[Watchdogs] The Servant Leadership Program and the Cooperative

[Paul Langston]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Langston" <langston at zeecon.com>
To: <tbuckle at austin.rr.com>; "Milton Hawkins" <milton.hawkins at gmail.com>
Cc: "Kathy Scanlon" <kathy at planningworks.biz>; "Patrick Cox" 
<patrickcox7 at gmail.com>; "Chris Perry" <cp4pec at earthlink.net>; "James 
Williams" <fromthisdesk at yahoo.com>; "Cristi Clement" <clemoore at gmail.com>; 
"Ross Fischer" <rossfischer at gvtc.com>; "Larry Landaker" 
<larry.landaker at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 2:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Watchdogs] The Servant Leadership Program and the Cooperative


>
>
> Dear Mr. tbuckle:  You are the fellow who calls some us us rubes down here 
> in the PEC, " Idiots" .
> Obviously, you are the soul of good manners and discretion.
>
> Let me see if I get your point.  You insist that hiring and firing of all 
> PEC personnel should be done in open meetings.  You would invite the 
> neighborhood to come and hear a listing of the good points and all of the 
> really bad points in front of the full membership and any media person who 
> might happen along.
>
> I take it that you have participated in just such personnel meetings and 
> the candidate was fully assessed in front of the whole area.
>
> No, Mr. tbuckle, I do not think so and for you to insist on an open public 
> meeting to hire/fire is completely wrong.  Juan Garza was hired in a 
> secret meeting in Bennie's office and he has been fired by elected 
> Directors in a legally called  personnel meeting of  the Board.  The 
> announcement was made soon after so that the membership would know what 
> happened.
>
> So, tell me again that Juan Garza should have been fired in an open 
> meeting in front of at least 100 employees/members that Friday.   I'll 
> stick with Larry.  He comes to all the meetings and I doubt that you have 
> been to even one.
>
> Paul Langston  830-598-1322
>
>
>
 Original Message ----- 
> From: <tbuckle at austin.rr.com>
> To: "Milton Hawkins" <milton.hawkins at gmail.com>; "Watchdogs" 
> <watchdogs at pec4u.org>
> Cc: "Kathy Scanlon" <kathy at planningworks.biz>; "Patrick Cox" 
> <patrickcox7 at gmail.com>; "Chris Perry" <cp4pec at earthlink.net>; "James 
> Williams" <fromthisdesk at yahoo.com>; "Cristi Clement" <clemoore at gmail.com>; 
> "Ross Fischer" <rossfischer at gvtc.com>; "Larry Landaker" 
> <larry.landaker at gmail.com>
> Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2010 7:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [Watchdogs] The Servant Leadership Program and the 
> Cooperative
>
>
>> Milton, There is no question that you and I will never agree on what 
>> transpired this last week at PEC.
>> Having been the City Attorney for five cities, sitting now as a city 
>> council member, and serving on
>> the Board of Directors of numerous non-profit corporations, professional 
>> organizations, and quasi-governmental
>> agencies for the last 35 years, the way Garza's firing was handled is 
>> appalling.  To me, the only honorable
>> way out of this mess is for Larry Landaker to resign.  He is the Board's 
>> Chair and ultimately responsible
>> for this embarassment.  And, it was he who said he had been considering 
>> firing Juan Garza for the "last
>> several months".  Having had to hire and fire executive directors of the 
>> entities where I have served on
>> the Board of Directors and advising the cities where I have seen city 
>> managers and city administrators (whose
>> average life expectancy is 5 years [by the way I was very impressed that 
>> Juan had lasted 10 years in Corpus Christi
>> and they hated to see him leave], two months is a ridiculously short 
>> time. It has taken some of my clients and
>> Boards on which I have served at least a year to get to this decision. 
>> And, the vote was alway in public and
>> each member explained why he or she was going to cast their vote. Tom
>>
>> ---- Milton Hawkins <milton.hawkins at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> The Servant Leadership Program and the Cooperative
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Those of us who attended Saturday's meetings, especially the called 
>>> meeting
>>> Saturday morning, received an unexpected demonstration of the effect of 
>>> the
>>> "servant leadership" training Juan Garza insisted that all PEC 
>>> employees,
>>> including his managers, receive.  Where leaders become servants, there 
>>> are
>>> no leaders, in the traditional sense of that word, and this was 
>>> certainly
>>> the case Saturday.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> One after another, employee after employee and manager after manager 
>>> stood
>>> at the podium and berated the members of the Board of Directors.  The
>>> comments ranged from mockery and ridicule to insult and worse.  Each 
>>> comment
>>> drew loud applause from most of the employees in attendance, with the 
>>> most
>>> disparaging comments receiving the loudest approval, and even standing
>>> ovations.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> You can see it all for yourself on video if you missed the live 
>>> performance.
>>> And a performance it was, well organized and rehearsed and starring the
>>> minister of servant leadership himself, Steve Lucas, the manager Mr. 
>>> Garza
>>> brought to PEC to run the show.  He was ably assisted by Tom Mason, 
>>> district
>>> manager at Junction, and several others.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> At a cost of at least half a million dollars, counting staff salaries,
>>> employee indoctrination sessions at the Canyon of the Eagles Resort, the
>>> cost of materials, and lost employee time, the program has certainly 
>>> been a
>>> success.  The employees are definitely in charge, and managers have 
>>> largely
>>> disappeared.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Those who have not been successfully transformed are now to be subjected 
>>> to
>>> a follow-on course of treatment, the materials for which by themselves 
>>> are
>>> costing almost $100,000, and then we will have perfection: everyone will
>>> have become a servant.  And where there are no leaders, everyone becomes 
>>> his
>>> own leader, which is pretty much what we saw acted out Saturday.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I know that management has lost control of the cooperative.  I suspect 
>>> that
>>> the Board has as well, for everyone is safe now.  Nobody can be 
>>> disciplined
>>> or terminated now; servants don't do that to those they serve.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> And the directors are expected to be servants as well, making life 
>>> pleasant
>>> for everyone, including giving the employees the servants they wish.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Walled off from the pressures of the marketplace, and able to pass the 
>>> costs
>>> on to the owner-members, the cooperative coasts along.  The servant
>>> leadership program continues.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> So long as we can continue to borrow money to fund the distribution of
>>> capital credits, all is well.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Milton Hawkins
>>>
>>> 20 June 2010
>>>
>>
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>
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