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Office Solutions, Jul/Aug 2004

Smead sponsors TV series

Smead Manufacturing Co. is the exclusive corporate sponsor of a new PBS television show, Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska, beginning in July. "As a manufacturer and marketer of filing Systems and records management, Smead understands the value of simplicity at work and at home," says Sharon Hoffman Avent, Smead president and CEO. "Our advertising message is Organize your work; simplify your life.'"

The PBS show looks at the cluttered, time-pressured world in which Americans live. Formatted with howto information, it offers viewers solutions to help save energy, money, and resources. The final segment is entitled "The Thing That Refused to Die," which focuses on obsolete items people continue to care for. The series was filmed in 10 states and is projected to cover at least 50 percent of U.S. households in its initial run. Frank Levering is the scriptwriter and executive producer of the program. He lives with Urbanska and their son Henry in the small N. C. town of Mount Airy in the Appalachian foothills. Urbanska has written, or co-written with Levering, several books about simple living as well as the difference between urban and rural America.

Smead is a majority woman-owned company that has made quality, environmentally responsible products and innovative organizational systems for nearly a century. Smead saves nearly 13,000 tons of paper from landfills yearly and emphasizes that it takes 61 percent less water and 70 percent less energy to make recycled products than virgin-material products. More than 75 percent of Smead's packaging and shipping cartons contain recycled material, and the company's entire line of paper products is made with recycled wastepaper.

Smead is also a partner with the City of Hope, which concentrates on research to cure cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Smead CEO and president Avent was honored with the Spirit of Life Award in 3008 for her outstanding business and philanthropic leadership, a prestigious honor given to an outstanding volunteer who expresses the concerns of City of Hope in improving both the quantity and quality of life.

Successful Schmoozing

Although the word "schmooze" is defined as a "chat" by The American Heritage Dictionary, business people often consider schmoozing as the ability to talk to and interact with business colleagues in such a way that makes them feel special while simultaneously working to get them to see things your way or to do something for you.

Although many people are born with a talent to schmooze, most have to acquire the skill. For people who feel schmoozing is a necessary careerbuilding tool, Pendaflex's Keeping Tabs newsletter recently reported the following tips for learning the schmoozing basics.

Establish commonalities. Connect to business colleagues byway of their interests. For example, if a person enjoys cars and you're not exactly an automobile aficionado, you can still make a reference to the topic to serve as a door opener and get a conversation started.

Listen intently. Don't hog the conversation. If the other people demonstrate they want to talk, let them do so. You'll make them feel you care, and you value what they are saying, which can instantly put them on your side.

Ask questions. As with listening intently, posing questions shows you are interested in learning more about what they have to say.

Share something personal about yourself. It doesn't have to be your deepest, darkest secret. You could mention something, such as your fondness for classic movies, that has nothing to do with your business. This helps open the lines of communication that may allow you to drive home your real point later.

Follow up whenever possible. If you have a meeting with someone, it's a good idea to phone the person a day or two later to both stay in touch and also quickly review what was said. Following up in this way demonstrates that both the other person and what was discussed are important.

Watch out for TV values

Most Americans are suffering from values contaminated by television. We have a flawed, internal relief system that is holding us back, according to D. Brace Merrifield Jr., an expert on high performance service management and turn-around advisor for wholesale distribution companies and channels; www.merrifield.com.

Statistics from the American Academy of Pediatrics show Japanese children go to school for two hours longer each day school is in session, this includes two Saturdays each month. They have 240 days of school per year, and the United States has 178 days. Japanese school children are assigned two hours more homework each night. What do U.S. students do with their extra four hours of free time each day? By age 18, the average American teenager will have spent more time watching television-35,000 hours-than learning in the classroom.

According to A.C. NielsenCo., in 1998, average U.S. adults watch almost four hours of W each day. That's more than 52 days of nonstop W per year. By age 65, the average American will have spent nearly nine years glued to the tube.