Oct 9
League of
Women Voters
Oct 7
District Breakfast
Oct 30
Avoiding Pitfalls
of California Employment Law
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Next Week...
September 25
Mallory Lewis
Sheri Lewis of Lambchop Puppet fame
Upcoming Programs...
October 2
Cliff Newman
Red Cross Blood Services
October 9
Iris Kaplan
League of Women Voters on November Propositions
October 16
Vivian Siegal
CEO, Jewish Vocational Services
October 30
Margaret Rosenthal
"Avoiding the Pitfalls of California Employment Law"
November 6
Craft Talks
Marcia and Rick Brous
Activities...
October 7
District Breakfast at LAX Westin Hotel
October 12
Paul Harris Celebration at Medieval Times
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This Week...
LAWRENCE MORTENSON at WVRC on September 18th
LORIN RUTTENBERG led the Pledge. The Invocation was by MARK KRAUSE.
It was brief, to the point, and ended, as last week, with the audience chorusing “AMEN”. LENNY provided sheets, so we would all know the words to Battle Hymn of the Republic.
We had several guests. JR DZUBAK brought his Special Guest, Mike Talman
PP DON NELSON introduced Jim Kim, one of our Ambassadorial Scholars.
PP STEVE SCHERER had two Special Guests. Elise Soley is from Cypress, and is a student at UCLA. Alexandria Lieben is in Public Affairs at UCLA, and heads up their Concord Project, which is searching for ways to a more peaceful world. SUNNY was of course with LENNY, and we had a visitor from Santa Monica, Brian Linnekenj, a Real Estate Developer. MARIE ROLF was with us again – and MARIE, your badge came in the mail this afternoon!
The Head Table provided some comments. MIKE YOUSEM allowed as how he had been in business for 47 years – claims he sells comfort stations, both inside and out!
PP STEVE DAY elected to talk about the forthcoming Paul Harris Celebration, set for Sunday, October 12th at Medieval Times in Orange County. He urged everyone to get those raffle tickets in (did I tell you I planned to win this time?) and is sending a check in for $4400 – but there are some who have contributed before who haven’t yet stood up.
Donations toward the Memorial for LENORE MULRYAN are still coming in, and we have over $1,500 so far, so there is still time to add your name to the list. MIKE YOUSEM reminded us of his Christmas Shopping Trip for kids – the date is December 11th. PEGGY BLOOMFIELD made what for me was a surprise announcement – their company, WEB Service, has been sold! This was followed by a visual/vocal examination checking on who might not have their Rotary Pin on – and Lo and Behold, We ALL Passed!
Our visitor from Santa Monica, Brian Linnekenj, came forward to announce their forthcoming 1st International Wine Festival. It will be on Sunday, Sept 28th – that’s just next week – at the home of Con Olyer’s in the Palisades, from 3 until 7 pm. Cost is $50 per person, and reservations are requested – Christiana Chan (310) 889-7499 or Karim Jaude (310) 471-0650. And here’s a line I haven’t heard before: Remember, a reservation made is a reservation paid. Sounds like fun. And a continuing word from PP BOB WESSLING – we were reminded that two teams with which we are all familiar, had games this past weekend. Those Pros from Greencastle won, whereas our Gutty Little Bruins were not quite so fortunate. But hope springs eternal – stay tuned! Fortunately at this point, ELLIOTT TURNER proceeded to inspire us, as follows:
A lady approached the Pharmacist, saying “I would like to buy some cyanide. I’m going to kill my husband.” Taken aback, the Pharmacist replied, “Lady, I can’t do that. I’d lose my license. We’d both go to jail”. Without another word, the lady pulled a picture out of her purse, showing her husband in bed with the Pharmacist’s wife. “That’s different”, he said. “I didn’t know you had a prescription”.
PP STEVE SCHERER asked Rick and Marsha Brouse to join him at the podium. They were introduced as the newest members of WVRC. As STEVE pointed out, RICK has 38 years of perfect attendance, and is a Past President of their club in New Jersey. MARSHA has 15 years of perfect attendance, and is also a Past President of their former club. His classification is Retail, and her’s is Public Relations. They were both presented with a Bruin Rotary Pin. And they are, up to now, the only husband/wife team in WVRC! Naturally, they received a standing ovation. RICK remarked that they had come out here in January, and had looked at several clubs. We were friendly, and welcoming, and so they came aboard. MARSHA noted that they expect to know everyone in the Club, and thanked us for bringing them into our fellowship.
The Westwood Rotary Auxiliary will meet on Tuesday, Oct 14th, at the home of PEGGY BLOOMFIELD, starting at 11:30 am. The speaker will be Dr. Edward Kwok-Ho Hul, and his topic is successful aging. He is a graduate of the David Gergen School of Medicine at UCLA, with a Geriatric Medicine Fellowship, and he has been with the East-West Center for Medicine since its inception in 1993. Additional meetings will be Wednesday 12 November at the home of SALLY and HOMER NEWMAN, and a Festive Holiday Luncheon on Tuesday December 9th at the home of AUDREY and CLARK MCQUAY.
PEGGY BLOOMFIELD introduced our Speaker, Lawrence Mortenson. Born in Minneapolis, he has a BA in English from Duke, and an MBA from Washington University. Mortenson was with Toyota in Management and Finance for ten years, and he is the president-elect of the LA Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development. His company is LM Consulting - they do Management Consulting.
This is a most interesting time in our world. His usual subject is Success Strategies for business and for life, which today translates into dealing effectively with tough times. He asked how many had been to Beijing before the Olympics, and what was our impression. Smog was noted, plus the bamboo scaffolding, bicycles everywhere – and remember it was only six weeks ago that we saw that Opening Ceremony and how Bejing looks today! Also just happening was the Russian invasion of Georgia, followed by the two political conventions. It first seemed that Obama was inevitable, and then along came Palin. Such rapid, important changes may require a different set of skills to cope.
Mortenson told the story of a peasant in the 1500’s in Persia, and the First Empire. The Empire was indeed vast – it extended throughout the Middle East and Europe, and into India. A certain peasant, named Ali Haped (sp?) was a very successful farmer. He owned rich orchards, many, many animals, had a great family and had a good relationship with his wife. A Buddhist Monk approached across his fields. They had dinner, and the Monk intrigued Ali with stores of diamond mines, which were far away. Greed was created, and Ali decided to go forth and find this great wealth for himself.
He left his family and began a search, taking him all the way to Western Europe. He became destitute, his health was poor, and he eventually threw himself into a tidal wave, and died. Meanwhile, back at home, the person managing the farm found a black stone, which seemed to glitter, in the nearby stream. He put it on his mantle, and then learned that one of the most productive diamond mines in the world was on his own property. This same diamond was used in part of the crowns of both Russian and English kings. The moral of the story, of course, is that you should look first in your own back yard! A further moral is that you must play the hand you are dealt.
His example of playing your hand is Henry Paulson, our present Secretary of the Treasury. His team has been dealing with crisis upon crisis, and he is the right man in the right job at this very time, becoming a person of increasing character. That is Point # 1. Point # 2 concerns our youth – the Y generation (born 1976 to ’94). They are not being taught – learning what responsibility is, being responsible, trustworthiness, respect, caring, and above all, good citizenship. These major characteristics of a successful, honorable individual just don’t get emphasized anymore. The 3rd Point is Follow-up and Follow-through. Remember, without action, nothing happens. How many of us do a great job of following up? His example is going to the dentist. We are told to do two things, every day. Floss and Brush. Not many hands when up when this question was asked of us. But he added that he had written a number of examples of follow-up and follow-through, and they were available if you left him your business card or he can be reached at (310) 578-6564.
Q&A – What are the characteristics of Generation Y? They have a great heart, but the ideals of citizenship and service are not being passed along to them – and they blame all of this on George Bush.
(I think I then heard, How is management being taught today?) The current trend is to favor collaborative management. And yet, if you look at Apple, where Steve Jobs is a tyrant, they are extremely successful. Where are we missing out in education? A lot of kids are not being exposed to morality – as an example, they figure that the music companies are making plenty of money, so why shouldn’t they download something and send it to a friend. That’s a culture we cannot afford.
Words of Wisdom
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at a tempting moment. OR Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder, and your hand over my mouth.
