Here I was, all set to start my retirement with a blank slate when that damn phone call came. Hi all! My name is Cid and I just "retired" from 20 years as a regional manager for an electronics wholesaler. I had enjoyed a fairly successful career and was rewarded financially and otherwise. However the demands of the job cost me my marriage several years ago. Luckily there were no kids so no one else besides us were hurt by it. I was just too wrapped up in my job, trying to meet goals and deadlines, getting things done, and ignored her. Stupid reasons, really. She wasn't getting the attention she deserved from me, so she took her attentions elsewhere. Lucky for her, unfortunate for me, she found someone else who gave her the attention she needed.
Anyway, back to me. With competition from the big box retailers, my former company decided to slim down its middle management layer and consolidate regions including my Hawaii region. They wanted me to stay on and manage the larger consolidated region that my territory was being folded into however that meant moving to Los Angeles. Not that I don't like LA, but it meant moving away from Honolulu; my home for more than 40-years. And it meant more slaving away at a job that was going to be even more demanding, and that had already cost me dearly. It didn't compute in my mind. So with a reasonable enough grubstake in stock options and deferred compensation, I decided to retire. My life sucked; 45 years old, "retired" and divorced.
So here I was getting ready to start spending "quality time" on the golf course when that phone call came.
"RRRINNNGGGG!" (actually it was more of a warbling sound, just that I don't know how to spell it out in a manner that you'd understand!)
"Hello?"
"Hello, Cid? Hi, my name is Kathleen over at Executive Search. Would you be interested in an opportunity to call your own shots?" she said. "We have a client who's looking for someone with your background and experience. They are branching out from the US mainland and are looking for someone to handle their Pacific Region. Interested?"
"Well Kathleen, I need to tell you that I'm really not looking for anything at the moment. In fact, the only thing I'm interested in doing for the foreseeable future is to play some golf. So tell me why I should be interested in what you have to say" I asked?
"Well, our client is a major national wholesaler who is looking for someone to be their master strategist for their new market territory. They need someone of your caliber and experience and I know that they can compensate you well; ... very well; .... very, very well. Why don't we put you and their company rep together so you two can talk."
I figured if the compensation is right, perhaps I could swing it for a couple of years. I had nothing to loose. And so my life changed; again.
It turns out that the company sold electronic equipment and parts to all sorts of industrial segments. Anything from dedicated servers for network administrators to laptops and PDA's. And they sold to everyone. Fairly large operation and the market territory was the entire Pacific basin. I would get a decent base pay plus a percentage of net earnings for the territory. Was I interested? Maybe. Did I like the compensation package? Yep! Did I like the fact that I set my own agenda? You bet!
Day one unfolded with a simple starting point. Find office space and recruit staff. I found an entire floor at the Grosvenor Center in downtown Honolulu. Not cheap, but not expensive. The downtown location gave the operation credibility and provided us convenient access to our customer base. Many of them maintained their head offices, if not regional, in the downtown area. Plus it was not far away from the airport and had all the telecommunications linkages that we would be needing.
I was allotted a fairly generous budget to get up and running so getting staffed was not going to be a monetary challenge. We would be able to afford to pay market wages. I called a local employment agency and got a line on an upper level administrative assistant type person that they could send me. Seems that she just signed up and was looking for full time employment. Her background sounded good on paper so I figured nothing to loose. Single, graduated with a BA in Business Admin with a computer background, 5-years work experience. If she didn't work out, send her back and try again. "Send her over!" I informed them.
Helen arrived the next day and knocked on the door, "Hello...?" she called out to the large vacant office.
"Hi, you must be Helen." I yelled out from a side office that I had taken as my own. "I'm in the first office on the right." I yelled out while trying to continue with a conversation I was having on my cell phone with our Chicago headquarters.
Helen walked into my office and it was a good thing that I was turned around facing the windows looking out, as I would have probably have dropped my phone! As it happened, I finished my conversation and folded up my phone, then turned around, caught sight of Helen, then dropped my phone!
Helen stood framed in the doorway. Perhaps 5' 4", maybe 100 pounds, pleasingly slender with curves in all the right places, strawberry blond, and drop dead gorgeous! She giggled as I bent to retrieve my phone, "I didn't mean to surprise you...." she said knowing all the while that she had that sort of impact on all the men that she came into contact with! Whew!
If we were going to get our work done, I would need to maintain a strictly professional relationship with her. This was going to be a challenge! It was going to tax all of my abilities to keep my male libido under control! But hey, someone's gotta make some sacrifices!
Over the course of the next couple of days, I was pleased to find Helen to be a consummate professional. She handled things efficiently and with little instruction. As questions came up, she would inquire with me to clarify or get answers, then proceed to get things done. As the weeks rolled by, we got our office equipped, staffed, trained, and off and running. It was quite an accomplishment if you ask me, and I couldn't have done it without Helen. She was my right hand, my left hand and my alter ego all wrapped into one.
Our sectional VP came down from Chicago after 6-months for a "meet and greet" and was impressed with how things were running. We were out in the market territory and generating sales. In fact, we had turned a profit after 5 months, something that they felt would take more than a year to do.
In return for our spectacular start, Chicago asked if I would consider taking on a new challenge of opening new territories for them. With it came perks and a major increase in compensation. I told them that it was a team effort and that I would not have been able to do it without a dedicated group of people assisting in the effort. In return, they said to name my team. I decided not to rush into selecting who would be on the team so it was decided that I would get back to them with an answer as well as who would be on the team. Until then, we would not make any sort of announcement.
After our VP left, I spent an hour putting a short list of people who I thought should be on the team. The first name was Helen's.
I called Helen into my office and closed the door behind her as she settled into one of the chairs in front of my desk. Rather than return to my chair behind my desk and be the "boss", I decided that the nature of our conversation required that I be more open to her so I took the other chair in front of my desk, right next to her. Theoretically the strategy is to help the meeting be less "boss to subordinate" type of atmosphere however whoever wrote the organizational behavior textbook didn't take into consideration the possibility that the other party might have a dynamite pair of legs, a sheer blouse and a short skirt on! It was an effort to stay focused on her eyes!
"Helen, there's going to be a change in plans for our operation and it's important to me that you be involved in it. This conversation needs to confidential for now however I'd like to ask you to consider joining me on a new assignment." Her eyes light up.
As we discussed the plan to form a team to establish new territories, I could see the wheels turning in her mind as she mentally started to plan out who, what, where, and all the other details needed. Over the course of the next couple of days, we decided that we wouldn't need a very large team at all. In fact, she felt that the two of us could do it and just hire local talent wherever we went. So it was decided. We promoted the strongest lead person to take over my responsibilities and Helen found us office space on the next floor up in the same building.
It wasn't very large, but we didn't need it to be large. She made sure that it would accommodate our needs however, and had a small kitchen and shower installed. I had a habit of working till late at night and sometimes needed to take a quick shower before a dinner meeting. The kitchen would serve as our lunchroom and provide us the ability to do some limited entertaining on an as needed basis. Smart gal this Helen!
The first order of business was to figure out where the opportunities were; at least where executive management thinks they are. So Helen made arrangements to meet with the brass back in Chicago in about a week. As she laid out the itinerary I noted that she had only made arrangements for me. I told her that we were a team and that meant that she needed to be involved with all conversations and have a thorough knowledge of what's going on. So she'd better double up on the flight and hotel reservations.
We left that Saturday afternoon figuring on getting into Chicago Sunday morning then taking that day to recuperate prior to our meeting on Monday. The flight was most enjoyable. With the elevation in job came a number of perks, including flying first class! I could learn to like this!
Helen and I had adjourning seats. We used the time to talk about things other than work. I found out a lot of things about Helen that I never knew even after all of these months of working so closely with her. Things like her favorite perfume was Passion, or that her favorite color was Coral, or that her favorite store was Victoria's Secret, or that she loved a good heady beer now and then! She had just started golf lessons and found the game enjoyable.
