Happy Birthday J.D. Edwards!

Ed McVaney consistently declared St. Patrick’s Day in 1977 as the birth date of J.D. Edwards.  41 Years ago Jack Thompson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-thompson-5467835b/), Dan Gregory, and Ed McVaney founded J.D. Edwards.  Ed was very clear, while he was involved with leading the organization, that the periods be put in place when using the company name.  He did not want there to be a mistake about the original founders of this great place to work.  Although Ed serviced as the President, CEO, and Chairman on the Board of Directors he wanted a obvious understanding that both Jack and Dan were the foundation and cornerstones of J.D. Edwards.  Dan's life was cut short and he did not get to see much fruit from his labor. 

Gustavo Barizon (https://www.linkedin.com/in/barizon/) took the time in late December 2017 to remind us about the beginning of J.D. Edwards, and I think it is worth the time to read what Gaston posted (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/looking-back-moving-forward-gustavo-barizon). 

After J.D Edwards was sold to PeopleSoft, the periods were taken out of the name of the company and software label (was J.D. Edwards, now is JD Edwards).  To this day, I still struggle with removing those periods.  I guess this may be due to the fact that the founders of J.D. Edwards had such a passion for people.  When working at corporate headquarters in the Denver Tech Center, as long as Ed was at the helm, I consistently felt a strong compassion from the management towards those they were expected to lead. 

In my first 5 weeks of employment of J.D. Edwards we had 4 separate “Happy Hour Fridays”, where the management team would roll a beverage cart through their department starting around 3:00PM to serve the employees.  All of the meeting rooms would have hors d’oeuvres enough to cover dinner for the evening.  At 4:00PM employees were encouraged to finish up the work for their day and congregate around the workplace to be social with their cohorts.  Once a month the leadership team would provide a lunch for the men’s and women’s prayer groups.  This was about more than providing a meal.  Ed McVaney would join us and ask that we pray for him and that he would truly be guided in wisdom, integrity, and courage as he led J.D. Edwards.  Wednesday mornings a large spread of pastries, fruits, breads, and juices were available for all corporate employees to enjoy.  This is just a few of examples of how J.D. Edwards was built as a great company, and why, to this day, many people look back to their days at J.D. Edwards with fondness and smiles upon their face. 

Hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of companies have been significantly impacted by Jack Thompson, Dan Gregory, Ed McVaney and many more great leaders that helped form this company that began 41 years ago.  Countless lives have been changed, lessons have been learned in professional and leadership development, and business communities have been enriched through J.D. Edwards both as a company and a software product. 

Thank you Jack, Dan, and Ed for your care, compassion, courage, and vision!

Footnote:

To follow the author on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddrthomsen/

For more information on the GSI where Todd is a Sr. Client Success Manager - https://www.getgsi.com/

Success Story – Harald Miebs

How many times, when you first meet someone, do you know that there is some kind of connection?  Whether is it professional or personal, there is just something that makes you want to know this other person on a deeper level.  This is the kind of person one meets in Harald Miebs (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harald-miebs-a9367aa/). Harald is the IT Manager at RICHTER Chemie-Technik GmbH (http://www.richter-inc.com/) in Germany. 

Harald is one of those rare individuals who is truly a dual citizen.  He was born in Pennsylvania to parents who left Germany in 1951.  When he was about 5 ½ years old, his parents went back to Germany.  By United States (US) law, if someone is born in a state or territory of the US they are automatically a US citizen.  By German law, if one is born to at least 1 parent who has German citizenship, you are a citizen of Germany regardless, where in the world you are born.  With Harald, he is more than just a dual citizen by law.  He understands business culture in the US as well as Germany.  He makes connections with people from both nations and cultures.  He relates on a personal and professional level, which makes it easy to have a conversation about many things.

Harald describes success as defining and completing his own goals and tasks, in the pursuit of happiness.  He sees success as part of his job.  It is a daily pursuit of understanding what is needed and how to get it done.  If there is an impediment to achieving the goals set before you, it is incumbent upon you to either redefine the goal or continue pursuit to completion.  Giving up is not an option.

The primary tool that Harald uses in driving towards success in the workplace is simply writing things down.  Having a pen or pencil and notepad at meetings is critical for Harald.  However, this is more than just writing the key word and phrases that will help him remember critical information from meetings.  Harald will add simple drawings to his notes, as it is true that many times a picture can be worth a thousand words.  After these meetings, he will take these notes and add key elements to established documents (such as project charters) that are helping him define the goals and tasks set before him.

There have been two key mentors in Harald’s life.  First, Harald mentions his father who was a Technical Director at Eberhard Faber, (http://www.eberhardfaber.com/).  Harald’s dad taught him that it is important to know what it is that you are planning for, have a “Plan B”, and that people are a key factor in success.  Harald understands the importance of showing respect and care for others as each individual has some unique strength that they bring to an organization.  The second key mentor was a project manager at JD Edwards, Vicki Hess.  Vicki was leading a multi-site ERP implementation when Harald made this connection.  Even after the engagement, Vicki stayed in contact with Harald being a source for tips, pointers, and providing direction.

There is an old German philosopher (E.R. Hauschka) whose quote, Harald has paraphrased for himself.  Harald’s paraphrase is, “When you always do what the time demands from you, then the time will always be ahead of you and you will never catch-up with it.”  The essence that Harald takes from this quote is that it is important to think ahead of what is the immediate need and consider ideas that are outside of normal patterns. 

The ability to plan for the future, expect that those plans will need a back-up strategy (plan B), and understand the value in people and their contribution are all attributes that make it easy to connect with Harald.  He is able to connect with people from a variety of cultures, back-grounds, and personalities.  As such he is an asset to his company and to those who are privileged to know him. 

Footnote:

To follow the author on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddrthomsen/

For more information on the GSI where Todd is a Sr. Client Success Manager - https://www.getgsi.com/

Olivier Dreyer - Success Story

Focused, having clarity in thought, well articulated are all characteristics that can be attributed to Olivier Dreyer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivierdreyer/).  I enjoyed the pleasure of being introduced to Olivier, Global Direct of Client Services at FIS (https://www.fisglobal.com/) about a year ago.  First impressions often give a proper reflection of people’s authentic self.  Olivier is no exception to this idea.  Every interaction that I have had with Olivier is one where he is adding value to others, without excessive wordiness and with very clear, thought out communication.

I had the opportunity to have a recent conversation with Oliver where we talked about his success in the workplace.  As he reviewed his focus on success he shared that there are really two primary areas where finding success is key.

     1) How do your clients view you?  What is their perception?  In a service organization, it is critical to have your clients view you as a successfully supporting their need and contributing to their business success.  Client must be happy and view you as a partner in their organization.  If you can achieve this connection with your clients they will fulfill a role of a ‘reference’.  As a reference client they will speak with cohorts in formal and informal settings in a positive manner, reflecting on the value you have provided.

     2) How does your organization reflect in the job market?  Are you able to recruit, train, develop, and retain top talent?  The best way to have a great reputation among employees, both present and future is to view your success through their success and growth.  Olivier finds great satisfaction in recruiting college graduates, coaching and providing appropriate training, and then watching them thrive and mature in the work environment.

When asked about key tools that he uses to help with his success, the shared with me that he considers himself a bit of a “dreamer”.  To clarify, he shared uses certain key times of the day to tap into his imagination and critical thinking to pause and reflect on issues being faced.  This habit is one that was strongly enforced when he studied history and literature.  When it was time to fulfill a writing assignment, taking the time to think through and contemplate the information behind writing prompts before putting his pen to paper.  This habit has become a key part of how he operates in life.

Mentors have played a key role in Olivier’s professional growth.  When he first came to Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) he was full of ideas and energy, but no experience.  Connecting with key leaders at FIS was critical to his career development.  FIS actively fosters a mentoring system, where every leader is expected to actively be part of a mentoring relationship.  Often this connection is from a different line of business or area of focus.  This helps young leaders to grow, and it fosters partnerships across multiple areas of operation.  Leaders at FIS are encouraged to realize that they do not have all the answers, but by having these cross-company relationships there is a source to finding needed information.  This is beneficial to the people involved and to the overall success of an organization.  This whole mentoring system also helps develop one’s emotional quotient (EQ) as there is an opportunity to learn how other people think.

Being in a technology driven environment does not always require a 100% focus on technology related education.  Being trained and having disciplines outside of technology helps with tapping into other ways of thinking and problem solving.  Oliver has been able to use his training in history and literature, coupled with education in area of technology, along with the mentoring available through FIS, as a foundation for success in the workplace. 

Footnote:

To follow the author on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddrthomsen/

For more information on the GSI where Todd is a Sr. Client Success Manager - https://www.getgsi.com/