Chapter 13: A Change in Plansf14

I remember, early in my management career, wasting hour after hour developing long range plans, five year plans, expanded development plans, and the like. Somewhere along the line, the Boston Consulting Group and a variety of their clones had decided that the only way business could succeed was to have rigidly constructed plans to follow as a certain pathway to success. Bullshit!

We knew it was bullshit when we first heard about it and we were right. We couldn't predict what was going to happen five days from now, much less five years. Smart companies in the future would be the ones who rapidly adapted to new circumstances. But, if you didn't conform to their then new age thinking, your career would be at least short-circuited, if not terminated. So, we developed what we called the reverse application strategy. In other words, we wanted to know what answer they (those who shall rule) would like to hear.

Once we'd established that, we could work backwards to a plan that would meet that objective. The fact that it may or may not be realistic or achievable was never once considered. But, then again, we never heard any more about how we did against the plan, as long as we achieved the sales and EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) objectives. In short, none of that shit mattered.

So, having had a large dose of reality in the business world, I was discouraged to discover that my business administration courses were chock-a-block full of this very same kind of addled thinking. We were expected to spout this drivel as if it were the holy grail of business, when anyone with half a brain and ten minutes experience would know better.

That left me with a conflict. I knew what it would take to pass the course, and I knew I could do most of this stuff in my sleep. The problem was, I didn't believe in any of it, and that meant I was going to have to spout this rubbish to get a pass. I might not have had high standards, but they weren't this low. It was Vac Hoover who presented me with an alternative. Not a great alternative, but one worth considering.

As usual, I had purchased my books in advance and did some perfunctory reading to establish just what I was looking at. To my disgust, the BA text was 19^th Century thinking in a 20^th Century textbook. The more I read, the more discouraged I became. I was moaning about this in the SUB one day when Vac came up with an alternative.

"Why don't you drop out and pick up something else. It's not too late, it's still September."

"Can I do that? I thought once you had committed to a course, you were in ... like it or not."

"Generally true, but if you can demonstrate that the course isn't what you expected and that you have an alternative that is equally ranked, they will consider it. With your marks and the course load you carry, I'm betting they'll let you switch. You just have to pick something that matches up."

"Shit! That sounds like it might work. Who do I talk to?"

For the next twenty minutes, Vac, Charlie, and I debated which alternative courses would be a good replacement for the BA course. We finally settled on Middle-East History, easily the equal if not tougher than the course I had originally chosen.

It wasn't easy starting from three weeks behind, but I made the change. Unfortunately, there were limited seats available in the course, and I now had a Thursday afternoon class for the first time. On the other hand, by pure luck, I had chosen a fascinating subject which came with a very fine lecturer in the form of Dr. Avner Feiler, PhD. In the four years that I spent in that institution, I would never have a more enthralling course than my hastily chosen alternative. It was a shame that it lasted only one semester.

Over Christmas, I visited Belle a couple of times. I accepted her invitation to call on Christmas Day afternoon, and I had a very nice time talking to her parents, some neighbours, and of course, Belle. She was very pleased with the cashmere scarf I gave her. Again, my mother helped me with the colour selection. She had a gift for me as well; a new wallet. A thank you kiss on the cheek seemed to make her day.

I noticed there was no sign of Tommy Metzler during the holidays. I decided not to broach the subject with Belle, in case he was still in the picture. I found out when I phoned to invite her to a New Years party that he was history. Several of my college mates were having a party for New Years Eve, and it was not going to be one of those parties. I guess some of the girlfriends had put their foot down on the wild stuff that had been going on in the past and took over the organization and invitations.

I wasn't going to go, but when I heard about the changes from the previous years, I decided to take a chance and phone Belle. She accepted my invitation immediately and enthusiastically. I was surprised but delighted. I assumed Tommy-boy was past-tense and that Belle was once again a free agent, just like me. Of course my invitation brought about the inevitable question from Belle.

"What happened to Shannon?"

"She's moved on. Found someone else," I said, trying to make light of it. Belle knew better.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lee. I know she meant something to you. I could tell. When did this happen?"

"A couple of weeks ago. I wasn't expecting it to last forever, but I wasn't expecting it to end like it did," I admitted.

"So ... am I second choice?"

"No. Not a chance. When you invited me to drop in at Christmas, Shannon and I were already history, and I had no intention of going to the party. When I saw you and we seemed that we could be back where we were, I thought I'd ask you. If you'd said no, I wouldn't have gone. But you didn't say no, did you?"

"I didn't have anywhere to go on New Years Eve either. I would have stayed home if you hadn't asked me."

"Good. Then I guess we're both on the same wavelength. I think we'll have a good time. I know I will with you there."

We talked a bit more about what to wear and what time I'd pick her up. It was like jumping back two years or more. We were comfortable with each other again. The conversation was easy and flowed naturally. I hung up feeling good about things again. The Shannon affair was behind me.

The New Years party was great fun. Surprisingly, we had chaperones. A mother and father of one of the girls had volunteered to do duty for part of the night. Perhaps they didn't have a party to attend, but no matter, they had a good time along with us. Belle looked fabulous. She had made a new dress for the party in just four days. I couldn't believe it. This girl had talent, but then, I already knew that.

I think we spent most of the night on the dance floor. The disc jockey played a good mix of music, both up-tempo and slow. I have to admit, I was happier with the slow tunes. I got to hold Belle closely and that was my main objective. As we danced, I thought about how many times we had danced together in so many different places. I was recalling some of the resorts and hotels that we stayed at on our various travels, both with the company and on our own. I remembered dancing with her on the deck of a cruise ship in the Caribbean. All those romantic images in the commercials and movies came to mind as we swayed to the soft music.

I don't know why I thought I had to find other partners. The past two years had been interesting and yet they didn't measure up to being with Belle. As much as I thought I might be falling for Shannon, when I held Belle in my arms I knew this was where I belonged. Even sixty-eight-year-old fools can learn. I always had what I wanted. I just had to find that out for myself.

When the new semester commenced, I was all business. Nose in the books and focus on the future. I dumped any plan to take further business courses with the exception of managerial economics. My objective was to learn how to read a balance sheet properly and have a basic understanding of business economics. Earlier experience had taught me the importance of cash flow and tight money management, but I always had a very good controller at my side to give me advice and interpret what I was looking at. I set the course aside for my final year.

As I said earlier, if it looked like I had no specific objective in mind with my education, then that would be the correct assumption. I had a wide variety of interests and I wanted as broad a base as possible for my new future. I'd learned from experience that a varied foundation was a key to my success, and its effects would last me throughout my entire career. In a way, it was like following in the footsteps of my father. He had an enormous breadth of interest and knowledge that I wanted to emulate.

I had always been fascinated with human behaviour, and the psychology courses contributed that much more to my understanding. Despite my management responsibilities in the last half of my career, I was really just a salesman. A peddler, and proud of it. I sold myself, my products, and my company to our customers and our employees, and looking back on it, I did a pretty good job.

I continued to work at the brewery during each break. Tommie French always had a place and an assignment for me. I had moved out of distribution and into production again, but this time as a line supervisor. I had the knowledge and the experience to do the job despite my age, and got very little grief from the old-timers. They knew their jobs and I respected that. I was there to facilitate, not to dictate. It was an important lesson I had learned early on in my previous life and I put it into practice at the brewery with good results.

I knew Mr. French was grooming me for a future job with him, but I wasn't so sure that was the direction I wanted to go. I was making good money ... hell ... I was making outstanding money for a student. I liked the place, but I wondered what I could make of my skills if he were to offer me a job. I decided to wait and see what he had in mind. One thing for sure, it would be a good start on the economic ladder. It might be difficult to find a job that paid as much as I thought he might offer.

I dropped in to see Dave Meehan once or twice a month. We had remained friends and he was well aware of the ups and downs of my love life. He seemed pleased that Belle and I were back together. He had never met her, but I guess he could tell from my comments that she was someone special. I wouldn't be taking any more physics courses, but that never seemed to matter to Dave. We were comfortable with the casual relationship we had, and he was secure in the knowledge that his private life was still a confidence that I kept.