Let's be Frank...

Stuck in the middle...again

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 22:09:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:43:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:02:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:10:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Tue, 25 May 2010 01:46:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:13:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:34:00 +0000

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.

Flexible Staffing

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:40:00 +0000

The last several years of unbridled consumption, creative & secondary financing, fancy bookkeeping and unlimited M&A activity morphing Financial institutions into too-big-to-fail behemoths and the great awakening that came from the bottom falling out of our economy has brought many of us to a new discipline. As Wall Street and the engine of commerce driving it demonstrates, that while sales revenues continue to sag, profits grow to reflect the cost management strategies managers embraced as they learned to live within their means. At kitchen tables and in living rooms all over America people reworked budgets and remembered core values taught us by the Greatest Generation as wallets closed and mcmansions sat empty. Business managers & leaders continue to refine their lessons learned as we prepare for the much anticipated and overdue upturn.
Many companies have strategically positioned themselves for the recovery by taking advantage of the employment market and upgraded key leadership positions as they changed their company labor rolls from armies to SWAT teams. Now, not wanting to repeat mistakes of yesterday that made life difficult for them financially when the turbulent economy and lack of consumer confidence shrunk their sales revenues straining their banking relationships, they’re beginning to realize they no longer have the luxury of over-specializing their company employees. Instead of ramping up their employee numbers with people specializing in niche functions and disciplines, hiring managers are instead searching for people who bring the ability to perform multiple functions and assume a broad range of responsibilities. This flexible staffing approach to rebuild your team allows you to get more work done with fewer people. This is one of the key lessons learned from recent, challenging economic times. Flexible Staffing will help drive profitability as our economic ship rights itself. So, put an oar in the water and as you begin to rebuild, hire people who can play more than one position for your team. It’ll help you control your costs; build a broader base of talent from whom to choose your future leaders and prevent crippling or hardship from employee turnover.
Now if only we could get our government to learn some of this stuff and find the benefit of doing more with less and oh yeah, living within our means.

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:46:00 +0000

So, the Superbowl surpassed the final episode of Mash as the most watched television program in history? More than 106 million people watched the game. Ok, I enjoyed the game, the nachos and the pizza as much as the next guy...and even felt my eyes tear-up a little with that shot of Drew Brees holding and kissing his son in celebration... but c'mon...the final episode of Mash is an unforgettable moment in our history. For some of us it's like bell bottom jeans, weejuns and the Honeymooners all of which represent an era in our evolution. It helps us remember who we were and the way we were. Most of us feel so beat up or out of place as we become the older generation and feel less current or contemporary about today's living and it's issues...that we have a vise like grip on these iconic moments because often, it's what separates us from everyone else. It's like talking to someone who gives you a blank stare back after you mention Sinatra...and you realize they have no idea who you're talking about.
So, don't let me catch you thinking for one minute that because this last Superbowl had more eyes on them than the final episode of Mash means it's a more momentous moment in our history. It's not. And by the way, just remember...we didn't have 300 Million people back in those days either...so, the record should really be based on the percentage of people alive who were watching...don't you think? Yeah, me too.
And speaking of the Superbowl...they hire the Who for the half-time show. Now I can tell you know I'm all for nostalgia but after listening to the Who I thought they should change their name to the What. I mean seriously, 2 grandfathers and a drummer? What's that? I don't even like the guys music but I would have thought a better choice would have been someone like Daughtry...maybe a little more "today", know what I mean?
Ok, enough about football. I don't even like it that much anymore. But let's give Basketball and Baseball some time too. Flash alert: Lebron's NOT coming to the Knicks. Know why? Because the guy has a brain and he's too competitive to come to this mess. And speaking of Baseball...What's up with Cashman NOT giving Johnny Damon a contract. He's gotta get that done. Too many women in the Tri-State area are revolting...seems they like Damon in pinstripes.
The movie thing: Crazy Heart is good plus not great. It took forever to get here under limited release and I listened to all that noise about how great an acting job Bridges did...but know what? I guess I'm sick of these guys making a name for themselves by playing drunken jerks...I think Nicholas Cage and that movie about Vegas had something to do with that. It's not so much acting as it is remembering college behavior. Like when Dustin Hoffman was in Marathon Man and shooting a scene where he had been running a long time. Just before the shot he was running in place and his co-star Laurence Olivier said to him, "what are you doing"? Hoffman replied, "well, I'm running because my character is supposed to be exhausted in this scene." To which Olivier said, "can't you just act exhausted?" Ah, the difference, eh?
Oh, yeah...pitching a book: "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. Asks and answers some of the more important questions and just so damn well written.
See you next time when we pick up Chapter 2 of "The Bend in the Road".

The Bend in the Road

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:54:00 +0000

Chapter 1

The last thing he wanted to do at 5am was leave his warm, comfy bed knowing the coldest thing next to an ice cream brain-freeze was waiting for him as his bare feet slapped the ice cold, hard-wood bedroom floor. But crawl out of bed he does, creaking joints n’all, shivering as he races to close the window Margaret insists stay open through even the coldest winter night … you know, because In Style Magazine told her how healthy it is.
The hot shower barely woke him as he promised himself to start that exercise program 1st thing tomorrow. For now though, he had to get to work. The rest of his house and from the look of things, his neighborhood is still sleeping as he pulls down the driveway after that delicious bowl of Cheerios Margaret insist he eat (again with the healthy stuff…”I swear I’ll end up a healthy corpse…she’ll have the funeral parlor window open if it’s winter just to make sure the corpse stays cold.”
The small company parking lot was empty as he pulled in, wishing he had made a pit stop at Starbucks. He looked up at the loading dock as he trudged toward the warehouse. God, he hated the loading dock. How did he end up here? Here, was him, a 48 year old, prime of his working life, honest guy starting all over again. Laid off his last 3 positions (last one in, first one out on the last 2, right after he got let go, along with 45 others from the first job he got out of college, when the bosses kid took over and drove their company and his life into bankruptcy hell. What a punk. So, after a couple of false starts as a Customer Service Manager, he sat unemployed for 9 months with his wife and 3 kids holding their breath, hoping daddy got a job today. After 9 months and a pyramid of mailed resumes, hours on Career Builder, Monster…even Hot Jobs…and zero interviews…he'd had enough. This networking group of angry adults sat around telling each other how ridiculous companies were for not hiring them. At least they made him feel like he wasn’t alone. Not alone in failure. Not alone in broke.
Chris, the group leader mentioned "Temping". Maybe he’d give it a try. At least, maybe somebody’ll talk to him…give him an idea. But if he has to hear one more smug kid give him advice…he’s gonna lose it...By now he had no pride left, he'd already swallowed it all. But after 9 mos. without a paycheck he needed to try something to get his rhythm back. At least I can tell Margaret I had something new to try, he thought. Just then his phone rings. It's John Markle from the networking group...he thinks to let it go to voice mail but Markle’s one of those guys who doesn't give up. "Hi John, what's up?" Markle was all amped up…"They knifed Chris man, Chris, you know... our group leader. They got him in the heart man...he's dead....deader’n Michael Jackson." and Margaret's husband Bill turned his car around and headed back to the group. Another day without a job...

My Friend, Tim Loncharich

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:56:00 +0000

A good man was calmed today. Humble, narrow by nature with a good heart,strong of spirit and a hearty laugh. There was much we respected and appreciated about Tim and his leadership …especially his regard for the emotional and financial investment we made in our franchise business and the personable way he wove his integrity and core values into the fabric of our business family. He straddled the chasm of responsibilities that come with the territory of Chairman & CEO of franchisor and franchisee… responsibilities so many before and after struggled to solve.

Tim had an amiable manner and a sharp analytical approach to business and life. But his energy always amped higher and his eyes shined brightest when talking about his family and his fishing.
Yes, men die. But today a good man left too soon, a life well lived.
Good night Tim.

12:05 am would make it the Tomorrow Show, right?

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:10:00 +0000

So, there are a couple of things concerning me right now. First, the airline safety thing, I mean, you know...after the underwear bomber and all. Back after 911 and terrorists were caught with knives and guns-the airlines immediately prohibited knives, guns and sharp objects from being brought on the planes. Then, the shoe bomber got caught and the airlines made us take off our shoes and check them before getting on the plane. I’m just waiting to see how they handle this whole underwear bomber problem; it’s getting me a little nervous, you know? "Ok, line up…boxers in the left lane, briefs on the right"-tell me the truth, that's a little uncomfortable, right?
Then there’s the NBC Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien-Jay Leno fiasco. It seems like Letterman and Kimmel are having the most fun with it. But it’s interesting to see how much both of them dislike Leno. There’s some really nasty stuff going on here. These guys are all sparking at each other. I mean, the only person they’re hammering harder than Leno is that brilliant executive Jeff Zucker, President of NBC, who caused this mess in the first place. What a dope. He had a good thing going with Leno's Tonight Show but decided to fix it anyway. But how much do we want to hear about how these spoiled stiffs, each reportedly earning more than $20M a year, crying and moaning over how unfair everything is? To steal from that great American philosopher Artie Lange; "Whaaah, they're messing with my TV show ma." There’s no question that O’Brien didn’t get a fair shake. After moving his entire staff from the New York area to California the rug gets pulled out from under him after 7 months. But they're paying him off with a check in the $30-45M range. Of course, he didn’t kill with ratings but his lead-in is Leno who’s a bust at 10 o’clock. And it’s clear Leno’s a snake and not trustworthy but hey, he’s got a contract too and if you’re working 2nd shift and your boss tells you he wants you on 1st…you honor your contract and change shifts. The thing about Leno though is not his lack of loyalty. I mean, why should he be loyal to his competitors like O’Brien or Letterman or anyone else his show competes with? And he is showing loyalty to his network…for whatever that’s worth. But the thing that kills me about all of these guys is the complete absence of grace from all of them. Their behavior is unseemly and childish.Letterman is reveling in Leno's misfortune because he hates Leno. Kimmel, showing his unabashed hatred for Leno to his face. Look, we’re fighting wars, unemployment is surging, people’s homes are being foreclosed, Haiti is dealing with devastation and these guys are worried about their glossy image or the legacy of a television show? Get over yourselves people. And please, why are we paying attention to this junk?
Oh, and one other thing has my attention these days. Since when did business become so evil? I’m more than a little tired of Obama, other politicians and the entertainment community making business people out to be the bad guys! After making the insurance companies out to be Hannibal Lecter and chewing up Wall Street, (with fava beans and a nice chianti) they’re going after the banks and financial institutions. Obama wants to tax profitable banks to recoup $90 to $117B over the next 10-12 years and bad mouthing them in the process. These firms are the most profitable in their sector. The ones that took TARP money have repaid the money with interest. They want these guys to pay the freight for the companies unable to repay the money the politicians fronted them. That’s like loaning 2 people each $1000 to repay with interest. The first goes off to Atlantic City and gambles his thousand dollars away and can’t repay the loan. The second invests in his business repaying the $1000 plus the interest. Now the government wants the guy who repaid his loan to pay off the loan of the guy who blew his money in AC. It’s not capitalism. It’s not individual responsibility….and it certainly isn’t honorable. It’s supposed to be free enterprise. We had no business bailing out any of these bums in the first place. There's no such thing as too big to fail. Trust free enterprise and our market. Let the market take care of itself and stop micro-managing it.Obama and Jeff Zucker-ever see them in the same room together? But,who cares about individual responsibility and honor anymore? After the way these politicians have worn us out the new value system seems to work best for cynics and lazy people. It's up to us to demonstrate what hard work, belief in ourselves and the products and services we represent and the way we will service our clients to earn their trust and their business is the true formula for success. Let's work together and support each other to make 2010 our year.

Back on track

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:20:00 +0000

I know…I know…I've got a little catching up to do. I took a little time off. I’m sorry already. I happened to be reading our Employee Handbook the other day and came across this statement about vacations where we tell people it’s important to take some time off to re-charge batteries and get away from business for awhile. Well, that’s what I did. Know what? It doesn’t work. I’m consumed with thinking about business, the economy, jobs, people…all of it. But the one thing that has really captured my attention is…. Should NBC move Leno back to 11:30 and send Conan on his way? Ok, I’m sorry… but doesn’t it make you crazy how much attention this kind of stuff gets? Every television show, including the Fox Business Channel with Neil Cavuto is speculating. As if this is a key ingredient fueling our economic turnaround. But what’s truly kept me thinking is what the business landscape is going to look like once this economy really begins to rebound. How will business be different? How will our clients’ purchasing decisions change? Will we ever get people to look at value instead of price alone? And with this in mind, how should my business look? How do we prepare for what’s next?
After surviving the plague of recession, this is an exciting time to be in business. The timing is perfect with this chance to now reinvent our businesses to respond to the new world order of things.
The jobs report came out today. Seems like even though the market trends up being plus more than 200 points for the week, we lost another 85,000 jobs last month. New Jersey has 83,000 fewer jobs than we had in May of 2007. Hello…is anybody over there in Washington listening? Could we stop spending money we don’t have now? When small business (which accounts for 84% of the jobs created in our country) believes that in the end the government will come back to them to finance this mess through increased taxes it locks up hiring and stifles growth and bank lending. Now with interest rates poised to begin to rise…it could make for a challenging time. But yet, I’m optimistic. We’re all revitalized and we’re creatively changing our business to reflect the new business needs. So, I believe we can all be successful this year in spite of all this help we’re getting from our government.
A couple of other things since I’ve been gone…..NBA players with guns in the locker room? C’mon, that’s nuts. When we played, the only person allowed to bring violent weapons into the locker room was the coach. Maybe the answer is to give each Coach in the NBA a gun…just shoot people if they’re gonna be that stupid. Oh wait, there goes the league. We’d have nothing but 50 year old guys playing. Wait, I could watch Bird, Magic, Earl Monroe and Frazier playing when they’re 80…so, maybe that is the answer. Oh, and the other big news that riled me up? Katherine McPhee is a blonde. Yup, you heard it here. The American Idol contestant went blonde about 9 mos. Ago and is now upset that nobody’s talking about her new look. Katherine, I don’t want to hurt your feelings and your new look is pretty hot….but when you factor in your personality and your music….nobody is ever gonna care.
Book alert: Artist on Fire, James Baldwin…compelling, artful and interesting.

C'mon 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:57:00 +0000

Well, it’s New Year’s week. I don’t know about the rest of you but at our office Christmas party this year we said good riddance to 2009 and buried it with about 6 inches of real dirt. Then kissed 2010 hello full on the lips. As so many companies in and around our industry, we had a tough year. When our clients get the financial flu….we buy Kleenex by the truck load. We had fewer sales, tighter margins and fewer orders.
But next year…now that’s a different story. This is our year. And who I mean by “our” is all of us. A lot of this has to do with consumer confidence. With a new governor dedicated to trying to bring some sanity to New Jersey’s spending and relieving us of some of the burden of State Employees who number north of 70,000 people coupled with our business community finally letting go after holding our breath for the last year or so, we’ll be back to building, distributing and buying stuff and services again. Jobs will slowly come back. First the temporary employees then the temp to hire positions and we’ll be on our way. At the same time we'll start to buy with a more discriminating eye. Not so much how cheap things are but the smart managers will be looking at quality and value and measuring efficiencies and effectiveness. We just need to get our swagger back. I mean, what’s America without our swagger? America without swagger makes us France. Anybody been to Johnny Depp's house lately? Oh, c'mon lighten up. The only thing wrong with France is that French people live there.
I keep seeing these TV commercials for Springsteen accepting the Kennedy Center Honors. I don’t know…it kind of makes me remember how I felt when Dylan went electric. Yeah, we got over it…but there’s still a little odor to it.
Couple of movies on my list this week: Invictus and Up In The Air. Invictus because it’s a Clint Eastwood movie and Up In The Air because my wife keeps telling me how good Clooney is. If I were a rookie at this marriage stuff, I’d argue with her. But the play here is to go to the movie and not complain. Speaking of movies ….don’t you hate it when they pimp a movie like this “Crazy Hearts” all over the media and it’s not playing in your area? Remember Precious? Same thing. By the way…now this guy Jeff Bridges … he’s definitely one of our great American actors. I think it’s him, Hoffman, Hackman and Nicholson…oh yeah, and if it’s a mixed crowd, there's Meryl Streep and that guy Clooney…hell of a job on ER, right?
Got some great books for Christmas. Enough to keep me busy this week. Most potential is from my daughter Jennifer: a biography of Ayn Rand. But the fun one is the Larry Bird, Magic Johnson book “When the Game Was Ours.” We’ll keep in touch on these, ok?
Remember now…this is our year. Let’s go get it. Happy New Year everybody.

Grandma Jenny's cherry pie

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:04:00 +0000

Somewhere along the line my Grandma Jenny got the idea that I loved cherry pie. It started when I was about 7 or 8 years old. Of course, I was one of those kids who ate everything and anything that wasn’t nailed down and never weighed more than a pair of sneakers. So, every year that I could remember Grandma baked me a cherry pie for Christmas. I was always expected to eat it in front of her attacking it mercilessly and completely. I typically polished it off in one day with Grandma watching each bite. At about 5’2” and almost that round, with silver hair and sparkling blue eyes, Grandma was that stereotypical Italian momma who made everything from scratch and was the quiet matriarch of our small, dysfunctional family.Well, this went on for years much to my puzzlement but also my enjoyment, for as it turned out, I wasn’t really that crazy about the traditional cherry pie but grandma’s was different. Maybe it was how she looked at me as I ate it. I always made her believe it was the very best present I got each and every Christmas. Somehow, I woke up one morning 16 going on 17 yrs. old. I developed a case of allergies to strawberries and cherry pie. If I so much as took a bite my face would look like somebody hit me with a can of cranberry sauce. Exactly what a healthy high school boy needs, right? So, sometime around January or February of my 17th year I began dropping hints to Grandma that I was now allergic to cherry pie and that we needed to move in another direction. Even with her broken English, I knew she heard me. I lobbied my mom to make sure she reminded Grandma …”no cherry pie this year, please”. The closer we got to Christmas the louder and more frequent came my reminders, until I was totally satisfied that everyone… from my Grandma Jenny to my Mom, my Dad, Grandpa Jack…and most of our neighbors knew that I was officially allergic to cherry pie and would prefer a traditional present. I expected a fountain pen or something like that.
Well, Christmas morning comes and sure enough as we bound down the stairs to open our gifts, there sitting in a circle around the tree is our nuclear family. Grandma stationed in her kitchen chair, since all grandma’s hate those soft living room chairs, right? They need a firm chair. At least my grandmas’ always did. Tearing through the presents I look curiously for the present from Grandma Jenny, wondering what will it be? All the gifts open there was, alas nothing from her or Grandpa. Wow, I hope she didn’t get mad at me for letting her know I didn’t want cherry pie. Just then, Grandma reaches down and hands me a box. My heart crushed as she handed me another cherry pie. My high school hormones began racing wondering…oh, no…what do I do. Nancy Davis will not be happy with her boyfriend looking like a can of cranberry sauce landed on his face. The kids at school will be merciless. Looking over at Grandma, her bright blue eyes shining and dancing as her mouth curled into that quiet smile as if she were presenting the grand prize to the winner of the contest showing how much she loved me. Looking at the pie, thinking of my friends at school and the total embarassment I would endure if I took even one bite, I smiled, picked up a fork and gobbled all the cherry pie I could eat. The hell with being embarrassed. When you have someone like Grandma Jenny in your life…and you know she’s doing something cause she loves you….even a teen aged boy has to get his priorities straight…For the next week I looked like my face got stabbed with a jelly pitch fork. But grandma smiled through every bite….and now she’s gone…and my memory of her is of her shining eyes, her smiling face…and the love she gave me as she watched me eat her cherry pie. I’m still allergic…and damn, I wish I could have just one more of her cherry pies. …. Don’t you wish you could bring back all those people in your life who gave you such wonderful memories? They left us their memories. Those are the nicest gifts I get every year. This year I lost some people who were really important to me. Christmas will be different without them. The rest of my life will be different without them. But I have a fresh box of memories that I will call on to gift wrap my holiday spirit. Remember the past as you salute the future. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all… and to all a very good night.

value, quality or cheap?

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:58:00 +0000

So, I've been thinking lately as I listen to everybody and their brother on every news channel talking about the economy, unemployment and how to fix stuff. "The Stimulas Plan didn't work"...."it did work"...."it's too soon to tell if it's working"..."we've only spent 10% of the money so how do we know if it's gonna work or not?".... Everybody's all over the place. Here's what I know. Unemployment is still flirting with the 10%+ area with true unemployment almost twice that number. The House keeps talking about how they can spend our money to stimulate the economy and get America back to work. I'm just thinking about this from a parochial point of view here but it seems to me that instead of spending another $800+Billion on an assortment of investments and programs the politicians think might help get things moving in the right direction... how about if they just created a wide range of programs and actually didn't spend any money. Instead they let small businesses sort through these support programs and we let them decide which ones they like and which will get them to take positive action..hiring...making stuff...buying stuff...etc... If we can get our country to once again decide that quality is what counts and NOT cheap prices and we get manufacturing focused on building and making stuff that is the BEST in the world instead of competing to be the cheapest....and as consumers we decided we were going to choose quality and value over cheap...wouldn't things kind of take care of themselves again? I mean, if we need consumer confidence to get people to spend money...and we started thinking with the values systems our forefathers gave us...and the small businesses in our community could choose the programs to invest in and they could decide where the government should spend our money instead of letting the politicians (most of whom never had to meet a payroll in their lives), wouldn't our economy and traditional values be more likely to put us back on track? I don't know...I just like the thought of our local business people and we each as consumers individually get to be in charge again...I just have a lot more confidence in us than I have in them. And, I've always believed in value and quality over cheap...don't you?

He's baaaaaack?????

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:05:00 +0000

Whoa....the flu totally had it's way with me. Ya know, back when I was around 8 maybe 9 years old, I was behind the old barn, sitting Indian style near Smokey's dog run, striking matches and quickly sniffing the sulfur before it went out...It was kinda fun. I was getting a little rush off it and feeling cool about it too. That is, until I got the sense maybe somebody like a hovering black cloud, was weighing in on me, only to look up and see my father standing there...all 12' of him, hands on hips...glaring down at me...like I was about to be squished with one deft swipe. He picked me up by my neck and toted me like I was his lunch pail...with only my legs and feet occasionally flicking the tips of the grass leading to our back steps. My room back in those days, was on the 3rd floor of an old house Dad had converted to 2 family, renting the other apartment out to a fellow cop named Frannie Yurick. (I always thought he had a sissy girl's name for a cop until I saw him shoot a perfect score of 300 at the Police Pistol Range. Suddenly, Mr. Frannie Yurick seemed to have a manly male name.) So, up to the third floor he dragged me, still occasionally bouncing the tips of my shoes now off the linoleum floors leading us there where he not so much parking me as tossing me across the room landing like dirty laundry on the foot of my bed. What could he be up to? Back in those days, it was anyone's guess. As a cop, my Dad was on a first name basis with every bartender in town and had a personal relationship with somebody he called Lord Calvert... which he proudly drank with water. This became his ritual since he became a cop who also happened to be an excellent pool player. So, he drank for free. Either because the Bartender would buy every 3rd drink in most of the bars in town or because he was winning at pool again, which he did most every night. So, being a depression kid my Dad thought it only responsible to not let free alcohol go to waste...you know... what with the kids starving in China and all. But, back to the bed. That's me sitting on the foot of the bed watching my Dad now kneel on the brown linoleum floor in front of me saying to myself "what could he be up to this time?" Well, he put a book of matches on the floor threw a couple of sheets out of my notebook on top and added a couple of socks as memory allows and started a nice little bon fire right there. My eyes must have looked like Little Orphan Annie as they popped out of my head. With that, he grabs my wrists with both hands and says to me..."so, you want to play with fire, huh tough guy?" and proceeds to dip my fingers into the fire. I jerked and flailed about, jumped around...unable to release his grip on my wrists until my fingers were screaming for some relief. "Where's my Mom? How come she's not helping me?" Finally, just as I was about to let him see me cry like a little girl, he lets go, snuffs out the fire...reaches over slaps some vaseline on my wrist, hands and fingers and says..."don't ever let me catch you playing with matches or fire again, you understand me?" Two things I learned from that lesson. 1. Don't ever go upstairs with your father when your Mom's at the store and 2. Never play with fire. Two lessons both well learned by a smart-assed kid with dirty hands. I had always used this pleasant little childhood memory as sort of a benchmark for life's little unpleasantries. You know...that wasn't as bad as when Dad burned my fingers or wow...that was worse than having the old man burn my fingers for playing with matches.
And then? Why, then...then I got the flu. There's the flu and then there's da flu.
Coughing up both your lungs, blowing your nose until you look like a coke head with a nose so red it matched our kitchen curtains.It's crazy bad...But the tough part is the medicine fog that engulfs you. There's the 17 pounds and 9 different varieties of cough drops...menthol, non-menthol and every other kind ever made...Robitussin, Anti-biotics, high blood pressure, blood thinner, beta blocker...you name it. You lose your sense of taste, hearing and smell. I stopped being able to spell multi-syllabic words by Thursday. Well, I put off going to the doctor until finally, it was see him or call the funeral parlor. See Doc on Thursday night ...better by Saturday morning. So, the question I ask myself is...please tell me why we men hate calling the doctor,even when it's a matter of life or breath...or asking directions or even asking for clarification? I mean, I could have been feeling better a week earlier if I had just called...and just listened. But, I'll tell you why.... it's because we're afraid we might look stupid... that's why...now, I've decided that after seeing how I handled the flu...doing something where I look stupid...well, that would just be redundant. And I think that goes for most of us men.So you see, no matter how old we men get...we're still acting like we're 8-9 years old...and now I have a whole new perspective on benchmarking life's unpleasant experiences. "That was worse than the flu I had in '09 or..that was nothing...the flu in '09 was a killer....I like this memory better, actually.
But, I feel much better today, thank you

Da Flu

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:55:00 +0000

is kicking my butt right now...Be back in a few days

Your Turkey Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:30:00 +0000

So, how does Tiger Woods become more famous? Why wrap your car around a tree and a fire hydrant at 2:30 in the morning a few hundred feet from your house. A couple of words of advice for Mr. Tiger....dude, you're a golfer driving an Escalade...blame the Caddy.
And can you pick up a paper or watch the news without hearing about that embarrassing couple that crashed Obama's first State Dinner? Mr. and Mrs. Salahi, willing to do anything for a shot at a reality show, fake their way into the Whitehouse without an invitation, even getting face time with President Obama, his chief of staff and other dignitaries...making fools of our country's Secret Service security. My question is how does Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan keep his job?
Then there's George Casey, Army Chief of Staff still trying to figure out which little guys should take the fall for the Army failing to figure out this jerk Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was an Islamist crackpot when he just barely stopped short of sending up a multi-colored flare announcing he was a dedicated terrorist out to destroy our country. Not only should these guys both be fired...they shouldn't be allowed to ever work at another real job again. I was gonna say they should be working at Mickey D's but hell, I wouldn't trust them with my food either.
But, truth is we just don't ever hold anyone accountable for their work anymore..not even ourselves. We just gotta change that.
Then there's Bernanke who Newsweek declares is the #1 thinker in America today, up for reappointment as Fed Chairman...of course, he'll be confirmed but wouldn't it have been nice for him to...I dunno...maybe at least warn us before this thing blew up? You know...do his job before he started driving an ambulance ambulance to work?

Oh, and my favorite news of the week? Obama's going to hold a Jobs Conference. EXCELLENT....2 Stimulus packages later and now we're going to talk about job creation. Would someone please tell our President we're already out of work? 10.2% which is really around 18% real unemployment. Now you want to talk about it? Exactly what have we been doing for 9 mos. By now, I would have hoped we'd have a plan. Oh, yeah...I forgot, if it weren't for the stimulus program it would have been worse... aaargh...

And I went to see Blindside. That's the movie with Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw. Yes, my wife dragged me there. But check this out. It's a great movie. Totally entertaining. Great feel-good movie for the holidays. Heartily recommend it. Better than Turkey, Yukan gold mashed potatoes and a piece of that walnut, caramel, Apple pie from Dearborn Farm....uh, ok...it's a toss up.

Evelyn

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:51:00 +0000

So, I'm about 10 years old I figure. It's the very old days and I just landed my first bike...spare parts that came together to get me peddling. Until then I hadn't gotten around much in the neighborhood. I was drawn to the sounds coming from behind Jackie English's house. As I turned the corner I spotted a group of raggedy kids, much like myself, playing baseball. The field was 65/35 dirt to grass, with worn paths to make-shift bases and a circle of trees that I quickly figured were the bleachers to catch home runs. I noticed a couple of the bigger kids standing behind home plate and mustered the courage to walk up and ask "can I play?" They peered down at me, annoyed for interrupting their concentration on the game. The guy with the best glove said, "sure, as soon as you're better than her," pointing to a girl who was up at bat. I said, "what? C'mon, she's a girl." (of course, what I really meant was; are you serious, of course I'm better than a stupid girl.) Before I got it all out of my mouth, there's the pitch, the swing and the crack of the bat. Next thing, the ball's sailing over the outfielder's head and her teammates are yelling, "go, Evelyn, run". She flew around the bases landing on third with a shot and an excitement that reminded me of one of my early heroes, Jackie Robinson. I slumped away to my bike, quietly peddling home. On the way, I figured I had step up and practice to get better than Evelyn or there'd be no baseball for me. So, practice I did. I became better... and then I played.
So, Today's Sunday and I'm reading all the papers... Lots of Articles about, of all things, discrimination in the work place. The differences in the genders for pay, the way women are treated if they're expecting a child and a host of other comments and articles about racial and ethnic HR concerns. Now, I'm sitting here just thinking these journalists and "Career Experts" are all out of touch. I'm not saying there isn't a lot more work to do in this area...biases against women especially but I think most of my fellow small business owners and hiring authorities, where, by the way...most of the jobs are...are exactly like the kids in my neighborhood. We didn't care if you were a boy or a girl, black, white or beige. We cared only that you could catch, hit, throw a ball or shoot it in a basket. We didn't care and by the way, we won a hell of a lot of games. Take any small business owner or manager worth anything and they'll feel the same way. We care who's getting the job done and who's helping our culture move in the right direction. Of course there are exceptions. I mean there are idiots in every discipline and field of work and life. But for the most part, the decision makers that I know care only about whether or not someone can get it done in this new economy. So, let it all go and don't get hung up on the handful of crackpots or Archie Bunkers that may speckle our landscape. It's always going to be your core values that get you where you deserve to be. What makes up who we are in this, the land of plentiful opportunity, is that anyone who becomes expert at what they do and produces results for their company ... while also being a positive influence in your company's culture... you'll be appreciated and encouraged by any worthwhile leadership.
You know what also makes me feel good? The kid that told me I couldn't play until I was better than the girl... His name is Ron...and Ron became a teacher. I think he helped a lot more people see it the way our neighborhood saw it. And that's a good thing.

Pride

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:38:00 +0000

I was in college during most of the Vietnam war. The draft board called me home from school to take THE physical. I knew I had no interest in diving headfirst into a rice paddy especially since I was a self righteous anti-war liberal. I think it had something to do with my draft number being dangerously low. Whatever the reason, I knew I wanted to go back to school for the basketball season. My dad was a hard nosed policeman who used to lecture me on the benefits of voting for Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon and in full support of the war. Our arguments often ended with my Mom scolding both of us to “get along”. But when dad found out I was called in for my physical he pulled me aside one night and for the first time in my life, actually showed me a sensitive side. Leaning into me, he whispered, “you know son, I support this war but if you get drafted and want to go to Canada…I won’t be mad at you.” We talked about it for a long time that night and mutually agreed that if drafted I had to go but we both hoped it would never come to that. I wanted desperately to get off the hook. I ended up failing the physical due to knees whose cartilages disappeared; victimized by 20 years of sports. Luckiest day of my life, I thought. Back to school… parties, fraternities and beer. Ahhh, the good life.
A couple of years ago my 85 year old Dad mentioned he would like to go back to Pensacola, Florida to the Naval Base there to visit the air museum so he could see the plane he used to fly as a rear gunner. So, a couple of Continental tickets later, Dad, brother Tom and I land in Florida to visit the air museum. Bright and early we jump in the rental car and as we make our way to the base, we look out over a sea of cars overwhelming the base. "This is worse than the congestion in Jersey, we agreed." The sign at the entrance read “Air Show today-Thunderbirds”. We later read in the paper there were 150,000 people there. Well, the parking was at least a mile or two from the entrance. I noticed a Navy Shore Patrolman on a bike directing traffic. Rolling down the window, mustering all the friendly courtesy and respectful tone possible, I told him I had an 85 year old Navy veteran in the car and asked if I could maybe drop him at the gate, then drive the car back to the parking lot. Leaning into the car he said to Dad, “Navy veteran sir?”. “Yes”, my Dad answered, …”Chief Petty Officer, rear gunner”. The SP looked my Dad in the eye then said to me, “Please follow me”. Pedaling his bike, he guided us through the maze of cars winding almost endlessly right up to the front gate. He pointed to the first space outside the gate, looked at me and said, “just park there sir.” I said, are you sure? He replied, "The admiral won’t mind sir". Quickly parking the car and thrilled at our good fortune, my Dad slowly unwound his creaking bones out of the car, looked up at the Naval officer and said, “thanks”. The officer let his bicycle slide to the ground, stood firm and full at attention and saluting my father said, “It’s an honor sir”. It was the proudest I’ve ever been of my dad. Marveling at the loyalty and brotherhood this young officer seemed to feel for my dad and this WWII generation, I thought back to how lucky I felt failing that physical so many years ago. Suddenly, I felt a little less lucky.

Dress for the Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:56:00 +0000

So, I just got done reading the Sunday Star Ledger. They're writing an article about dressing for your interview and they quote a style expert (Amy Goodman) but NOT a recruiter. How do you figure that? Recruiters are sending people out in the real world to interview for jobs every day (hopefully). They get real feedback and reactions from prospective employers about what they expect from job candidates. So, how do you write about this topic and not ask at least one or two recruiters for their opinion. For example. The article suggests if the company dress is business casual that's the way a candidate should dress for the interview. Let me stop right there to disagree. A smart, conservative business suit (for men or women) is never wrong. It's a sign of respect for the process and for the hiring authority with whom you're interviewing. Dress business casual AFTER you have the job, not when you're applying. Another suggestion they make is to try on your clothes the night before. NO! The night before is not the time to be figuring out what to wear. You should have at least one or two interview outfits, tried and tested and ready to go at all times. As a matter of fact, if you're unemployed and leave the house to buy a quart of milk, be neatly dressed, just in case you bump into a someone who can help, you shouldn't be seen sloppy. Jeans are fine but neat. Leave the sweats at home. You know what I mean.
The article also suggests that you not wear a good watch but rather buy a Timex or similar brand for under $100. What universe are they living on? Quality is never a bad thing. Gaudy, yes is a mistake but quality, tasteful is a good thing. If you already wear a Timex, fine but don't leave your Raymond Weil at home.I won't bore you with all the reasons this makes sense. I know you already understand.
Here's the thing about dressing for the interview. Conservative suit and socks, quality shirts, blouses, minimal accessories, light to zero cologne/perfume and everything polished and clean works. A good haircut, white teeth, clean shave or trim and for goodness sake, excellent hygiene for all. Bring a notepad and pen. Now, you can get it done.Coming up soon, some good questions to ask.
By the way, if you're not watching Sons of Anarchy, Tues.@10pm on FX...you're missing the best show on television. Other good ones? Castle, The Good Wife, House, NCIS and can't wait for 24. Oh, and I confess...I just love Leno falling on his face. You watching anything good?
Finally saw Precious. They were right. It's artistic, relevant & powerful. Oscars for Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe. Sidibe was on Conan and proved to be a charming young woman with a great personality. Catch the movie. You won't be sorry.

Ugly Truth about Hiring for Profit

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Too often we focus on who we interview and how we connect with them during the interview process. Careful, it could hurt. You’re not looking for a friend or someone to go out with after work. You need a job done. Find out who can do it and by the way…HOW THEY DO IT. This will give you a leg up on figuring out if you can work with the person or not and how they'll fit in working...not just personality.
Remember, the most important thing about qualifying a candidate to hire is always going to be...can they do the job the way we need it done? Skills, experience...you know the drill. The second part is the culture fit. Sometimes however, we have a tendency to fall in love with a candidate because we have great chemistry with them. It may be you are roughly the same age and have many things in common such as hobbies, school etc. We hire them only to find out that yes, they have the skills we need done and can do the job but how they do the job may not be a fit for you or your company. So, make sure your recruiter or your hiring managers are finding out how they do their job. It often isn't the person with whom you have the most in common. Remember, the worst thing that can happen to you is NOT to hire someone totally not qualified but rather if you hire someone who is just not bad enough to fire. That often means the people in your company or worse, you, have to make adjustments to how you do your job and pick up the slack left by the new person. It hurts your efficiency, effectiveness and profitability.
This is how I spend my weekend...how sad it that?

Pet Peeves-Business & Otherwise

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:54:00 +0000

So, at the risk of sounding like I'm whining, let me begin with Managers in companies who get insulted or offended and behave dismissively or rude when a sales person calls, regardless of how professional the call may be. This makes me crazy because each of these companies has something to sell. They usually have their own sales force trying to sell their goods/services to consumers or other businesses or at the very least a Marketing program calling on or soliciting directly or through e-mails. We are never rude or dismissive to legitimate sales calls from companies....especially local companies who we view as neighbors. We try to find ways to work with local companies so we can support them, especially during these difficult times. But yet, some managers sometimes forget that their company has something to sell also and they certainly wouldn't want their representatives treated rudely by their prospective clients. So, my thought for the day...is to be respectful to the professional people calling on your company. You don't have to buy anything from them, just be nice.
Another pet peeve: Why can't Comcast keep their signal strong enough to give me consistent service that doesn't include tiling or freezing television shows?
National pet peeve: Nancy Pelosi....'nuf said.
I see where NJ ranked in the top ten states in trouble. Excellent. Spending more than their taking in our state has mismanaged their (oops, I mean "our")money like the Federal government. Christie's considering declaring a state of emergency when he takes office in order to try to get something done. It's about the $7-8B shortfall. ouch
How come the Federal and State Government is allowed to make a financial mess and walk away somehow blaming us?
Weekend stuff:
2 books:A Dangerous Liaison by Carole Seymour-Jones; A new biography of Simone De Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. No, it's not one of those boring, high brow things. It's filled with great drinking, sexual rivalry and betrayal and the dangerous ideas that led people to experiment. How Sartre compromised with the Nazies and fell into a Soviet honey-trap and best of all...revealing darker, more dangerous side to their philosophy of free love, including Simone's immoral behavior in order to keep Sartre. Good Stuff. 2.When March went Mad by Seth Davis celebrates the 30 year anniversary of one of the great college basketball games ever when Bird's Indiana State met Magic Johnson's Michigan in the '79 NCAA finals. Great story telling at it's competitive best.
My final peeve has to do with the movies. I want to go this weekend but...hey guys...we live in New Jersey not Iowa or Nebraska. How do they come out with a movie like Precious, hype it on every electronic and print media outlet and internet getting everybody worked up in a lather to see it and then not show it anywhere in our state? No, I'm not driving into New York to see it. I live in New Jersey...NOT New York. Play the movie so I can drive to it without making 3 rest stops on the way to one of the "tunnels" or stop talking about it.
There, I feel better already...hope you have a great weekend too.
Reach higher.

Veterans Day

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Wyckoff) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:17:00 +0000

Dirge for two Veterans
.....excerpt.....

"Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive;
And the day-light o’er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

"In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin’d;
’Tis some mother’s large, transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)

O strong dead-march, you please me!
O moon immense, with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans, passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music;
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love."

Walt Whitman

Celebrate our brave and selfless Veterans.....every day