Chapter 9

Today is 12/21/03 and I either get this chapter done now or it will be next year before I write it.

The eighties were great but tumultuous years.  They started with Ken at Miami U and Sharon at Bowling Green.  I had made the decision early on to pay no more than the cost of an Ohio university.  If someone wanted to go to elsewhere like Yale or Harvard, I would pay the equivalent of the Ohio tuition.  The difference was enormous and would be at the kids expense – otherwise know as a student loan!  My senior year in 1961 cost $1,300.   Ken’s cost was close to $5,500 and Rick’s was closer to $10,000.  Getting a college education was high on the path I felt the kids should take. 

When challenged by 4 kids ranging in age from 8 to 18, rules have to be made and adhered too.  I did not believe in repeating threats.  A consequence must be enforced.  Soon the kids learned when I said something it was the way it would be.

One rule was you had to leave the house!  Otherwise known as live on campus.  One of the biggest areas of learning is being independent.  Soon you find what the word responsibility is all about.  Getting along with my 2 roommates in 1957 was an important learning experience for me.  So was NOT putting colored clothes in with the whites!  Learning to live on your own was as important as any college course. 

When Ken called and told me he pledged TKE I almost fell off my chair!  They had a crummy little house and less than 20 actives in 1961.  DU, on the other hand, was strong with 80 actives and a fabulous house in 1961.  But, the tables had turned and the DU chapter was waning and the TKE house was growing.  Their membership was so large they had two houses!

Ken was studying to be an accountant and Sharon was in the school of business.  Dave headed to Akron University in 1995.  Rick attended OSU for a short year and decided to head out on his own. 

One thing I have learned in business – smart doesn’t mean you have a degree.  Regardless, the opportunity was given to each of them.  What they did with it was up to them.  I also made a rule that if you didn’t get passing grades the funding stopped.

I suppose all parents get more tolerant -- maybe it is just getting tired of raising children – one thing for sure, the generation gap widens.  I knew the music and the songs Ken and Sharon liked.  Rick’s choices were foreign.  Drugs appeared in schools, dangerous drugs I had never heard of in my school days.  All I knew we could do was provide them a good home environment with a firm foundation where truth, work ethic, catholic religion, love and discipline all meshed.  Times were tense with Dave and Rick but they have sure made their Dad proud these past years!

During these years I remember many spike marks of great Joy!  One was when I got tapped to be president of the FB Hall office in Cleveland.  I joined Akers Hartenstein Insurance in 1965.  The next 15 years were fantastic.  Being in business with your mentor is wonderful.  I was always treated fairly.  In 1980 we had over one million in commission income. 

When I accepted the presidency of the Cleveland office in 1980 it had a commission income of $350,000.  My challenge was to get it to $2,000,000 ASAP.

I knew one thing for sure, if the same strategy was used as in Akron, it would take 20 years to build Cleveland to that level.  We had sold insurance and added support staff after business demanded it.   I decided the new goal was so ambitious the only way to get there would be by attracting a great sales staff.  Then, follow with support staff.

One of my first hires was a fellow form RBH.  He had all the makings of a fantastic producer.  And he did not disappoint me.  In 5 years his CI was nearly $400,000. 

I located two other producers and hired them away from a competitor.  They were both excellent hires.   

The Cleveland office lost a huge account in 1979.  I figured if I could get it back we would change the flow of business from out the door too back in the front door.  Sure enough when the producer came on board we got the account back. 

Our first year was a bit shaky.  We had moved from old offices into a space that was three times as large.  We appeared vacant it was so bare.  I suppose we were trying to look successful, yet we were spilling red ink!

It sure was a struggle.  We celebrated every sale.  We grew faster and faster.  There is nothing like momentum.  Our office was the talk of the town.  Soon we had the reputation of a bright and competitive office.   

I learned you better be on the right side of the momentum for it is force that can’t easily be stopped.  In 1987 the Houston office started to slide.  I did learn a lot during the slide down.  The most important lesson is to apply as much effort as necessary early on to stop the depth of the slide.  If it really gets out of hand offices with 60 people can wind up with 15!

By 1985 the CI was close to $2,000,000.  In fact, it was larger in both top line and bottom line profit than the Akron office. 

The error in my plan was that I did not do it myself.  It was the hires I made that were the reason for our success.  Now you might say I did the right thing but in the insurance business if you don’t sell it you don’t get recognition in your paycheck.

I learned over the 40 years of my insurance agency business life that there is no room for a good manager unless you are the owner of the firm.  If not, you are dispensable.  I have encouraged everyone to stay in their sales rolls and avoid management unless they have the innards to deal with the challenge of leadership and live on fewer earnings.  It might sound as if I am complaining.  It is just a fact of life.  Although I excelled as a manager, was promoted to regional VP on the operating committee of a company with over 6,000 employees world wide, my job was always on the line.

I loved the management roll.  Locating and attracting good sales staff was my favorite task.  Then finding talent to support the sales and deliver the best service was what it was all about.

I loved the tasks so much I put up with the downside of management.  In fact I was far happier managing than reporting to someone else.  Getting to the top of the company left me with the responsibility and accountability of the entire office.

I have witnessed poorly run offices where the service folks overtake the sales staff.  Business suffers because the next thing you know sales are hindered by rules, negative attitudes, work ethic, etc.

These 5 years from ’80 to ’85 were among my best.  In ‘84 they asked me to return to Akron.  I resigned at one point.  I did not want to give up Cleveland.  They gave in and I assumed responsibility for both offices.  Soon after they added Columbus.

In 1995 they asked me to leave Ohio and become a regional vice president overseeing the SW.  We moved to Dallas in August that year.  My responsibility included offices in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Tulsa and Denver.  I had a merger candidate in Phoenix and Albuquerque.

I learned to live with the stress of regional management until late in 1998.  I had watched our stock value slide from $26 to $3 a share.  Lots of reasons made that occur.  Few had to do with the present leadership.  Two careless moves by the chairman cost the company over $400,000,000!  I learned egos at the top were bigger than the success of the company.

I decided to leave the employ of FBH and join Ohio Hospital Insurance Company in 1988.  That meant leaving Dallas and moving to Dublin, OH.  After a honeymoon period the goal was to become president.  That did occur.  My greatest business disappointment came when a conflict between my style and the chairman’s became irresolvable.  I left the company in 1990. 

Over these 10 years I have many fantastic memories.  In Cleveland, we had more fun.  The guys say they are still telling many stories of the antics that went on.  I must admit, I always felt we had to make business fun.  Celebrate often.  Learn from your mistakes but shake them off and “get back in the race!”  Too many managers stay depressed rehashing losses. 

The guys are now scattered.  It brings me great joy to hear from them.  The remarkable thing is that I do hear often.  Several keep up with me by email.

The fellows in Columbus are regular email contacts.  Several come to HHI and play golf with me.  Probably Berkeley Hall is the attraction, I don’t care why for I just love to get caught up on their lives.  All are excelling!

Last summer the bell rang and there stood the manager from the Tulsa office.  He had followed the website and knew where I was.  Since then another friend called form Tulsa.  I guess if your subordinates still respect you enough to want to keep in touch, you passed the leadership test!

During these years the kids were all advancing.  Ken had found employment in Ohio that ultimately relocated him to Orland.  He started his own company after the Wendy’s situation deteriorated.  He and was able to share in the ownership of 4 Wendy’s in Lakeland, FL.  Ken is a CPA in private business, not a public accountant.

Sharon left BG and Ocean City, MD to join us in Dallas.  Soon after, Stephanie became our second daughter and moved in with us.  The gals both found employment and in ‘86 got their own apartment.  Sharon met MR. Perfect and the next thing you know she became Mrs. Steve Weltner.  That was when I learned the cost difference between the grooms vs. bride weddings.  It was a phenomenal party!  Thank God we have been able to afford educations and weddings for all of the kids.  I would do them over again in a heartbeat! 

We left Dave at the Cleveland airport in 1995 as he drove back to AU and we headed to Dallas.  He studied hard – or should I say hardly – Mr. Mensa took college in stride.  He met his bride at a sorority – fraternity gathering. 

Rick wanted to be a musician, diver and an actor.  When we left Dallas for Dublin, those were his main interests.  He attended OSU for a semester before giving the idea a heave ho!  It wasn’t until the 90’s that Angie came into his life. 

Lynn had really been the primary parent in this decade.  She managed to drive the kids to and from every baseball, soccer, basketball, football, and social activity.  Once we were in Dallas she dropped out of the volunteering role, quit working and concentrated on playing golf.  We belonged to Glenn Eagles CC in Plano - 36 great golf holes.  She played golf nearly every day with her friends.  She often commented on how great a life she had.  The freedom from nearly all the responsibilities of young children permitted her to do just about anything she wanted.

From 1985 to 1988 I traveled a lot by air.  That meant leaving at 6 AM and returning at 6 PM.  As I sat on airplanes I read PC Magazine often.  Soon I was trying to figure a way to automate our offices.  Dave came to Dallas for the summer and I hired him to set up a financial reporting system.  He visited all the offices and spent hours with the CFOs designing a spreadsheet that cloned the pencil and paper versions of the corporate forms.

By the end of my stay at FBH I could out wit the smartest bean counters.  I remember going into my annual budget meetings with the corporate gurus and having every answer in seconds.  They were actually intimidated with my speed and accuracy. 

Let me add just one aside.  Grandpa Walters started a bus company in the greater Cleveland area.  He bought a number of buses and ran into the PUCO.  They said he couldn’t run the company until he made certain filings.  So guess what he did?  He bought bushels of apples and sold them for $.10 each.  If you bought an apple you could ride the bus free!  I never forgot that lesson.  He never made it past 8^th grade.  There are task where knowledge is necessary and I have motivated many into furthering their knowledge by pursuing designations like CPCU & CLU.

I had time to read the “Reckoning” while I sat for so many hours in airplanes.  It is a book on the auto industry and how corporate controlled branch plants by “bean counters” a/k/a accountants.   If it wasn’t in the budget you could not spend money.   Every expenditure had to be anticipated and if wasn’t you did without.  Smart managers figured out ways to get around the accountants.

As an example of how these lessons applied to me, FBH prohibited cell phones.  Corporate kept answering the request no for they didn’t think they were warranted.  Executives were still dictating to secretaries and letters were typed on an IBM typewriter. They were into fax machines and that was about it.  So we called them entertainment and wrote them off anyway.  We served the clients better, got more productivity out of our staff and exceeded our goals so they left us alone most of the time.

Once I wanted to get a plotter for our Tulsa office and was denied.  It was OK to outsource the activity to Kinko’s.  Of course, that cost more when you had a large volume like Tulsa.  Tulsa was the most profitable office in the region.  I merely asked an insurance company to reduce our bonus of cash and give us plotter.  Sure enough it worked and we once again delivered higher quality presentations than our competition at the lowest cost.

Management in a large company is a PITA most days.  They try to set procedures and systems to fit all offices.  NYC is different from Akron.  In fact understanding the differences and managing them was where I excelled.  Corporate would advance “treat equals equally” and I would advance “treat unequals unequally”.  We were often at odds with each other but I learned fast not to challenge them, rather outsmart them! 

Sometimes the learned have neither “fire in the belly” nor the “know how” to apply their knowledge.  Both are necessary in today’s businesses.

Chapter 10 will cover the decade 1990 to 2000.

Later........http://192.168.100.1/RgSignal.asp