My career
in Personnel/HR began in St. Louis working at the headquarters of good public
manufacturing companies in 1967. I worked for Kearney National, providing
equipment to electrical power companies and Monsanto, providing chemicals. In
1971, I joined Washington University in St. Louis to keep unions out of the
university. I worked with great people and never had a problem about ‘being on
the team’.
In 1975,
I returned to manufacturing and joined family owned Schwan Foods in Salina
Kansas. I joined Rickel Manufacturing in
1979 to run off the UAW and did just that.
We sold the company in 1983 to Ag Chem in Minnesota. Again, I worked with great, highly ethical
people running private, family-owned businesses.
In 1983,
I joined Hayes Microcomputer Products in Norcross GA. In a meeting in 1986, I supported the
investment of profits into working capital and 3 others on the corporate staff
joined me. Dennis Hayes and 2 others
wanted to spend it on TV ads. After the
meeting, my 3 cohorts wanted me to talk with Dennis. Instead, I told them that
we needed to resign quietly, so Dennis could replace us with folks who were
dumb enough to think the company could survive.
That’s
what you do when you can no longer ‘be on the team’. 3 of us did leave quietly
shortly after and 1 stayed. Dennis was the sole owner and had the right to make
the decisions. Hayes filed for bankruptcy in the 1990s and closed.
In 1986,
I joined Electromagnetic Sciences, Inc. in Norcross and spent 8 years with this
wonderful bunch of folks.
In 1993,
I was kidnapped by a half-dozen Atlanta electronics companies to open a private
consulting practice that I still operate.
I have
been careful and fortunate to have worked where I did when I did. I’ve worked
with some of the best people on the planet at critical times. That gave me the opportunity to make rapid
improvements. I also gained great
insight about working in teams.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment