Legacy; seminar du jour & Sloan Valves

Mid-week Retrospective...

Tuesday was a major event day.  I'm still a bit haunted by the "walk toward the light" comment from my physician.  It seems that Wednesday was a logical following to Tuesday and Thursday seems logical, too.  Either I've died and being dead is just like living or the whole "...light" thing is one more urban myth.

Legacy Seminar...

A seminar at the outplacement firm carried a title about "Create You Own Legacy."   "How do you want to be remembered?"  LHH knows a lot about people in transition (I think).  There have been a lot of conversations, web sessions, etc. about making changes, picking new opportunities, buying into a franchise (yuck), retiring and just giving up.  One of my recent blog posts contained my observation that no one really cares about your past work.  Your children and grandchildren likely will have some good memories, but of course they have to.  I've always thought that doing some good work and being a decent person was enough legacy in and of itself.  Quite of few of my former charges indicated that I was the best manager that they ever had.  If that's true they haven't moved around enough but it does make me feel like I did good work there.

The #1 provider of online obituaries is www.legacy.com .  I found the seminar title a bit haunting.  One of the presenters did use the idea of writing your own obituary as part of the exercise.  In 1974 or 1975 I did do that as part of a class at the University of Minnesota.  As a student and having been a student for a long time there was a notion of a University or Washington AV bridge demise.

Around seventeen people attended the seminar.  Three or four were LHH consultants.  All were quite candid in their introductions of their concern for their own legacy.  Two focused on family and their work at LHH.  The head of the office and one of the seminar leaders spoke of broader legacies and more in terms of the work they wished to do rather than how they would like to be remembered.  Several attendees referenced grandchildren (I guess they skipped children).  These people all were in some sort of job transition and the departure from a corporate entity led to a perspective of not wishing to be part of that any more.  There was a comment something like "do you want to be part of a corporation or do you want to be a real person?"

Corporate jobs always end.  Your legacy, the public work, your real creations may last a bit longer.  There are a few legacy issues from my twenties that I wish would whither and die.

Can one have a corporate legacy as an employee and is it rewarding?  Yes, but at an age and stage it's all a bit shallow.  Some of the LHH consultants were seeing that for themselves.  

The leaders had a few slides and handouts with ideas for creating a legacy which included writing a blog, writing a book, volunteering, starting a business, etc.

Everyone had a small introduction and comments.  Always trying to be humorous I commented that I thought my legacy work was already behind me and that going forward I just wished to do things for me, do things I enjoy.  The intro also included a plug for the blog.

People seemed together but searching.  A younger woman had trouble expressing her desire to be a public speaker.  A guy gave a general, vague introduction but later asked on one really needed to have a legacy.  LHH blasts you with the need for networking, a marketing statement, a resume, ides, etc. and I think he thought this to be one more step in the LHH process.  I thought he might be a displaced Amish person.

My goal for the session had little to do with my own legacy.  I wanted to see two presenters in action.  This is another venue to make an income.  My better half regularly comments that we carry a lot of valuable information on many topics, have and are business owners, and probably have a wealth of information that we simply need to package and get someone to buy.  One of the leaders was a former government planner and now helped individuals do small strategic plans for their legacy projects.  The standard engagement was one day with the end product a one to two page plan following the the standard corporate format (vision, mission, goals, objectives, tasks, etc., etc.).  Being remiss I did not ask the fee structure.  Let's assume that it was $500-1000/day.

My notion of 'legacy' was more abstract than what the seminar described, but I'm always a bit more abstract.

Sloan Valves...

Three trips (900+ miles each) were made between the Twin Cities and Chicago to deal with a faulty Sloan Valve commode. When flushed the water would run without end.  Over the course of the three trips there were four or five plumber visits.  I don't think we appreciate indoor plumbing as much as we should.

You've all seen the Sloan Valve in commercial buildings.  They are water efficient and provide a tank-free solution.  I'm assuming that we don't use them in homes either because they are expensive or we appreciate the beauty of a toilet tank.  It's an interesting company and I'd take a quick look.  There first product, the Royal Flushometer was introduced in 1906 and was not well received in the marketplace.  You can still get parts for it.

While giving the new tenant an orientation I explained the water shutoff  procedure should the water keep running.  It's simple.  Turn a big screw on half a turn.  I left a screwdriver.  Then I explained that I'd left a bucket should there be a need to turn off the water.  The look I received made it clear that she thought I was telling her to defecate and urinate in the bucket.  Realizing that after the "what?" look I explained how to fill the bucket with water from the tub and then to pour it in the commode.