Back in the Saddle

Decisions are made and I will remain in the saddle here at Burns and Wilcox. Unigard made a spirited effort to recruit me over to their office and even offered me a serious cash signing bonus to make the move more palatable. What it came down to was my comfort level. I've earned my stripes here at BW and I'm finally on the threshold of being rewarded for all of my hard work. BW responded with a very generous pay package including a car allowance. It wasn't all about money either, it never was. I have the backing of my two immediate superiors, Harvey in SF and Bill McCord in Michigan. What I didn't have was a sense that Alan Kaufman, the CEO and President of Burns and Wilcox and the head of the Kaufman Group, our parent, was on board. I called Alan on Monday and told him that I needed to hear where he stood. Alan was very gracious and said all of the right things about being thrilled with the changes in Sacramento and standing behind the decision to keep me in place. He will be in Sacramento this Summer to officially promote me. That was worth as much to me as the money, to hear from Alan that he sees value in my role here in the company.

I was really quite humbled by the interest and the respect shown to me by Unigard. It's too bad in a way that I put them through such a circus in trying to land me. I named my price and, frankly, they came up just a tad short of what I wanted to make the move The upside here at BW is far greater than Unigard, and, frankly, I know the pitfalls of my job here. The unknown over at Unigard was daunting. Their offer of a pension almost drove me over the top.

I am in the process of hiring several people in the office and have to share a quick story. I had two interviews set up last week and one company representative coming in to meet with the staff. The company rep was in at 10 AM and the interviews were 1 PM and 3 PM. At 10 AM, Ben at the front desk called to tell me that Karen was here. I gathered the staff and invited Karen into the conference room. She looked a little unsure, but went along with the plan. The underwriters each shared a business card with her and sat down to hear her "dog and pony" pitch. I excused myself to get her a cup of water. As I was walking by the front hallway, I saw Sharon Haenig, the rep from Hartford Steam Boiler waiting for me. It turns out that my 3PM interview had her time wrong and was there at 10 AM. Gail had figured it out and brought Karen out of the meeting to meet with me and I sent Sharon in to do her presentation.

To make matters worse, I use some common interview questions, including "what is your greatest strength" and "what is your biggest weakness or something you need to improve upon?" Karen's biggest weakness was Public Speaking. Poor thing. The good news is she is a great candidate and I'm making her an offer this week.

Well, I promised to let you know the outcome of my job decision. I'm very comfortable with the decision that I've made and feel that my relationship with BW took a real turn in the last week. I prayed hard about this decision and God spoke to me through the process. It is a pretty humbling experience and I give all of the glory to God. Be well. Ciao.