1143

ON THE MOVE

Take your advice from Mark Zweig to-go. Listen to this and past editorials from The Zweig Letter via the free TZL Podcast on Stitcher, iTunes and Soundcloud. zweiggroup.com/podcast

REXNORD CORPORATION NAMES DAVID LONGREN TO ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rexnord Corporation announced that David Longren joined the com- pany’s board of directors in February. “Dave has an outstanding track record of lead- ing innovation and organic growth initiatives that have produced impressive results. His background and experience align well with our

strategic priorities of driving profitable organic growth,” said Rexnord’s President and CEO, Todd Adams. Paul Jones, Rexnord’s non-executive chairman, stated: “Dave is a well-respected, proven leader whose experience and background will aug- ment the talented board we have assembled at Rexnord.”

MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

readers know, I teach entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level at the University of Arkansas. During one class in the last year or so I asked my students what their plans were after college. One young woman who keeps a rather low profile in terms of class participation said she wanted to be a Fortune 500 CEO. I thought, “Great – she’s very ambitious.” Then I followed up with, “Awesome! What do you want to start out your career doing?” Her response: “I’m willing to start out as a COO.” I was so shocked I was nearly speechless! And she wasn’t joking. Another example came to me from a local design/build firm. A young, degreed but not registered architect in their employ did some work on a set of plans for a former fellow employee – a project manager – who was fired a few months earlier for working on his own projects on company time. Not only that, the plans were prepared BY the firm a few months earlier but the former PM stole the project away from the firm before he was fired, and the employee knew all about this. In spite of the guy’s complete lack of ethics, the young architect refined the plans for the PM while on the company payroll. The only reason the company learned about it was a contractor called them to warn them about potential litigation surrounding the project! When confronted, the young architect said he felt justified in his behavior because his “rent was due” and he “hadn’t had a raise” in too many months. He was “owed the money” he made working for a guy who stole from the company. Mind boggling!! Yet another example was brought to me from a large engineering firm in the southeast. When interviewing a young engineering graduate for a potential position in their firm, the cocky fellow stopped the discussion and told them he would “not work one minute more than 40 hours per week and possibly four hours on Saturday,” or he “would not work there.” Hey, his time was his time, period! Guess what? He was right – he didn’t work there! I could go on and on. There’s just too little respect for the senior people, too much of an attitude that the company owes someone a living because of their degree or just because, and too little willingness to do the crappy jobs that lead to better jobs. Again – not to put EVERY Millennial in this pot – but there are too damned many of them who act like this. Why do they act like this? There are many theories. Here’s mine: In a nutshell, life has been too easy on them. They’re living in $3,000 a month apartments as university sophomores instead of $100 a month mobile homes. Mom and Dad are going in debt to pay for their degrees instead of them going in debt with student loans. They drive new Denalis and Tahoes and GT500 Mustangs, not $200, worn- out, six-cylinder Biscaynes. They don’t work in school but if they do, it’s only in a (relatively) highly-paid internship instead of the local service station or burger joint for $2 an hour. And don’t worry about living on Banquet pot pies and three- for-a-buck Swanson “Swiss Steak” dinners, or Kraft Mac N Cheese – go out for sushi on Mom and Dad’s credit card, or better yet, get the surf ‘N turf at a fine dining establishment. We created these monsters, folks, as the coddling parents and oft-spoiling grandparents of this new generation. And as their employers, we will undoubtedly pay the price for it. But fellow baby-boomers out there – don’t despair. And please don’t work too hard this week. Life is short. MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s founder and CEO. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

1200 North College Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72703 Mark Zweig | Publisher mzweig@zweiggroup.com Richard Massey | Managing Editor rmassey@zweiggroup.com Christina Zweig | Contributing Editor christinaz@zweiggroup.com Sara Parkman | Editor and Designer sparkman@zweiggroup.com Megan Halbert | Design Assistant mhalbert@zweiggroup.com Liisa Andreassen | Correspondent landreassen@zweiggroup.com Tel: 800-466-6275 Fax: 800-842-1560 Email: info@zweiggroup.com Online: www.thezweigletter.com Twitter: twitter.com/zweigletter Blog: blog.zweiggroup.com

Published continuously since 1992 by Zweig Group, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. ISSN 1068-1310. Issued weekly (48 issues/yr.). $475 for one-year subscription, $775 for two-year subscription. Article reprints: For high-quality reprints, including Eprints and NXTprints, please contact The YGS Group at 717-399- 1900, ext. 139, or email TheZweigLetter@ TheYGSGroup.com. © Copyright 2016, Zweig Group. All rights reserved.

THE ZWEIG LETTER March 14, 2016, ISSUE 1143

Made with FlippingBook Annual report