Humanity, And You, Will Prevail

William Faulkner won the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature for The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying. He considered himself not a man of letters but, as he once said, "I'm just a farmer who likes to tell stories." As the first American novelist to receive the Prize post-World War II, he was speaking during a time of a worldwide fear of atomic warfare and in his acceptance speech said, "Our tragedy today is a general and universal physcial fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question. When will I be blown up?"

William Safire wrote in Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches In History, "...(Faulkner) went to Stockholm and on December 10, 1950 gave a better short speech than most writers write and it proved you didn't have to be a nihilist to be taken seriously you could be affirmative and even optimistic and still be considered gutsy."

Faulkner further said in his speech, "I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice, which have been the glory of his past."

Much as Faulkner's words inspired a generation of writers, so should we take solace in them today as we look at where our future, both personally and from the country's standpoint, is headed. Yes, there is despair and a sense of tragedy in the country about our present day "atomic bomb," i.e. the economic collapse and its subsequent effect on job prospects. However, we live in a country that continually uses innovation to keep us at the forefront of societies around the world. I believe that we will, again, regain our luster as a country. Already, we see signs that the job market is picking up. The sharp rise in Temporary workers in the past several months can be viewed in the positive light that employers discovered they cut jobs too quickly and too much after the surprise Lehman bankruptcy last fall.

I believe the economy is now showing positive economic growth, which should be confirmed when GDP (Gross Domestic Product) numbers are released in coming weeks. The Unemployment Rate lags an economic upturn because as employers hire workers the rate of new workers coming into (or back into) the workforce also rises. Additionally, employers typically remain cautious during the early stages of an economic recovery, not wanting to put on permanent workers because they don't want to be faced with laying them off quickly. Yet, the employer needs workers and has to hire in some manner. So for reasons such as these, the rise in Temporary workers typically can be a signal that permanent job creation is near.

If you are entering the job pool, be persistent, keep a long-term perspective, set goals and keep your head up if you face disappointment. As Safire wrote about Faulkner, be affirmative and optimistic. And as you look around at what others might be doing, don't get discouraged if your outcome is different than them. Keep in mind the words that Faulkner also once wrote, "Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."

The Little Things Really Do Matter The Most!

Are you confused about what to put under your experience section of your resume? Not sure if you should include that fast food job you worked for only 6 months in high school? I am here to tell you that you should include these jobs even if you only worked there for a short time. You may not think it is important but think again. The experience you get from working in a fast food restaurant may be more than you think.

For example, I worked at Arby's Roast Beef Restaurant for 2 years when I was in high school. In those 2 years I learned a ton when it comes to running a business like a fast food franchise. I worked the front counter, the drive-thru, back line preparing the food, fry station, opening the store, closing the store, and clean-up. I worked every position except the management position. I gained a lot of experience by doing this. I learned about the fast food industry, I learned about inventory and how to count it, I learned how to process truck orders for the inventory, and much more. I truly believe the only way to learn is to have hands on experience. This job showed me how to go from clean-up to payroll. I have walked away from this job with skills such as; time management, team work, customer services, business ethics, communication skills, food preparation and the laws associated with them, and how the payroll process works. The importance of a clean atmosphere and how it affects the business is a huge process and there are laws that need to be followed. This is a great place to start a resume if you have worked in a fast food restaurant or any restaurant for that matter. I want you to think about what jobs you have worked and how much you gained from them. My life was turned around from this experience and without it I do not believe I would have made it this far. It changed my life and I am glad I had the opportunity to learn about this type of business.

I think employers appreciate it when they see that you have worked in a restaurant and realize the experience you gain from it. In an interview, they always ask behavior based questions and it seems when I answer them it all goes back to the experience from Arby's. Two important ideas I talk about when asked these questions is the process I used to help a customer who was angry and also what I did if there was a conflict between a co-worker/manager and me. You want to express how you handled those situations. Employers love it when you can answer those questions well and tell a story to back it up. One hint during the interview when asked a behavior based question is tell the employer the problem you faced, then talk about how you handled it and what steps you took to fix the situation, and finally tell them the outcome of the situation. They love this, trust me! It seems to work every time for me. Think about it and think how it will look on your resume. Think of how it is very easy to talk about that position you were in and what dilemmas you faced. I think it is an excellent resource and you not only build up experience but also your personality, your business knowledge, and your communication skills. I also would recommend going to Career Services to get help on your resume and even practice interviewing with real HR representatives.

The Epiphany Moment

The truTv show Black Gold details real life experiences of roughnecks on a West Texas oil rig. The safety on the rig is far from what most rig owners would tolerate, including having a camera crew on the rig floor. The constant bickering amongst the crew is a safety hazard in itself and the lack of help to "break out" a worm (new guy) is far from typical. The crew's constant partying before a work day is not a typical occurrence as it is dangerous enough to work the rig floor stone sober, let alone hung over.

While I believe the series is highly tilted and edited for drama by the TV producers, it does give a representation of life in "the oil patch." For me, it brings back many memories of when I was working my way through school as a student at Eastern Illinois University. I roughnecked on rigs in southern Illinois and south central Indiana for a couple of summers. In fact, I credit those days as a roughneck as being the key to my career in the investment business. Let me explain.

I was expected to pay the bulk of my way through college, either through work or getting scholarships. I was also working through a rotator cuff injury, but wanted to play professional baseball and school was not the most important thing in my life, at the time. The scholarship portion was easy coming out of high school, but much harder as I settled into college life. In those days I went from a serious high school student to a not-so-serious college student and getting additional scholarships became difficult. Thus, work became the more important part of my funding operation and pay in the oil patch was good compared to other alternatives I had at the time.

As there is on Black Gold, hazing was part of my indoctrination on the rig. In particular, being a "college boy" the crew knew I would be leaving for school after the summer. Consequently, I was a bigger target. Working "morning tower," from 11 PM to 7 AM, I was given all the jobs that meant staying awake all night while others were allowed to catch a catnap on slow shifts. One evening, the driller told me I could catch a nap, so I eagerly laid down on a hard metal bench in the doghouse (the place used to change clothes, store personal belongings, etc). Sound asleep, the next thing I knew someone yelled it was time to "make a trip." I jumped up and was immediately pulled back and slammed into metal as the crew had tied my pants to the ceiling and wall with wire. Another time, I was told to look behind me where I saw a rag someone had slipped in my pants and set on fire. Such is life for a worm! Anyone who went through a college fraternity initiation hazing knows a bit about those things.

"Throwing chain" (see picture) is part of what the floorhand does when "tripping pipe" i.e. wrapping a chain in a series of loops around the bottom pipe, attaching a new pipe, throwing the chain from the bottom pipe to the new top pipe while the driller uses the drillworks to pull the chain. That causes the new pipe to act like a spool and connects them. You have to keep the correct tension on the chain after you "throw" it so it can be drawn back by the driller to screw the pipes together. If you are holding the chain too loose or too tight, it can be dangerous both for the person throwing and the person working the tongs that are used to do the final tightening. If you have a driller who is in a hurry, you run the risk of having the chain jerked, which could pull you with it.

My epiphany moment came when I was throwing chain for a driller who was more concerned with time, or "making hole," than safety. When the driller jerked the chain, my glove came off with it and was ensnared between the chain and pipe. Fortunately, my fingers stayed intact, but I thought some of them were gone. Talk about career planning motivation! As I was counting the digits on my hands, I realized that if my baseball career was over (which it basically was), I wanted to "sit on my behind for a living!" I realized that I had gotten what I needed--the motivation to use my brain, instead of my body, in life.

In other words, as EIU President Bill Perry reminded me over the weekend, The Rolling Stones sang, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, well you might just find, that you get what you need."

Today, because of the many fingers and hands lost over the years, OSHA rules have replaced throwing chain on most rigs with a mechanical spinning device called a Kelly spinner to do the work, although Black Gold's Big Dog 28 still uses the chain. Who knows, had the Kelly spinner been used back in 1969, I might be working on a rig today instead of writing a business blog! Of course, as time played out, maybe the real epiphany should have been that I would be better off trying to own the rig versus working on it.

Have you had an epiphany moment about your career?

Reinventing Yourself

Are you having second thoughts about your chosen occupation? Should you consider reinventing yourself? History is replete with examples of reinvention.

On last week's new SyFy hit Warehouse 13, Fowler of the Regents said, "John Adams was a farmer. Abraham Lincoln was a small town lawyer. Plato and Socrates were teachers. Jesus was a carpenter. For one to equate wisdom with occupation is, at best, insulting." We should respect jobs as honorable work whether it is the company CEO or the company janitor. We should also respect that many people are comfortable being in one job, or field, all of their life. Indeed, as Fowler said, wisdom and occupation are not interchangeable. However, we do have examples above of people who have reinvented themselves from their original jobs to become the historic icons we know today. What did it take? Desire, dedication and talent!

In August, my wife and I were at the at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery having a picnic, drinking great wine and watching Elvis Costello in concert. As I listened to him, I thought of how he had reinvented himself over the years. Who would have thought a British punk rocker would have musical success in genres of country, soul and, yes, even on a Fall Out Boy CD? He has co-written many popular jazz songs with his wife the incomparable Dianna Krall. He wrote a critically acclaimed full-orchestral work that is a ballet based on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." On my I-Touch, his "Painted From Memory" CD with Burt Bacharach remains my favorite ballads playlist.

When I was the Bank of America Investment Health Care Analyst, I met Kevin Sharer. Kevin was a Naval Lt. Commander with a degree in aeronautical engineering but was too impatient to wait to become head of the submarine service. He left the Navy, joined AT&T and earned his MBA as a stepping stone to a high profile job at General Electric. Like many GE execs, Kevin went on to greater success in an entirely different field by joining Amgen in 1992 and becoming the biotech giant's CEO.

Babe Ruth was a Boston Red Sox star pitcher who held the World Series record for consecutive shutout innings pitched. When he was traded to the New York Yankees, his hitting talent took precedent. The Yankees reinvented him as an everyday player and he, in turn, reinvented the game of baseball as "The Sultan of Swat" by setting home run records for years to come.

Ronald Reagan was a sports broadcaster before he took up acting. His oratory and communication skills took him to the Governorship of California and Presidency of the United States.

Ben Stein was a poverty lawyer, a trial lawyer, an economist for The Commerce Department and a university adjunct for three colleges before becoming a well-known actor (Beuller? Beuller? Beuller?). Ben didn't stop at acting as he has become a successful TV pitchman, a screenwriter and a news columnist and a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction novels.

However, reinvention is fraught with risk and not always successful. Remember Garth Brooks becoming rock and roller Chris Gaines? How about Mariah Carey's movie "career" when she starred in "Glitter?" Did you study successful PepsiCo exec John Sculley's debacle at Apple? Lest we forget, five words: Michael Jordan, professional baseball player!

Often, reinvention comes out of despair or failure. One might simply be "Blowing in the Wind" working in a bad situation, so to take liberties with that Bob Dylan song, "How many roads must a man walk down, before he realizes he is lost?"

As an example, for the (probably three or four) St. Louis Cardinal fans out there, Rick Ankiel was a promising pitcher who suddenly and mysteriously lost pitch control. Facing failure as a pitcher, he reinvented himself as an outfielder. That meant demotion to the minors to learn his new craft. Through hard work, dedication, desire and talent, Ankiel returned to "The Show" with daredevil fielding, timely hitting and a story that is now the stuff of legends.

As a caveat, you could become burned out in your job, even though you do not want to leave it. It can become a struggle to survive. Yet, the best move may not be reinvention. It could be you just need to be patient and get through the rough patch. The French scientist George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon said, "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience." In effect, the best move could be no move at all.

Do you need to reinvent yourself? Will you reinvent yourself if the situation calls for it? Are you content to be in a long-term niche? Or are you the one who is always looking for a new challenge, even though it means crossing over to a new field? Is your college major the appropriate one for you? Do you need additional schooling? Did you not get the promotion you wanted? Did economic weakness turn your dream job into vaporware? All of these could be questions you face in the coming years.

How can you start to reinvent yourself? Take a true assessment of your talents. Know what your skillsets are. Assess where your skillsets are strong and where they are deficient. If you need more education, then build it into your plan. Stay in touch with your contacts. Network. Find mentors. Ask yourself what type of job is the most satisfying and which is the most rewarding? Satisfying and rewarding may not be the same. What drives you--money, ego? Have a gameplan. Stay focused on the big picture. Be patient in making the decision to reinvent yourself and, if you decide to reinvent, take a longer-term view in doing so.

Above all, reinvention will require a considerable amount of self-reflection in your life. Are you prepared to handle candid, critical self-reflection?

Who Will You Be?

"You and I travel to the beat of a different drum

Oh can't you tell by the way I run
Every time you make eyes at me
Wo-oh

You cry and moan and say it will work out
But honey child I've got my doubts
You can't see the forest for the trees"

Sock-hatted Mike Nesmith wrote and recorded "Different Drum" before he joined The Monkees. However, the song didn't become a hit until 1967 when it was covered by The Stone Poneys, a three person folk rock group consisting of group leader and founding member Bob Kimmel, founding member Ken Edwards and lead singer Linda Ronstadt. Yet, Ronstadt's soaring vocals, particularly on "Different Drum" eventually led to the band's breakup and launched her long, storied career.

Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds is a great talent who occasionally sings on a record that gets some acclaim, but is a solid hitmaker as a producer and writer for others. Yet, when he is teaming with Antonio "LA" Reid, they are one of the most successful song writing and producing teams in history.

While recently driving my 5 1/2 year old granddaughter and 2 1/2 year old twin granddaughters to swim lessons, I put on a Taylor Swift CD. When "You Belong To Me" came on, the three girls were singing out the lyrics at the top of their lungs--talk about transcending generations and mass appeal! As a country/pop crossover star, Taylor Swift writes, sings and produces her own music. She leaves nothing to chance because she has the talent to do it all, but she is also hardwired that way.

Are you the band frontman or one of the sidemen? Do you write the song, do you sing it or do you do both? Do you work best alone or as part of a team? How are you hardwired in delegating duties? What will happen if you form the band (i.e. have an idea) but get left behind? Can you handle defeat? Can you handle success? Can you crossover to another genre in life? Are you the "triple-threat" who can do it all or do you fit in a niche?

Who you are today may bear no resemblance to the person you will become. You are on a great adventure to discover that person. Some of you may know now where you are headed but, more than likely, the vast majority of you do not.

If you can sing, you can sing--so do it! If you can't sing, be the producer, be the sideman, be a roadie but be with the band because life is not for spectators! However, for those of you who really do "travel to the beat of a different drum," follow that drum to see where it leads.

Your journey will in all probability have its ups and downs, with maybe a disproportionate share of downs. There will, indeed, be times "you can't see the forest for the trees" and need someone to lean on. Choose those shoulders wisely as the doubters and naysayers will be all around, but sometimes they will be correct.

What happened to the two other founding members of The Stone Poneys? Over the years, Ken Edwards became a noted producer, reteaming in the mid-1970's with Linda Ronstadt as a sideman, arranger and touring member. Bob Kimmel faded somewhat, but in 2007 had a new band called BK Special. Ronstadt sang harmony on one of their songs, 40 years after recording "Different Drum" and the subsequent band breakup. So through your life, keep in mind one distinct lesson from the saga of The Stone Poneys--be nice to the people you meet on the way up, as they could well be the same people you meet on the way down.

Yet, for now, remember that Linda further sang:

"All I'm saying is I'm not ready

For any person, place or thing

To try and pull the reins in on me."

There may be no better motto to have as you explore your life to discover the person you will become!

"Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys"

A few years ago, Willie Nelson gave us the following advice as he crooned a Waylon Jennings song:

"Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks.
Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such."

Now I have nothing against being a doctor or lawyer or such, particularly since I was a "such" with my investment career. But, I have to say, take a chill pill, Will! America has been made great by cowboys whether that cowboy was the real life Jesse Chisholm marking the Chisholm Trail or John Wayne as Thomas Dunson in "Red River" following that same Chisholm Trail. Cowboys are a part of America's trailblazing heritage and not everyone is suited for a corporate, or structured, work life. In present day, our trailblazing cowboys include people like Microsoft's Bill Gates, Nike's Phil Knight or Build-A-Bear Workshop's Maxine Clark. These modern cowboys dared go in a different direction and, to paraphrase Robert Frost, "took the road less traveled."

Another trailblazing cowboy is my friend Howard Schultz, who turned sitting in an Italian coffeeshop from his epiphany moment to unlocking the romance and mystery of coffee via Starbucks. In his book "Pour Your Heart Into It," Howard wrote, "...I want to inspire people to pursue their dreams. I come from common roots, with no silver spoon, no pedigree, no early mentors. I dared to dream big dreams, and then I willed them to happen. I'm convinced that most people can achieve their dreams and beyond if they have the determination to keep trying."

Certainly, failure can, and does happen. But, dreams and ideas are what have separated America as the leader in entrepreneurship and innovation. Challenges are there, but for those who dare to dream, so can be the rewards.

So, if you have a dream and the spirit moves you, "Cowboy Up" then blaze away!