Being on a Company Team

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