Bruce Strauch: The Mentor Director

By Andy McCleaf

An exciting program being developed at the Citadel School of Business Administration is the Mentor Program. It is a valuable program, designed to help cadets and CGPS students get acclimated to the real business world through some of the wealth of active and retired business executives living in Charleston. One of the program's founders is Bruce Strauch, a Business Law faculty member at the Citadel. On the heels of this semester's Mentor / Mentee breakfast meeting, I thought it would be a great opportunity to take a look at the person that envisioned the program, Professor Strauch. Like so many of the Citadel's accomplished faculty, there is more to him than meets the eye.

Bruce Strauch grew up in Burlington, North Carolina. He attained his Bachelors Degree from the University of North Carolina, his Masters in Economics from Oxford, and a J.D. Law Degree from the University of North Carolina in 1977. Accordingly, he began practicing law by the end of 1977. He has been an Associate Professor at the Citadel, teaching Business Law and Economics since 1982.

The inspiration of the Mentor Program came from his prestigious academic path. His aim with the Mentor Program is to be able to subsidize some of experiences, which can be attained at larger business schools, with mentoring from some of the fantastic active and retired executives living in the Lowcountry. Now, successful professionals in various fields of business can tutor students. It expands the contact and experiences available to the students, which had relied solely on the time and instructions of their teachers to gain insight into their chosen profession. The Mentor Program can also enlarge the variety of backgrounds and experiences available, again, not solely relying on the finite backgrounds of the Citadel's faculty. The Mentor Program now boasts a rooster of over 60 successful mentors.

But the Mentor Program is not Professor Strauch's only project right now. A glimpse at his school web page (http://www.citadel.edu/faculty/strauch/brucecv.html) looks like an archive of legal and intellectual writings. He currently publishes a scholarly trade journal titled Against The Grain. The idea, he claims, actually came from his wife. They were trying to find a niche in the publishing business, and the academic trade journal was a natural conclusion. The trade journal allows other professors to be published, as is so often a requirement of their jobs. It is writing about their industry. And, while not limited to our school, it is quite unique to anything being done at the Citadel. He smiles, "Professors just submit their writings to me; for free. My wife and I edit and publish them, then sell the journals to libraries or other academic institutions." Working in academia, he and his wife have found their niche, which was something that was hard for him to do writing novels.

That's right, he has written novels too. His sixth novel, "Southern Psycho Tales" (Parkway Publishers), cheekily billed as "a collection of twisted and gut-bustingly funny stories of Southern madness and mayhem", is hitting the books stores as you read this. Writing and publishing were nothing new to the Strauchs. He began writing back in the 1980's. But you might pick up a book and never know it was his. He has penned his fictional stories under various names, usually 'Alexis'. The last name of Alexis, he claims, helps to get him placed at the head of many lists in libraries and order guides. His topics range from the occult to the tragedy of children. "Along Came A Spider," was his title, he exclaims, until James Patterson needed to buy the title for one of his stories. But in today's 'book factory' environment, it was difficult for Bruce to get traction in a niche, due to also having to split time for teaching and being a part-time lawyer.

That's right. Professor Strauch also was a pretrial lawyer in the late seventies and into the eighties. Time, again, was his limitation in practicing law, as the court system does not wait for papers to be graded or lessons to be taught. His background does keep him current in area involvement, and he frequently illustrates his law classes with current activities in the local or global news. If you ever sat in one of his classes it is easy to picture him as a lead trial lawyer, with his creative articulation and commanding presence. And, like many other faculty in the Business School, you can't judge this law, horror, and mentoring book by his cover.

Citadel Leadership in Action

By Robert Freer

The Citadel has been long dedicated to educating men and women of principle for leadership in society. Whenever it can it looks for ways as an institution to play a leadership role when an unusual opportunity comes along. The creation at the end of 2002 of The Free Enterprise Foundation by Robert E. Freer, a noted corporate attorney and Dr. Howard F. Rudd, Jr., the founding Dean at the College of Charleston's School of Business has provided just such an opportunity.

The Foundation, with the Governor as its Honorary Chair, Paul Campbell, President of Alcoa Primary Metals as Chair and William A. Finn, Chairman and CEO of AstenJohnson as Vice-Chair has been created as a think tank with a prestigious board of trustees representing leaders nationally and statewide to help it address weaknesses in the study of the basic values that underpin our Republic, to remind the public of its responsibility for stewardship for those values and the role of free enterprise in their creation and preservation. Lastly The Foundation will celebrate the large proportion of private enterprise that is upholding a high standard of performance. The Foundation's board has in addition to national figures of high reputation and accomplishment, representation as a matter of right from The Medical College of South Carolina, The College of Charleston and The Citadel. The Citadel has offered this cooperative effort of the three schools, space for it to begin its operation and to be able to focus on program more quickly than it otherwise would have been if it had to spend all its time looking for funding.

The Free Enterprise Foundation has been created as an independent nonpartisan institute dedicated to preserving and promoting those enterprises and practices that are consistently the best in our free market economy. Its motto is "Creating Enterprise Excellence consistent with the highest standards of ethics and civic responsibility through Best Practice". As we confront the departure from ethical standards by some of our most visible companies, never was the need for such an institute so clear. The Foundation exists to facilitate within a collaborative community the answers to the new century's toughest questions.

Through study, research, the funding of scholarship, publications and awards for enterprise best practices, the Foundation will foster the continuing vitality in the institutions that have created the basis for our prosperity. The Citadel's leadership and the participation of MUSC and The College of Charleston have meant that it has been able to quickly put its resources into lectures, a quality newsletter and a website that is already experimenting with streaming its lectures, and it has immediate goals to turn its site, www.FreeEnterprise.tv (maintained at The Citadel) into its main teaching tool.

Dean Earl Walker, The Citadel's member on its Board said "This collaborative initiative with our sister South Carolina colleges and universities is a wonderful addition to Charleston. In addition, we at The Citadel think that the Free Enterprise Foundation reinforces our commitment to educating and developing leaders of principle through the Foundation's focus on ethical standards and best practice."

With this team behind it there is every reason to believe that the Foundation 's efforts to focus on ethics, civic responsibility, enterprise leadership and best practices will be an effective antidote to the erosion of values in corporate America as well as society as a whole.

If you think you would like to join in The Foundation's activities or learn more about them, please also visit their Website at www.FreeEnterprise.tv.

Upcoming Citadel Business Alumni Events

By Citadel Business Network

The Citadel School of Business Administration is presenting a Leadership Forum in the fall semester that will focus on leadership and ethics in business and organizational life. The roster of participants is quite impressive and draws from diverse professional experiences. Sessions begin at 5:45 p.m. in the Duckett Auditorium. The public is cordially invited to attend.

Ralph Crosby Jr. Thurs, Oct 7 Ralph Crosby is Chairman and CEO of EADS North America (Airbus) and a member of the EADS Executive Committee. Formerly, Crosby was President of the Integrated Systems Sector of Northrop Grumman Corporation. His topic for the evening is "The Private Sector and U. S. Defense."

Elizabeth and Maybank Hagood Wed, Oct 20 Mrs. Elizabeth McMillan Hagood serves as Chairman, Board of Commissioners, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control. Mr. Maybank Hagood is President and CEO of William M. Bird and Company, Inc. They will discuss "Challenges Facing Married Career MBAs and Innovation in the Private and Public Sectors."

Robert S. McCoy, Jr. Tues, Oct 26 Robert McCoy is retired from Wachovia Corporation where he was Vice-Chairman and Chief Financial Officer. He led in the merger of Wachovia and First Union Corporation in 2001 and was co-head of merger integration until 2003. He was President and CFO of South Carolina Corporation which merged with Wachovia in 1991. Prior to banking, McCoy was a partner in Price Waterhouse. He will discuss "Shaping the New Wachovia."

John Huey Mon, Nov 1 John Huey is Time Inc.'s Editorial Director, the second highest editorial management position in the company. He provides editorial guidance to Time Inc.'s magazines, including Time, Sports Illustrated, People and Entertainment Weekly. His discussion will be on "Transforming Print Media in an Electronic Era."

Homecoming weekend takes place the first weekend in November this year. See some old friends as the Bulldogs take on Chattanooga in this year's homecoming game. Kickoff time for the game is 2:00 p.m.

In our next publication of the Citadel Business Newsletter, look for a more interactive email newsletter, as we search for opinions, stories, and networking capabilities from any and all Citadel Business Alumni.

You are receiving this email from The Citadel because you subscribed on our website. To make sure you continue to receive the InFormation newsletter, please add cbn@citadel.edu to your "Safe List" or Address Book.

Business Pain and Perspective - A Climate of Positive Hope

By Fred Whittle

"When the wolf is chasing your sled, throw him a raisin cookie, don't stop to bake him a cake." - Old Polish Proverb

Your company may not be in pain now, but it will be, sooner or later. Setbacks come to all companies to varying degrees, often repeatedly. What you do when the darkness closes in, how you place things in perspective and steer your employees and the business out of that confusion and threat, is the stuff of real leadership.

Upon the death of Ronald Reagan, newspapers and periodicals were filled with stories of his optimism, as though it were his only strength. Always discounting his intelligence, his detractors gave him credit in spades for his cheerfulness. Reagan may have been smarter than any of us could know; he may have understood better than we that optimism is a primary catalyst for success and achievement. It takes confidence to exude optimism sincerely, and that confidence may come from training, study, and preparation. On the other hand, a deficient outlook has derailed many a talented and well trained person, regardless of opportunity. Medical journals, prisoner of war records, and stories of survivors facing seemingly insurmountable odds are testament to the value hope carries.

Marine Corps officer Tom Hemingway, Citadel '60 and a man once held hostage and savagely tortured by renegade South Vietnamese soldiers, speaking to a group of U. S. Marines, stated that he never knew a good leader who did not create around him "a climate of positive hope." Hemingway credited to optimism his ability to escape certain death in Vietnam. As a business leader, too, one has a moral responsibility to create, maintain, and encourage such a climate for the wellbeing of his employees and the company. This critical business duty is among the highest - among establishing an ethical climate and practicing good fiscal discipline.

No business is immune from economic cycles. There will be rain between the sunshine. What you do and how you act when the overcast blows in, when goals are not achieved, and failure - perhaps the death of the business - looms, are the measure of your mettle. This is not to advise becoming a silly Pollyanna looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, rather to encourage sincere optimism aimed to strengthen the workforce and accomplish corporate goals. That goal may be survival.

If the truest purpose of education is to prepare one for failure, then the purest purpose of leadership training is to prepare the leader to guide his charges through the fog of despair, worry, and gloom. Any decent manager in business can crunch the numbers and write policy papers. A leader in business, like the military leader, answers to a higher calling. Employee livelihood, family futures, and shareholder capital at risk, depend upon the decisions the leader will make. However, the hope one inspires in the process of deciding may germinate the seeds of success that would not sprout otherwise, despite the genius behind the decisions. A superior plan poorly executed is no match for a lesser one well executed. Execution includes the enthusiasm and expectation of a successful outcome. Leaders set the example there.

A fortified hope repels fear, as though the two cannot co-exist. This belief is encouraging in itself. By infusing hope, leaders punch doubt in the face and knock it backwards, rendering it ineffective. Hope can inoculate the workforce whose body might be weakened by despair, strengthening its immune system from the deleterious effects setbacks have on the spirit.

The antithesis of hope - fear - is crippling. A leader who recognizes the importance of creating a working climate of positive hope can help liberate the human spirit around him by demonstrating courage and a cheerful outlook in the presence of great challenge. He understands the Napoleonic maxim: "The moral is to the physical as three to one."

What are you doing to keep fear behind your sled's horizon? Try tossing out the "raisin cookie" of encouragement and informed optimism. The life of your company may well depend upon it when the wolf is closing in.

Fred Whittle is a retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel, Phi Kappa Phi graduate of The Citadel (1980), and a member of the Business School Mentors Association. Currently he is the Chief Operating Officer of a Charleston holding company that includes Buck Lumber Company.

CGPS Commencement Speech (May '04)

By Bill Hewitt

The following dialogue is a very fine graduation address by Bill Hewitt given for The Citadel College of Graduate and Professional Studies on May 2, 2004. His insights are very astute and enormously engaging. Bill Hewitt is the Founding Chair of The Citadel School of Business Administration Advisory Board, was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Business Administration. Mr. Hewitt's speech is very motivational and intriguing for graduates at any level.

"General Grinalds, Colonel Jenkinson and the Citadel Board of Visitors, Graduates, and friends, I am truly honored to have the opportunity to speak to you today and opportunity is my theme. When I asked how long I should talk, General Carter said "shorter is better; 15 minutes would be good". Well, if 15 minutes is good, then 10 minutes is better, so that's what I'll shoot for.

Why should you listen to a 10-minute talk on opportunity? I know, because you have to. No, you should listen simply because identifying and making the most of opportunity will make life a lot better. But, that's not as easy as some think, because greed often comes disguised as opportunity, and opportunity sometimes just looks like risk. Moreover, adhering to the old maxim "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" obscures many opportunities.

Six words can help one recognize and capitalize on opportunity.

The first two words are Freedom and Responsibility. The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution enshrine the concepts and the laws that underpin our freedom. But, there is no freedom without responsibility. Said another way, the more responsibility one accepts, the more freedom one enjoys. The alternative to taking responsibility is dependency on others and thus less freedom.

That may seem obvious, but it's not easy to put into practice. There is a tradeoff between freedom and security, which leads most of us to forego a degree of freedom for more security. Moreover, being responsible doesn't mean just being involved. It means being accountable and delivering results, which require working smarter and, often, harder. However, in my experience, the freedom that results from accepting responsibility is well worth the extra effort.

Capitalizing on opportunity means doing something that's not now being done. It requires making a decision. But, taking responsibility gives one the freedom to make decisions and hence the ability to seize opportunity.

Freedom and Responsibility, one gets the first by taking the second.

Risk and Reward are the next two words. A reward is gaining more of what one values. Professional success, family security and happiness, or even money may at one time or another be the reward one seeks. Risk, on the other hand, is the potential to lose what one values. But, risk often creates opportunity.

Let me share two personal examples. When I lost the sight in my right eye in 1968, the Coast Guard offered me 3 jobs, including a permanent commissioned teaching position at the CG Academy where, as an active duty Lieutenant Commander, I was teaching electrical engineering. At that stage of my life my goal was to one day be Commandant of the Coast Guard. While a permanent commissioned teaching position offered the security of a job for life, I'd have lost the opportunity to aspire to become Commandant. My wife, Laura, and I decided to take the risk of leaving the Coast Guard.

Likewise, when I had an offer to leave TRW, the Fortune 500 Company I joined upon leaving the Coast Guard and where I was running a major program, my Dad said "why would you risk joining a small no-name company when you're on track to be a VP at a Fortune 500 company"? My answer was that I thought I was better suited to a small company. Again, Laura supported the change and a move to California, although she made me promise that as a South Carolinian she "wouldn't have to die in California".

Though more luck than skill, these moves were important for two reasons; first, I found that I could support my family and enjoy life outside my beloved Coast Guard, and second, I learned that building small companies was more rewarding to me than working for a large corporation.

The key, of course, is taking prudent risks. My Coast Guard experience plus an MSEE gave me confidence that I could always get a job that would allow me to care for my family. Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I have taken risks in business that turned out very badly. The good news is that I learned some valuable lessons, and one benefit of being the speaker is that I get to pick the examples.

Importantly, risk can look like opportunity. And sometimes it is. The question is; does the reward warrant the risk? To answer this question one must know what reward one seeks and how much risk one can tolerate.

Risk and Reward, without some of the former it is difficult to get much of the latter.

The last two words are Uncertainty and Principle.

We live in a time of great change, which results in much uncertainty. We are told that we're in a global economy; and we are. We are told that the world is being changed by technology and that the pace of change is accelerating; and it is. We are told, therefore, that everything must change; but that's not true. What must not change are the moral and ethical principles that underpin our society. When so much around us is changing and we face increasing uncertainty, we must hold fast to principle. The Golden Rule isn't bad as a broad principle. The Ten Commandments get more specific. Combined with the ethics learned at the Citadel, you have a solid foundation for making moral and ethical decisions.

One last example. In 1980 my best friend at work and I had a difference of opinion with our CEO about corporate strategy. My friend stopped by our house one Sunday evening to say that he had received an offer to be a partner in a big firm. I said that he'd have more fun if we started our own firm. He agreed and the next evening (Monday) we went to a lawyer to see what steps we should take to start our own company. Being a wise man as well as a good lawyer, he said "forget what is legal, the higher standard is what is ethical". He then said that if we were serious, being officers of our present company, we had an obligation to resign the next morning, and to not contact any current clients directly, but only by mailed announcements after we set up the new company.

Wow! I had 4 children, a big mortgage and a substantial annual income. I sure hadn't thought that our Sunday conversation would result in such a big ethical bullet to bite.

That night I told Laura that if the new company wasn't successful, we might have to sell our house and she'd likely have to go back to work. She didn't flinch. Wednesday morning my friend and I resigned. We didn't contact clients other than by mailed announcements after we'd incorporated our new company. But, we sure were sweating. The first client called in two weeks and the second two weeks later. Today, the First Manhattan Consulting Group is one of the premier financial service-consulting firms in the world. Taking the ethical approach at startup had, I'm sure, a lot to do with the Firm gaining an excellent reputation and prospering.

I left First Manhattan in late 1991 for an opportunity to run a public company that had been scarred by a senior executive of a subsidiary "cooking the books". I'll spare you the details, but a lot of tough decisions were made in restoring a culture that placed ethical behavior first and foremost.

As a leader, trustworthiness is ones most important attribute. Trustworthiness comes from competence and character. Competence will change and expand over time. But character, reflecting the moral and ethical principles one lives by, shouldn't.

Greed often masquerades as opportunity. Don't be deceived. Greed is greed. Opportunity usually results in win-win situations, greed never does. Living a principled life will save one a lot of grief.

Principle, where leaders stand in a time of Uncertainty.

The Citadel has helped you earn an advanced degree that positions you well to capitalize on opportunity. But to do that, you need to know opportunity when you see it, and know what to do with it. These six words can help: Freedom and Responsibility, Risk and Reward, Uncertainty and Principle.

I pray that each of you will find this great country of ours to be the land of opportunity that I have found it to be.

Congratulations on your achievements at the Citadel, and God bless you all."

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