POSTING #128

Stories About Vermont

Vermont has always been one of our favourite states, and we have visited it many times.

During breaks in my overseas consulting assignments, we would often visit Vermont  to decompress after the stresses of Russia or the Middle East (staying usually at the superbly comfortable and hospitable Palmer House Resort in Manchester). By the time we said goodbye to Vermont, I always felt relaxed and refreshed, ready to do battle once again. 

We watched in horror last August as the flooding from Hurricane Irene devastated many Vermont homes, businesses, roads, and bridges (see a dramatic video shot by a friend, Lester Humphreys, which shows part of a large building being torn loose by the flooding waters in Brattleboro).

The 620,000 or so people of Vermont are tough and creative, folks who work cooperatively to tackle challenges. We wish them well as they fight back after Irene.

Meanwhile, here are some stories in honour of Vermont.

            "Heat Is Your Friend"

On one visit to Vermont we toured the studio of Lynn Newcomb, a blacksmith/sculptor and printmaker, in the village of Worcester.

Above the forge where she heats steel so she can hammer, twist and pull it into artistic creations I saw a handmade sign, "Heat Is Your Friend". Lynn saw me studying the sign and told us the story behind it.

It was, she said, a reminder of a lesson from the man who had taught her to be a blacksmith.

He was an older man who had trained many men in the art of blacksmithing but teaching a woman was something new for him. Lynn said there might have been some hesitation on his part at first but as soon as he realized she was serious he treated her as just another student.

He watched approvingly one day as she worked at the forge and anvil but soon realized that because she didn't have the upper body strength of the male students, she was having trouble hammering the red-hot steel into the shapes she wanted.

He had her experiment with leaving the steel in the forge longer than the men so the steel got hotter and therefore more malleable before she transferred it to the anvil.

That worked!

Pleased, he said, "Remember, 'heat is your friend'.

She turned the advice into a sign, so she wouldn't forget.

Later on, in my work as a public service manager and as a consultant, I often told the story of Lynn and the sign to make the point that when problems are challenging, the 'heat'  given off by them may actually make it easier to find a solution. (It seems to me that the oft-quoted nostrum of President Obama's former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, that 'one should never waste a crisis' makes the same point.)

            Some Laconic Vermonters

Vermonters have the reputation of not talking very much. That's a stereotype, of course, and we have met Vermonters who were as garrulous as drunks in a Dublin pub.

But we have run into a few who give validity to the stereotype.

Pat was getting gas at a rural service station. After some terse questions about what kind of gas she wanted and how much, the attendant---an older man---started to fill the tank.

Noticing the Ontario licence plates, he said, "A long way from home."

Pat replied, "Yes, but I'm not lost".

"Didn't say you was lost, said you was a long way from home."

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A friend who visited a particular rural antique store each time she was in Vermont noticed one year that a piece of furniture that she liked, but thought was a little too expensive, was still unsold. She asked the dealer whether he would take a little less for the piece.

He shook his head, "Nope".

She pointed out that she had seen the same piece for several years and that was why she wondered whether he might be prepared to lower the price a little.

He shook his head again, "It don't eat nothing".

            Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

In the 1980s we heard from a son at McGill that there was a fantastic home-made ice cream store run by a couple of hippies in a converted garage in Burlington Vermont. He told us that McGill students regularly drove the 155 kms to Burlington to sample what they claimed was the richest and most imaginative ice cream they had ever tasted.

We began to hear and follow stories about the hippies, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

Astonished by the success of their ice cream, they launched some scoop stores that they supplied from the Burlington garage. Then they built a plant in Waterbury to produce pints of their unique flavours that could be sold far and wide (we were able to buy Ben and Jerry's in Amman, Jordan!).

Then we heard that the two young men were feeling guilty about their success. " We worried we were becoming a cog in the economic machine, whose values we had detested all our lives,' Ben remembers. Jerry Greenfield left the business and moved to Arizona.

Then Ben invented a new business philosophy he called 'Caring Capitalism' in which the company could 'do good while doing well'. Jerry rejoined the company.

In the early 1990s, we visited the plant. It was fun for me because it gave me a chance to compare experiences from the two high school summers I had spent making ice cream at the Royal Dairy in Guelph.

The plant was operating-room clean and the output was delicious.

As we toured the plant, the guide explained that under the Caring Capitalism philosophy Ben and Jerry had stipulated that their salaries should not be more than 7 times that of the lowest paid person in the plant.

I was impressed because my favourite management Guru, Peter Drucker, was arguing (and is still arguing) that the ideal ratio should be no more than 20 to 1, this at a time when the differential was much more than that---often 80 to 1. (Of course, today the ratio is in the stratosphere---often many thousands to one.)

Unfortunately, the company that had been profitable initially, lost money in 1994 and Ben and Jerry decided that they needed to bring in a professional manager. It appears that they had to pay the successful candidate substantially more than 7 times the lowest wage, but I haven't been able to find the exact salary of the new CEO.

In 2000, the company was sold to Unilever, a British-Dutch multinational food giant. I understand that although Ben and Jerry have no Board or management position, and are not involved in day-to-day management, they do influence the behaviour of the company. For example, the company has come out in support of controversial social, environmental and other causes. The current website of the company proclaims that "We stand with the 99".

The company has also named ice cream flavours in honour of causes the two men support. For example, there was 'Yes, Pecan' that recognized Obama's 2008 victory. And in 2009, the company renamed 'Chubby Hubby' to 'Hubby Hubby', to celebrate Vermont's passage of legislation legalizing same sex marriage.

Not every new flavour is tied to some 'good cause'. In September this year, the company introduced a flavour called, 'Schweddy Balls'---in homage of a Saturday Night Live skit. In a press release announcing the new flavour, the company said it consisted of,  "Fair Trade vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum and is loaded with fudge covered rum and milk chocolate malt balls".

Apparently some super market chains have found the title to be a little over the line, and aren't stocking it.

It seems that the two men who had fun concocting exotic and shocking flavours in that Burlington garage are still enjoying themselves.

Health Care

I have been impressed with the effort that Vermont is making in the field of health care. It has had free or low cost coverage for children under 18 and pregnant women for some time and is now in the midst of introducing a single payer health insurance program for everyone---taking advantage of some exemption provisions of the Obama health plan.

Its former governor, Howard Dean, while happy with the introduction of a single payer system, is hoping that the state will also tackle the method of payment to health professionals and hospitals. Rather than the fee-for-service basis, which studies indicate leads to unnecessary expenditures, Dean would like to see some system of flat rates based on the nature of the illness. This is a complex and controversial issue, one which we Canadians have not been able to resolve.

In Canada in the 1960s, Saskatchewan, with a population (925,000) not much larger than Vermont's today, pioneered health care changes that led to our national Medicare program. I am hoping that Vermont will develop and test a new payment method that other states can adopt---and that we can 'steal'.

Perhaps that is asking too much at a time when the state is trying to rebuild itself after Irene, but the people of the Green Mountain State  are tough and resourceful. I think Vermont might just be able to do both things.

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See you on November 13th for Posting #129th with more stories from our family’s universe! If you have comments or suggestions, please leave a comment at the bottom of this posting,  or email me at johnpathunter@gmail.com.

Note:

Have you read the latest Posting on The Icewine Guru blog? You can read "Are Canadian Politics Dull?" at http://theicewineguru.blogspot.com/