Below are samples of writings by Jill Wilkinson highlighting different business models.
"An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate."
~ François-René de Chateaubriand
Like Ford, Cargill Electronics started as the dream of its patriarch, in this case an upstart by the name of Dan Cargill, back in 1950. Dan Cargill family served in the army during World War II and used the GI Bill to go to technical school to become a licensed electrician. After working for a few years for another local electrician, he started Cargill Electric. He married Nancy in 1952 and they proceeded to have four sons and one daughter. It was a tremendous source of pride for Dan when all five of his children chose to go into the business with him. Two of his sons had gone to college to become electrical engineers and his daughter had studied to become a lawyer. They were all committed to the family business, and it took all of their imaginations to grow the small electrical firm into the dynasty that Cargill Electronics had become by the time Karen was hired.
The name was changed from Cargill Electric to Cargill Electronics in the 1970s to communicate the diverse future they hoped for the company. Their adventurous spirit sometimes caused them to take on risky contracts that required a lot of imagination, and the company grew ahead of the curve. Their investment had paid off. They were now a premier electronics firm, not only in the Midwest but internationally.
As technology grew, they grew alongside. They prepared business after business and home after home for the huge growth in electrical needs with the advent of the computer, cable, and of course, anything to do with fiber optics. There was great pride in their role as pioneers in solving ways to meet expanding electrical needs, a spirit that continued with each new project.
After graduating from college, Karen joined the company as a financial analyst. Karen did some research before the interview and blew away the competition with her knowledge of the company history and mission. When she started at Cargill, she performed project analysis to determine cost and profit information. Since each project was unique, she was learning the electronics business one nuance at a time. The Cargill family was impressed when she approached them about getting her MBA in contracts and negotiations.
Through her years at the company, Karen had become quite close to Susan Cargill Moore. Susan, a brilliant lawyer, was about ten years Karen's senior and was a true mentor to her. It may have been a little complicated considering she was also Karen's boss's wife, but as a tight-knit company, it worked. All contracts obviously went through Susan, who was the corporate legal department. As Karen became more and more adept at her work, Brad and Susan recognized her progress and gave her more responsibilities.
There was some question about the possibility of future advancement, though, since all of top management was either family or in-laws. Karen wasn't going to worry about it as long as she didn't feel like she was hitting her head on the infamous glass ceiling. After all, she was learning a lot about business and decision-making, and her list of contacts was very impressive. The job still did not pay as much as John made at Ford, but her last raise had them pretty close.
Brad closed the folder in front of him and pushed it back toward Karen. He looked at her with concern and compassion. They'd developed a friendship over the almost ten years that Karen had worked for him. Through the years of working together, he saw that she had a good marriage, which indicated that not only was she a good decision maker, but she was also a great team player. She hadn't disappointed him in his decision to hire her. Since Karen had completed her MBA, she had thrown herself into her work, utilizing her studies in very practical ways.
“As I said, this is good work. How many projects do you have in process right now?”
Karen relied, “Well, besides this one, which is pretty much done, I have four active projects and two that have been kind of simmering for a while. I've done some preliminary work on them, but I need more direction on what you're looking for.” And she smiled and added, “Some site visits would be nice, especially for that job in Bermuda.”
“Did you build a trip to Bermuda into your cost assumptions?” he laughed in reply.
“Of course. You know I made the mistake of leaving out my own travel expense for the San Francisco bank project and you haven't exactly let me forget it yet.” Karen added also laughing, “I learn from my mistakes, especially when I miss out on nice trips! You can count on site visits to nice places in all of my project budgets. By the way, I don't think a site visit is necessary for the coal-gasification plant in North Dakota, at least not in the winter.”
Brad sighed in relief, “Karen, it's good to see you laugh despite the fact Ford just sacked your husband along with twelve thousand other high quality employees.”
“There it is. I knew you'd get your Ford dig in somehow. What do you have against Ford?”
“Funny, you've never asked before. Well, I'll tell you. When I was in college, I sent my resume to Ford, and they sent a nice little note back to me indicating they thought I would do better elsewhere. I wasn't good enough for Ford.”
Karen was obviously shocked. “I can't believe that. You've done so well with Cargill.”
“Well, they only wanted the brightest and best; they didn't believe that was me. It was hard for me to accept a position with my girlfriend's father, but my options were limited, so here I am. What comes around, goes around. Look at them now, and look at us. I wouldn't wish them failure; that would hurt too many people. But I have to believe that their hiring practices were a little like inbreeding, and with everyone thinking alike and no one challenging the status quo, they caused some of the problems that put them in the newspapers today.”
John stood and took their cups up to the counter. Karen sat at the table and fiddled with a napkin. She thought about the other offers he had back in school, mostly with banking and small manufacturing firms. John had given real consideration to these, but there was something to the prestige of Ford that made all the other jobs pale in comparison. The initial size of the offer was one thing, and they only talked to the cream of the crop. There was prestige in getting an interview with one of the big three.
Some of those small manufacturing companies had already folded under the pressure of trouble in the automotive field, so John had been partially right. He would've had some fun in the banking or finance industry but they were going through their reorganization and things looked dubious for someone right out of school. Now, with the property values in decline, everyone knew the banking industry was going to be hit hard. Pretty much everything in Michigan at that time was scary.
Growing up in the Detroit area without a father or any relatives in the car business made John look at the automotive industry with the certain awe of an outsider. This heightened the allure of a job at Ford. Karen and John had also talked about the possibilities of travel abroad, an opportunity that John hadn't had growing up with a single mom and tight finances. She could definitely see how he had decided that Ford was the place for him.
Karen took a different route in looking for a job. She wanted something small and intimate, something where she would have access to top management. John's job at Ford had allowed her to take a seemingly less secure position so she wasn't going to have to worry about supporting the family. The money was less and the benefits were limited, but she had contact with the CEO everyday. Karen flourished at Cargill Electronics.
Where John was inundated with corporate policy, Cargill had virtually none. They encouraged thinking outside the box; they strove for cutting-edge proposals. It was actually the kind of environment in which John would have done well. He wanted more safety though; Cargill was in uncharted waters a lot of the time, so the propensity for failure was definitely greater.
Karen loved the offices of Cargill Electronics. Karen felt at home there when she had first interviewed. Even now as she entered the office, the warm, friendly, dynamic atmosphere drew her in. She looked around as she thought, “There is nothing intimidating about the setup of the office.” They used soft, mellow colors like cream and moss green in the decorating, and the cubicles were set up in a circle with upper management in the middle to give employees easy access whenever anyone needed help or direction. Teamwork was the corporate mission; management firmly believed that the success of one meant success for everyone.
The property had been purchased back when land in the new suburb was cheap, so they bought a large parcel. Everything was built on one floor. The idea was to hide the hierarchy that obviously existed and communicate that management was on par with everyone. The conference rooms were off to one side to aid teams of people working together, and the break room was there as well for convenience.
At the other end of the building was the shop where engineers and electricians worked together to prepare and test projects. It was an amazing on-site laboratory. It was a long walk from one end of the building to the other, which bugged some people, but it suited the management style of the family. As an inside joke, they had a walking track, which measured a half a mile, installed around the perimeter of the building. At lunch in nice weather, you would often find employees putting in a couple of miles.
David's office was on the second floor. He took the stairs up and walked down the long, empty, utilitarian hallway. The fluorescent lights in the hall, along with the pale blue paint and the commercial blue print carpet, made it look almost antiseptic. There were uniform nameplates on each office; none stood out from the rest. Without any trouble, John found Suite 205 and went in. There wasn't anyone at the reception desk, just a bell and a note to ring for service. John tapped the bell and three guys came out of three separate rooms.
All three looked as if they had been through the GQ Guide to Dress for Success—the same dark navy suit, crisp white shirt, red print tie, polished wing tips, and enough product in their hair to assure a perfect look for an entire day. Clones, that's what they were. It was kind of scary looking at all three of them standing there with those foolish “I don't know who you are but I'm glad to see you” looks on their faces. But that wasn't the worst. John stepped forward, introduced himself, and all three moved toward him and introduced themselves as “David.” The chuckling that followed was something they had been through a thousand times, but it unnerved John.
David Stewart showed John into an interview room. John had the feeling of déjà vu. This interview was exactly the same as his earlier interview with the headhunter, with the same questionnaire-type questions and the same fill-in-the-blank mentality. The only thing that was different was that John knew he was not a fill-in-the-blank candidate. No, he had a bigger vision than that now. He could hardly wait for the interview to be over. These people weren't looking for his type, and he wasn't willing to be their type—at least not yet. Between the research he had done at the library and his conversation with Steve the past weekend, John had gained a glimpse of a bigger plan. These bozos had no clue as to what John had in mind. Maybe, John thought, it was time for him to ask some questions.
John silently took in the tour, intrigued with the set-up of the office. It was different from Ford in that there was some privacy for those who had offices, and the assistants were able to work together on their projects in a spirit of cooperation with plenty of room to spread out their work. The decorating looked like it was recently updated, probably when they moved in. The paint was fresh, the carpet was in good condition, and the furniture was an attractive dark cherry.
Parties entering these offices looking to invest or looking for investors would be impressed with the business atmosphere, categorically nonacademic. There was a positive energy, an atmosphere almost foreign throughout most of Michigan these days. John could hardly put aside the feeling that he would give his right arm to work here. He needed to stop thinking about that, just make his presentation, and leave it there.