My Life

My life unfolded in chapters, like a book. It included a cast of characters that included my parents’ large families, teachers and friends from school and work. Each chapter had distinct beginnings and endings. Each chapter had its own cast of characters. In my early chapters, my Mom’s side of the family was dominant. I spent a lot of time with my grandpa, grandma, aunts and uncles. We visited them regularly during our travel days and ended up buying a house across the street from them.  My sense of humor and love of accomplishment continued to develop throughout my life.

In chapter 1, I was enjoying my early childhood from birth to age 8. My world revolved around my parents, my brother and my aunts and uncles and family friends. It included homeschooling to age 7 and several moves to new cities and visits to their historic and cultural sights. This was a rich experience full of site-seeing, restaurants, museums, historic sites, concerts and Broadway musicals. This chapter lasted from 1943 to 1951 and I turned the page.

In chapter 2, we returned to St. Louis and my focus expanded to my grade school friends and our activities. I was a member of every clique. I ran with the “hoods”, the “smart kids” and the “class clowns”. We played every sport. We were in Boy Scouts. We were embedded in Parish and School activities. I also spent a lot of time with my grandparents, aunts and uncles. This chapter was full of joy and freedom. This chapter lasted from 1951 to 1957 and I turned the page.

In chapter 3, I entered the High School phase. The grade school gang took off to different high schools. I was busy meeting new friends, doing new things and developing new skills. I continued to be included in several cliques and ran with the athletes, the smart kids, the band guys and the school leaders. I worked as a musician 3 nights a week throughout high school and appeared in musical theater performances. I also formed a Dixieland band to ride in convertibles to away games and play at those games. Our athletes appreciated our support and won all State Titles in Football and Basketball. I was asked to be a cheerleader and was elected President of Activities by the high school clubs. I was practicing forming the “culture” at CBC. This chapter lasted from 1957 to 1961 and I turned the page.

In chapter 4, I entered the College phase. I had already done my college life activities in High School and concentrated on taking 20 hours per semester and working as a musician 6 nights a week plus summer jobs. I graduated in 3.5 years. I continued to expand my friendships in college, but most of these were “smart kids”.  I got to know the “night club” subculture, but had no time to waste. My goal was to become prepared to become a Personnel Director in a fully functioning US manufacturing company that designed its own products. I took all the math and science I needed to function in a technical environment. I was allowed to take graduate courses for undergraduate credit becoming exposed to the work Consultants were doing in these manufacturing industries. Personnel jobs required a major in Psychology. I chose English as a minor to learn human behavior. I took select Pre-Med courses to understand physiology. St Louis University also required minors in Theology and Philosophy I found useful in forming my worldview and understanding of human nature. I was prepared to function with high performance technical teams. I met my “soul-mate” in 1962 and we married in 1964.

This chapter lasted from 1961 to 1965 and I turned the page.

In chapter 5, I entered my Career phase. I married in August 1964 and graduated from college in February 1965. I had completed Air Force ROTC in college and aced the pilot and navigator tests, but failed the eye exam. We were expecting our first child in June 1965, so I became a “Kennedy Father” and was exempt from Military Service. Jobs in Personnel were not available for new grads in 1965, so I took a job as a Campaign Director with United Way. This enabled me to meet the heads of the corporations in St. Louis. I had broken campaign records with two campaigns attaining 125% of goal and was ready to take a Personnel job. I had prepared the United Way leadership in St. Charles County to merge with the St. Louis campaign and thereby eliminated my job. It was slick. I turned the page.

I joined Kearney National in 1967 as a Generalist and managed all Personnel functions except dealing with the Teamsters. This facility housed a manufacturing plant and product development engineering along with Division and Corporate staffs. I was asked to join a 3 person planning corporate team. The result of our findings was to close the St. Louis facility and get rid of the Teamsters by moving production to Atlanta GA. Knowing this I chose to remain in St. Louis and join Monsanto.

I moved to Monsanto Headquarters in 1968 with the Textile Division Staff.  My job as a Salary Administrator was to ensure that our non-union plants were paid to resist union organizing drives. Our Pensacola Nylon Plant had 6000 employees, our Decatur Alabama Acrylan Plant had 3000 employees and our Greenwood SC Nylon Plant had 3000 employees. I reviewed all wage and salary activity and worked with Corporate on approvals. I converted the job evaluation system to the Corporate Manual and left Monsanto to join the front lines. I knew unions were attempting to organize universities.

I moved to Washington University Medical School in 1971 to establish the Personnel function at the Medical Campus. I was hired by Dr. Bill Danforth, Vice Chancellor of Medical Affairs.  Within 6 months I received a petition from the NLRB calling for an election for a bargaining agreement with the Service Employees Union to represent 90 janitors and 30 maintenance technicians. I secured the SEU LM-2 Financial Report and a copy of one of their Union Contracts. I conducted the election meetings and won with 80% voting to reject the union. I had completed the systems analysis for automating personnel records and identified the HEW requirements. I had established the Personnel function at the Medical Campus and hired and trained a Recruiter. I received a $10 million grant from NIH to buy cage washers for our 90 lab animal caretakers and train them to become AALAS certified Technicians.

In 1972, I was asked to come to the main campus by Dr. Danforth, who had become Chancellor, to continue automating the administration and join the bargaining committee to deal with the 2 unions that were operating at the main campus. I held the increases to 5.5% to comply with the Nixon wage controls and announced this for non-union employees before negotiations with the union were concluded.  By 1974, these unions had been discredited and employees were petitioning for decertification and my automation project were complete. In addition I had established a market-based compensation manual and was ready to return to manufacturing. My contributions were highly valued and I greeted a parade of my university colleagues who told me so during my final weeks before I left to move to Kansas. I turned the page.

I joined Schwan Foods in 1975 as the Manufacturing Division Personnel Manager reporting to Al Schwan. I managed a staff of 30 employees engaged in payroll, office administration and personnel activities. We headquartered in Salina KS at the Tony’s Pizza Plant and Transportation Depot with 1400 employees. I had a Mexican Tortilla Plant in Hutchinson KS and a Sandwich Plant in West Union Iowa and we flew to these plants in our small airplanes. I also joined Marvin Schwan, our President on his seasonal trips to our Plants and Sales Division locations for Christmas Parties and Summer Picnics.

We needed to take the pizza plant to 30 degrees and automate production. I worked with the Equipment Consultant, recruited an Engineering Manager and wrote the Department Charter. I automated security using a base station and roving vehicle. I had a PC built to control sensors for our ammonia refrigeration units, sensors to record door openings and cameras.  I also established a Computer Center in Salina to interface with the Corporate Computer in the headquarters at Marshall MN. I established career development with the APT test to add another layer to our employee development program. I established policy draft review with managers, supervisors and crew leaders prior to finalizing any policy changes. We strengthened promotion from within and continued our “no layoff policy”. I had established an ASPA (SHRM) Chapter for 40 companies in Salina to create a wage survey and have monthly meetings. In 1979, I was asked to serve as District Director for Kansas for ASPA and visited the other ASPA chapters in the State. I served on Community Boards and sponsored a float in the 1976 Parade in Salina and won first place with our employees riding on our “Melting Pot” float. I sponsored radio spots on the local radio station promoting Tony’s employees’ automation accomplishments. The automation was complete in 1978 and Schwan’s revenue had increased from $150 million in 1975 to $650 million in 1978 due to increased throughput and expanded product offerings. I had already turned down a promotion to the Headquarters in Marshall MN and it was time to turn the page.

I joined Rickel Manufacturing in Salina KS as Corporate Personnel Manager in 1979 to run off the UAW. Decertification was final in 1982. Rickel made High Flotation Fertilizer Applicators with Dry Boxes and Liquid Tanks and Boom Arms and sold these to Custom Applicators hired by farmers and large farmers to handle chemical applications. This was a metal fab operation with assembly of large engines, transmissions and wired cabs. Units had large Terra Tires for low compaction and were the size of large tractors.

I established discipline in 1979 and banned the UAW from meeting in company meeting rooms. I required grievances to be handled on break time. In 1980, we reached impasse in contract negotiations. I insisted on following the contract and the UAW wanted to do side deals. In 1981 I raised wages to respond to higher pay offered by a local large company startup. I notified the UAW after the fact. 

One of their own Shop Stewards initiated a Decertification Petition and filed it with the NLRB, The UAW filed a disclaimer notifying the NLRB that they would not contest the decertification and that Rickel employees were no longer in the UAW.

In 1982, we knew that Japanese heavy equipment manufacturers were about to dump their products in the US.  We sold Rickel to Ag Chem in 1983. I took a consulting contract with Saline County to establish a Personnel Function for the County and initiate a wage survey and formal job classification system.

In 1983, I joined Hayes Microcomputer Products in Norcross in North Atlanta Metro.as an Internal Consultant and became Manager Human Resources later in 1983.

In 1983 I founded the Metro Atlanta High Tech Personnel Association to get a local wage survey and hold monthly meetings for our 40 member companies’ personnel staffs. I also joined the Gwinnett Chamber Personnel Association to establish a local wage survey as a cross-check of wage averages and attended monthly luncheons. I subscribed to the American Electronics Association Survey to get national salary rates to round out my market-based compensation system.

We had multiple building for manufacturing, design engineering and headquarters.  I managed a staff of 30 employees in these buildings involved in recruiting, health services, policy development, employee relations and administration. 

I repelled the union organizing drive by CWA in 1983 and organized for rapid growth in modem production for PCs. I established the policy manual, converted health insurance to a medical trust, established a nurse-managed HMO, established an Employee Owned Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and established subsidiaries in Singapore and London. Hayes revenue grew from $35 million in 1983 to $250 million in 1986 and employment grew from 100 employees to 1000 employees. Dennis Hayes sponsored my 2 year WBSI Fellowship in Strategic Studies in 1984 and I completed it in 1986. I feared Hayes would overspend on non-essentials and fail. I was right, they were gone by 1995.  I was exhausted and needed a change and I turned the page.

In 1986, I joined Electromagnetic Sciences in Norcross as Personnel Manager. We designed and manufactured defense electronics and specialized in high speed microwave communications. I had always been the Physics-Loving HR Guy and physics is what they did. 

We designed and manufactured the DSCS military communications satellite beam forming network, lots of radar and finding devices, radar jammer-un-jammer devices, antennas and microwave systems and sub-systems for the Reagan build-up. You saw our stuff displayed in the Gulf War in 1990.

It was a Physics Place with material labs, electroplating, machining, through-hole and surface-mount electronics assembly and extensive testing. We did original science to develop better, more reliable and cheaper devices.

We also had a non-defense business unit developing bar code reading inventory automation equipment called LXE. Our revenue was about $35 million with 350 employees in 1986 and we grew to $220 million with 1200 employees by 1993.

I was appointed to the American Electronics Association Board in 1986 and chaired the AEA HR Committee until 1996. I had served on that Board with the CEOs of several electronics companies and in 1993, they asked me to establish a Private Consulting Practice to help them move their organizations to the next level.

I had always viewed my corporate assignments like a Consultant. It typically took 4 years to accomplish what I came to do and then I would move on to the next challenge. I had spent over 7 years at EMS, but there were multiple sets of projects to complete. I was in the process of terminating the pension plan and establishing an Age Weighted Plan to replace it. I had always done first projects myself and delegated them after I had designed the processes. I had learned how to do consulting work by being my own consultant.

I started my private consulting practice in 1993 with 6 customers and it listed multiple projects with a total of 46 customers by 2017. I had intended to work until age 72 and retire in 2015.  My wife and I were both born in 1943 and she had been working as a Dental Hygienist since 1986.  We both began to receive social security in 2009. The 2008 Meltdown caused my recruiting activities to drop and I suggested that I train internal staff to take on the activities I had been providing to my customers. This was accomplished by 2017 and I closed the Practice.

In 2009, we had our oldest granddaughter and her two babies move back in with us, so she could go to work.  We had a riot raising our great grandson and great granddaughter from 2009 to 2018 when they moved out.

Now I continue to write this blog and my wife is free to do whatever she wants to do. We will be celebrating our 55^th wedding anniversary in 2019. We are doing our own home maintenance and I still cut the grass. We watch old movies on TV and say funny things to each other to entertain ourselves. We may need to do this for the next 10 years, so we want TV to improve its content. We see our 6 kids and 13 grandkids a lot, but are content to limit our excursions. We worked in Catholic marriage ministry from 1977 to 2000 and studied how to stay married and it worked. We are extremely grateful to God for taking such good care of us. I always regarded work as fun.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader