Hardi Promotions 2 October 2011 : Page 1

Brought to you by October 25, 2011 Maui, Hawaii EVENT SCHEDULE TUESDAY 6 a.m. Executives breakfast/ membership awards HARDI Solutions Center opens 7:30 a.m. Controls Distributors Council Membership Committee ManagementMethods Steering Committee Benchmarking Subcommittee Tools Subcommittee Profi tability Subcommittee 8 a.m. HALO breakfast, business meeting 9:15 a.m. Contractor panel 11 a.m. Keynote lunch: Alan Beaulieu 1:15 p.m. Distribution/Logistics Committee NATE Distributor Council Supply Chain Technologies Committee SupplierMembers Committee 3 p.m. TRENDS forecasts 5 p.m. Vendor hospitality events Talbot Gee: A humbling experience president and current HARDI Chairman Don Frendberg’s decision to reduce his role a year earlier than originally planned. After having served as HAR-O DI’s vice president since 2006, I naively assumed the transition would be relatively easy and, possibly like many next gen-eration successors within our membership, started my new position grossly underestimat-ing all that my predecessor had done for so many years behind the scenes. I’ve never been shy about my deep admiration, respect, and gratitude for Don Frendberg and all he’s done for my family and me, but it is only after I near completion of my  rst full year walking in his shoes that I truly understand and appreciate him. Now as sincere as those words are, let’s Talbot Gee HARDI’s conference dailies are produced by BNP Media. Sally Fraser, publisher and adver-tising sales; Michael McConnell, editor; Mike Murphy and B. Checket-Hanks, contributing editors; Karen Talan, production manager; and Frank Mayeran, art director. put this into perspective because this job is — as Don has said for years — a dream job. I get to work with great people and member companies, learn new things every day, and work on projects that truly make a differ-ence to good peoples’ businesses and their employees. I love this job and you’re all stuck with me as long as you’ll have me. Market will continue upward, economist says By Michael McConnell . . . . . . . . pg 10 n Dec. 1 of last year, I assumed the role of HARDI’s top staff position — thanks to former executive vice Rewarding Thanks to Don, my previous HARDI posi-tion was an all-reward, little-risk position. I was free to try new things, explore new ave-nues, and for the most part work on my own unknowingly isolated from much of the basic blocking and tackling required to keep the association run-ning smoothly. While always at the ready for whatever Don or our leadership needed, I was graciously provided the opportunity to determine for myself all other priorities and 90 percent of my days were devoted to doing exactly what I felt needed to be done at that time. In many respects, that was a dream job. This  rst year of having ultimate responsi-bility for those who make a living working for the association, and for everything HARDI does and says, has forced signi cant shifts in my daily priorities. This year has been about learning how to truly rely on others, iden-tifying and maximizing talent, being more sensitive to just about everything, and real-izing that I couldn’t just throw more hours at problems or new initiatives. Translating what the staff refers to as “Talbot-speak” into a language that 11 different personalities and Continued on pg. 7 EXCLUSIVE ARTICLES Supplier Member Committee builds agenda By B. Checket-Hanks . . . . . . . . pg . 16 HARDI Conference Daily 1

Talbot Gee: A Humbling Experience

On Dec. 1 of last year, I assumed the role of HARDI’s top staff position — thanks to former executive vice president and current HARDI Chairman Don Frendberg’s decision to reduce his role a year earlier than originally planned. After having served as HARDI’s vice president since 2006, I naively assumed the transition would be relatively easy and, possibly like many next generation successors within our membership, started my new position grossly underestimating all that my predecessor had done for so many years behind the scenes. I’ve never been shy about my deep admiration, respect, and gratitude for Don Frendberg and all he’s done for my family and me, but it is only after I near completion of my first full year walking in his shoes that I truly understand and appreciate him. Now as sincere as those words are, let’s put this into perspective because this job is — as Don has said for years — a dream job.I get to work with great people and member companies, learn new things every day, and work on projects that truly make a difference to good peoples’ businesses and their employees. I love this job and you’re all stuck with me as long as you’ll have me. Rewarding Thanks to Don, my previous HARDI position was an all-reward, little-risk position. I was free to try new things, explore new avenues, and for the most part work on my own unknowingly isolated from much of the basic blocking and tackling required to keep the association running smoothly. While always at the ready for whatever Don or our leadership needed, I was graciously provided the opportunity to determine for myself all other priorities and 90 percent of my days were devoted to doing exactly what I felt needed to be done at that time. In many respects, that was a dream job. This first year of having ultimate responsibility for those who make a living working for the association, and for everything HARDI does and says, has forced significant shifts in my daily priorities. This year has been about learning how to truly rely on others, identifying and maximizing talent, being more sensitive to just about everything, and realizing that I couldn’t just throw more hours at problems or new initiatives. Translating what the staff refers to as “Talbot-speak” into a language that 11 different personalities and Skill sets can understand, is still a work in progress. Distributor executives are some of my favorite people on the planet. Balancing the needs and demands of customers, suppliers, and many more employees than we have here at HARDI is a monumental task. Today I defend my time more so than any other point in my life, and this year has helped me truly understand why our members do the same. The time our leadership and engaged members volunteer is many times more valuable than any dues they pay to HARDI. This year is teaching me patience, consideration, and that wasted time is an absolute crime.I pledge that HARDI will never waste your time because now I see clearly how those around me can’t afford for my time, or yours, to be ill spent. I look forward to working with each of you in the coming years and thank you again for the privilege.

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