctantly moving on. I was gonna die right there if he didn’t offer me something. Finally he said, “now here’s something I think would be right up your alley, young man”. “It’s a sales position with AT&T”. “I don’t want to be a salesman, I said.” “I don’t want to sell stuff”. (I was a sophisticated kid, huh?) He stopped dead in his tracks, leaned back in his chair like I just said something bad about his sister … looked me straight in the eye and said…”don’t be silly, it’s AT&T…you don’t really have to sell anything…I mean, it’s AT&T…everybody gets their phones there… they just call it sales.” The only thing he forgot was to add the word idiot to his sentence. So, of course, admonished and nervous I said “great. I’d love to be a sales guy with AT&T and not really have to actually sell anything. Where do I sign?” After verbally smacking me around a little, it was off to the interview where this uptight guy asked me to sell his pencil to him. I did and got the job.
I got home a little late that night, walked in the door, tossed my jacket on the bed in my room and made my way to the kitchen table. My father, home from a tough day at the job looked up and grunted…which was always his way of saying hello. “Well, college boy…find yourself a job yet or will you be camping out on the couch some more?” I looked my Mom in the eye…she peered at me a little nervously over her steaming plate of macaroni. I could tell she was getting ready to defend me from the assault that was no doubt coming. “Yup, got a job today” “Hey, whaddya know?” Where?” “AT&T” “Whoa, a big shot, huh?” “How’d you get a job with them? That’s a good place to work.” “Snelling & Snelling” I said. “They told me about the job, sent me over there and showed me how to interview with the guy…and I got the job.” “Snelling and Snelling, huh?” Sounds like a pretty good outfit.” Yeah, a pretty good outfit, Dad.”
So, after 18 years, when I left AT&T, I looked at almost 30 different companies to buy. I chose a Snelling office. “A pretty good outfit.” And never looked back.
There are thousands of people just like me. People who Snelling helped give a leg up to in their career, in some form or other. It would be great to hear your story. Check out the Snelling Circle. Circle because sometimes it all comes around again…right back at ya.
By the way, if Jack Bauer happens to ask you for the SIM card from your cell phone…just give it to him, ok?

Spring Break

Well, I’ve pretty much heard from everyone I know that I’ve been negligent about writing my blog. Truth be told, I’ve been reluctant because I think everybody’s bombarded with all this self-serving stuff from “experts” on every conceivable business topic. Sure, I have opinions on business and certainly on the business that relates to my work…you know…the Staffing business…and the myriad of related topics having to do with people hiring people…but I’ve decided you deserve a break. I mean, the sun’s shining. Spring is in the air. And I swear I can hear the whir of the motors starting up at the Dairy Queen just down the street. So, today…it’s about other stuff meant strictly to give you respite from the drudgery of your daily work day grind.

Let me begin with what’s been most on my mind of late. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This is a beautifully written, devastating, monumental literary achievement. Before I had gotten half-way through, it had replaced Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead as my favorite novel of all time. Here’s a couple of quick reasons to show you why:
“He could remember everything of her save her scent. Seated in a theatre with her beside him leaning forward listening to the music. Gold scrollwork and sconces and the tall columnar folds of the drapes at either side of the stage. She held his hand in her lap and he could feel the tops of her stockings through the thin stuff of her summer dress. Freeze this frame. Now call down your dark and your cold and be damned.”
I read this and thought, whoa. How straight, how simple and poignant a picture.

And how about this?
“It took two days to cross that ashen scabland. The road beyond fell away on every side. It's snowing, the boy said. He looked at the sky. A single gray flake sifting down. He caught it in his hand and watched it expire there like the last host of christendom.”
“Ashen scabland”? “Like the last host of Christendom”? C’mon, that’s amazing stuff, no? You feelin’ it yet?

Or this?
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes. So, he whispered to the sleeping boy. I have you.” Somebody find something more beautifully written for me…someplace…anyplace, please.

So, here’s the thing. I know we all get caught up with American Idol, or 24, or The Good Wife; and we need to get away in the aftermath of the beat-down we’re getting during our work day, especially lately. And there’s no getting around the whole “spring cleaning” thing that sits on so many calendars. But wouldn’t it be a great way to kick off Spring, with the sun staying awake longer each day, and the sights and sounds of a more pleasant time that we grab a box of pretzels, an extra bottle of cold water and commit to a book?

It seems the more I talk to my friends, family and associates…as well as the people I bump into at work, no one has time to read anymore. Our lives are moving so fast. And, no don’t talk to me about audio books or the new Ipad stuff…it’s the touch of the page…reading a great book the way a great author intended…it’s a great legacy to pass on to our kids…a generation starved for direction and unknowingly in search of a saner field of promise. For something real.

Oh, and yeah…grab one of those DQ’s for yourself and the family while you’re at it. Happy Spring everybody…it’s up to each of us to move it forward.

Shhh, it's picking up ... & Oscar stuff too

And, so….here it comes. Along with the warmer weather, daylight savings time and the ability of the American people to put things behind them to concentrate on the present, while they get comfortable with being fed up with the incompetence of our Federal and State governments …. here comes the vitality, the energy and the uptick everybody’s been waiting for….Honey, we’re baaaaack.
You know, a guy hates to jinx this kinda thing but we’re definitely noticing an attitude change lately. Clients calling up asking about hiring people, needing some temps or giving us a “heads up” that they’ll need some help in a week or two. Makes me tingle all over.
I feel as if our team’s hard work through the slow period is going to be paying off. The Marketing Programs, the follow-up, staying-in-touch stuff, information calls, temperature calls… it’s all going to be paying off to help us get our traction sooner rather than later. This just drives home the importance of keeping your name in front of your clients and prospects… especially if they’re not buying today; so they remember you when they buy again tomorrow. So, for those of you wondering when things are turning around, I offer the following. If you’ve made the mistake of putting your Marketing plans in hibernation, pull off the tarp and re-kindle that fire… amp up your personal positive attitude for your team…and get it in gear. You don’t want to be left behind.
I hope that now too, we can get our friends and neighbors to re-visit the price versus value proposition we’ve been talking about. As a community, we have to start managing smart for the long term. In the end, our consumers and clients will be looking for value … lasting value… quality and value they can count on. The price points will still be there…but we have to loosen up a little to get the value we need in order to reap the benefits of improved efficiencies and effectiveness. We need to stop thinking that it’s ok if the useful life of the products and services we are buying are short. How many times do we want to re-buy our products and when are we going to get fed up with cheap labor changing our culture and diluting the quality of our products? Let’s go back to “do it right and it will last” as our motto. We can learn something from Toyota. They acknowledge they got too concerned with growing at the expense of not paying enough attention to safety. That’s also saying they were willing to sacrifice quality for growth. You really are going to get what you pay for.
Of course, the Oscars deserve a mention too. Martin and Baldwin were great but who had the brilliant idea to NOT sing the nominated songs but give us an interpretive dance instead. Yawn. I don’t know about you but I wanted to hear Randy Newman and of course, Ryan Bingham. My personal favorite for movie was Precious and I really do think they made too big a deal out of Katherine Bigelow being a woman who directed a war related movie (The Hurt Locker, my 2nd fav.). I mean, I just don’t get that. A good director directs a good movie…since when shouldn’t a woman be able to direct a movie about a war? So, now men shouldn’t be directing romantic comedies? Misogynists...and then they played her off the stage with Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman”. Please. How trite. How silly. But, I liked Sandra Bullock in Blind Side…she deserved it and I liked it more because she actually went and received her “razzies” award in person for starring in the worst movie of the year (All about Steve) telling them “you can’t be a hypocrite and not come to pick up these tough awards and expect it’s ok to just go to get the good ones). She also brought a wagonload of DVD’s of the movie for the audience. So, she’s got a sense of humor about herself unlike the smug Sean Penn and George Clooney. And Jeff Bridges was great in Crazy Heart but deep down we all know they gave it to him for The Big Lebowski; which is just fine with me. Best dressed my wife tells was a toss-up between Demi Moore and Sarah Jessica Parker…but I was snoring by this time.