You see, I come from an HR family. Some of my earliest “grown up” memories are discussions with Dad about the advent of Affirmative Action and the creation of Crotonville – GE’s leading edge management development center. He was with GE in close to the top HR slot and part of the team that developed GE’s famous Management Development Program.
My Mom was a house mom. That is until she graduated college a few weeks after me and took her first job: head of placement at the University of Dayton Law School. That was followed by an appointment in Presidential Personnel in the first Reagan administration, a top HR job at Household International, and, her final career spot, CEO of Household Relocation Company.
So how did I end up where I am and how did TPO come of all of this?
My first stint at entrepreneurism, served only to prove to myself that I liked being my own boss. However, a graphic artist, without training, in the woods of New Hampshire, did not prove to be a successful venture. It was in this period that I learned about budgeting and frugality.
My Dad, meantime, had unexpectedly left The Washington Post and, as corporate guys do when between corporate jobs, hung his consulting shingle in Washington. He quickly had a number of assignments: a search for a speech writer for Jack Welch; sales compensation program for Traveler’s insurance; the second phase of the merger planning between Connecticut General and INA (CIGNA); and – get this – a full review of the compensation program at Penthouse Magazine. He needed help, much of the work had compensation elements. So, I began commuting between Hanover, NH and Washington, DC. No mean feat was that commute, but the money with my Dad was good, so I quickly decided to move to Washington, DC and, in 1981, joined Robert R. Schuldt & Associates, Ltd. (RRS&A) as a VP.
Funny how life works. I never did like city life. I’d already moved about 12 times in my life by that point and the LAST place I would have thought of was DC. I don’t like cities, I don’t like politics and I didn’t particularly care for working with large corporations. But I had a paying job! Or so I thought because, about 10 weeks after moving to DC, my Dad got offered a job back in industry and, within a few weeks, had moved to Chicago to take up the post.
What was a 23-year old to do? It was clear that clients like Travelers, CIGNA and GE were not going to be interested in me. But there were lots of smaller organizations in DC. And – for the first time (and here is where TPO really began), I realized that they had the same HR issues as the big guys. Moreover, they had limited resources (money or people) to solve them.
So RRS&A continued. I then had the good fortune to meet the person who would become the first partner of TPO, Marybeth Glynn. She started with me as my AA, quickly outgrew what I could challenge her with, and left for a career with Britches in the compensation and broader HR areas before we got back together in the early 90s.
In November of 1993, I was informed by a consulting client that their company was going to downsize substantially. My actual client contact, then VP of HR, was going to be a survivor, but he was to have the dubious distinction of taking on accounting and IT in addition to HR as his ticket for continued employment. The time was right. “What if,” I asked him, “I could provide you all the HR services you need for your now 40 employee group, at a fraction of the cost of hiring a HR Assistant to help you?” TPO was born.
TPO is one of those unique successes. Clients get their needs met (even those they’re not aware of), we have provided a real home for HR consultants, and I have finally scratched my itch. It is only now, with some distance and perspective again, that I can see that we have been practicing for the last 12 years – both with clients and with ourselves – the same kind of HR Leadership that we are now beginning to explicitly call out in our marketing efforts, internal professional development, client offerings, and industry position. What makes Great HR? Come work for or with TPO and we’ll tell you all about it.
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