High Performing People 1-8-25

My life-long study of High Performing People and my Career in Personnel began when I was 10 years old. I was reading the newspaper with my uncles on the porch of my grandparents house. The front page showed a picture of a burnt-out car. It belonged to a local Labor Union President. I asked my uncles who would car-bomb a Union Leader.  They all said in one voice “Mafia”. I asked them who allows this. They all said Personnel Directors.  

I began to research what Personnel Directors were doing and decided to add my interest in high performance to the need to get the Mafia out of our Unions. When I was a Freshman in high school, our home-room teacher asked the class who knew what they wanted to do for a living. I raised my hand and answered “a personnel director for manufacturing companies”.

When I was A Freshman in college, I told my advisors I wanted to pursue a career in Personnel. I asked them what majors companies required. They said “Psychology”. I said, that’s crazy, they don’t know what they are doing.  All advisors laughed, even the Psychology Professor. In my Junior year in college, my advisors suggested that I take Graduate Seminars to learn what US Consultants were sharing with the Fortune 500 companies. I did and graduated in 3.5 years with the background I needed.

I worked my way through high school and college playing in bands and doing summer jobs. I worked 3 nights per week in high school and 6 nights a week in college. I got to know a few High Performers.

My best high school friend and best man at my wedding in 1964 was Mike Peters, the cartoonist. He was a child prodigy in cartooning.  Google: Mike Peters Washington U commencement address. We have long agreed to “do what your love”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Peters_(cartoonist)

I met Marsha Mason and Mary Frann Luecke who were laser focused on their careers. Marsha was in plays and Mary Frann was in pageants and won US Junior Miss in 1961. Both became actresses.

When I was in college I worked with Bonni Lynn O’Farrell, our singer at the Living Room on Gaslight Square in St. Louis from 1962 to 1965. Bonnie was a riot and was the blond Irish version of Tina Turner. I saw Bonnie on TV. She had moved to LA and married her bandleader Delaney Bramlette. Bonnie was the singing waitress on the Rosanne Barr show.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Bramlett

In 1963, Chuck Berry joined us at the Living Room and I got to know him. He was a riot. He lived in Berry Park in Wentzville Mo. in St. Charles County just north of St. Louis. He was a genius.

In 1971, I joined Gale Bell’s jazz trio The Three of Us as the bassist and singer. In 1973 we added two female vocalists and became The Three of Us plus 2. I ended my music career in 1975 when we moved to Kansas. Our fans included the staffs of the St. Louis radio and TV stations and the St. Louis Symphany Orchestra. Gale Bell was a gifted and popular pianist in St. Louis. He was a Prodigy. 

In 1983, the Ramsey Lewis Trio joined me on a flight from Kansas City to Salina Ks. They asked me what music the folks in Salina liked and I got to tell them.

My first encounter with a celebrity was in 1945. We were on the Train from St. Louis to Hallettsville Texas. I was 2 years old and dressed in my Sailor Suit. The train shifted and I bumped into Ethel Waters. I said: “I’m a drunken Sailor”. She told my mom I belonged on the stage. That was prophetic.

I picked Personnel Jobs based on what the companies needed and managed projects to accomplish the needs. I led the Personnel Departments and Managed Projects. When I had completed what I came to do, I moved on to the next company. My experience as an internal consultant led to opening my Consulting Practice in 1993 and serving 46 companies until 2017, when I retired.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader