Operating Outside the Paradigm
There is no better business model…
In my last post, I described moving from NYC to Pennsylvania and becoming an employer for the 1st time…something I was reluctant to do at the outset.
The writing on the wall was clear however…
My new community needed jobs…and I was set up to become involved.
Circumstances led the way…in the form of the entrance of a new customer…American Greetings. From there, I was fairly catapulted into existence on short notice!
the man with the prettiest eyes in the world...Debra Robinson·Jan 31Read full story
The adventure began…
I had just moved to a 36 acre ‘abandoned’ farm at the foothills of the Pocono mountains. From the cramped and noisy confines of NYC to the natural beauty of Pennsylvania felt like a miracle in itself. The old farmhouse had a large pond surrounded by woods. It was the relief I needed after 10 years in the city.
I could not have guessed then what lay ahead…
I had imagined an idyllic life in my new setting.
Here, I am reminded of the saying:
‘If God has never interrupted your plans, then you have probably not made His acquaintance.’
It wasn’t the 1st time His acquaintance had been made, nor would it be the last.
Somehow I get maneuvered into new and unexpected chapters every decade or so. It has made for a very interesting life!
When I look back on ALL the things I wanted to do with my life when I was young, it was impossible to choose. I could not edit or plan my life to encompass all that I was on the inside, yet as I look back now, nearly all of those yearnings found expression!
It was not a linear path in the conventional sense, but in terms of growing a soul…it was perfect.
This was a ‘tiger by the tail’ experience for the next 10 years.
On a ‘hunch’, I rented a workspace, outfitted it and went off to exhibit at a NY trade show. A few days later, I was contracted to do private label work for American Greetings, an industry giant.
Overnight, I went from being a solo worker to putting up a factory in the middle of winter and hiring everyone who walked through the door!
In less than a year, I was the largest employer in the community. We had a day shift and a student shift in the evenings.
Just to give a feel for things…on an average day, we would receive 1 40-foot trailer load of raw materials and turn it into 2 trailer loads of finished product. It was fast-paced and we often worked like farm hands.
I wore most of the hats…designer, buyer, line worker, office manager, trade show rep, HR, boss, bill payer, etc. You name it… 6am to 9pm, 5-6 days a week.
Word spread quickly around the community that I was hiring. Anyone and everyone who was willing to work had a place with us. Most of the people were seasoned factory workers…a big plus, I reasoned. But I was soon to find that that cut both ways.
As I mentioned in the prior post, they had experienced some harsh treatment from their former employers. I was walking into a lot of bad history.
I began to recall my own bits of history working in various factory settings as a young person. Each one had forged its own culture.
I would later realize that each one of those seemingly random jobs had contributed something unique and needed for this unexpected venture. All of the puzzle pieces came together…in a perfectly coordinated way!
Back to workplace culture…
The leaders of the gang quickly rose to prominence. They wasted no time in letting the others where they stood in the pecking order. And then, to make matters worse, I realized that I was somehow placed into an antagonistic relationship with my people!
I was the ’outsider’, the ‘boss lady’, someone to be distrusted and resisted. A foe, an adversary. Someone to ‘best’ in a never-ending power struggle.
As I surveyed the work floor, I began to realize that all my employees were older…and meaner…than me!
They were hard on each other, too! It wasn’t long before I had a line of upset, often crying, angry employees outside my office at the end of a work day.
“She said this!” or “She did that!” I heard them out and tried to help, of course. That wound up putting me in the middle of their feuds. In fact, it never failed to make things worse!
Three weeks into this experience, I was sleepless, miserable, on the verge of an ulcer, and doubting the whole enterprise! What had seemed like a great opportunity for us all was blowing up in my face!
In desperation, I kind of prayed one night.
“I know…or at least, I’m pretty sure…that You led me into this experience, but I’m only three weeks in and I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to survive it!“
That’s all I could muster. I fell into an exhausted, hopeless sleep.
Somehow in the night, I was shown something. A dream…or not quite a dream, but an understanding was given. A direction was received…along with a bit of needed courage.
The next morning, instead of beginning production, I called a meeting. The ladies were already sullen and moody for the day ahead…and not terribly interested in anything I would have to say.
I had found the words to express what was shown in the night…
“Ladies, we are going to scrap all the rules we started with. From now on, we will only have 2 rules.
The 1st rule is: I will do my best for you…and I need you to do your best for me.”
And then I fleshed it out. I knew their history with their previous employers…uncertainty, closed-door decisions and callous treatment.
“What this means is that we are doing away with all the titles, including that of ‘boss’. We are all on the same level here. We all will do whatever kind of work is needed at the time.
If there is a slowdown or work stoppage, you will know about it as soon as I know about it. There will be transparency in all things. Wages, profits, business flow, etc. Any problems or concerns? You can come directly to me. Don’t go around the ‘back forty’ or fret amongst yourselves. I am not your enemy. We are all together here…not one side against the other.
If you want to keep a job here, all you have to do is to produce half the amount that I do. (that effectively ended any slave-driver complaints. As they were soon to find, I was a working fool)
The 2nd rule is: No gossip.
You can talk all day long as long as our deadlines are met, but while you are under this roof, you cannot say an unkind thing about another person.
Think about it! You spend as much or more of your waking hours here than you do in your own home, so this is a kind of home for you. If you are gossiping and pecking at each other all day long, is it any wonder that you go home bleeding at the end of the day?”
It was radical for the time…and likely illegal. But it was my factory after all…
It was so offbeat that it fell on somewhat deaf ears, given all their years in harsh circumstances.
I thought it was an elegant solution.
It didn’t occur to me that I would then have to learn to enforce it…the gossip part in particular. I watched in dismay as they went right back to their old ways.
Step by step, I was guided and was growing into the venture. When I saw the mean girls up to their old tricks, I would insert myself between them on the work floor, start working briskly and smile at them, saying “No gossip.” Whole days were sometimes spent like this.
Not a few of them bristled, challenged me, and tried to maintain the old status quo behind my back. I had no choice but to win…for everyone’s sake. When their fury reached a peak, they went menacingly silent. This went on for weeks!
A few of the ladies broke ranks and began to exchange some pleasantries. A few more joined them, but the ring leaders stood firm.
Then I began to understand that several of them actually didn’t know any other way to relate outside of back-biting and gossiping. I stood firm in the gap. Eventually, their anger burned out and they found a new way of relating. But it was ominous in the working-out phase.
The edges bagan to soften. There was some laughter and light-heartedness on the floor. The mood lifted. No more lines outside my door… The ring leaders lost their standing and a new culture was forming.
Without titles and divisions, a kind of cooperation developed. Everyone learned to do everything, exposing talent in unexpected places!
One of our farm girls became an impressive package designer. Another, rather indolent girl, became an expert fork lift driver. Others had great organizational skills or abilities in quality control, etc. In time, people naturally gravitated to what they were best at and what they most enjoyed. But we remained fluid and could flex with the changing demands of the workplace.
When we went international, a couple of ‘unsophisticated’ country gals managed our overseas customers so well that I could be absent for weeks and not worry about how well the corporate customers were handled or how the business was run.
I also had to prove myself along the way. To be transparent and fair…and real.
It took about a year to turn everything around. We slowly became family. I watched as they gently healed one another. It was never overt. Rather, it was delicate. I learned so much from them…
At that juncture, something else started to happen…
We were still growing…still hiring. I watched as a number of troubled people arrived on the company doorstep. A woman with epilepsy, who had never held a job before, living largely as a recluse with little hope… She entered the fold. Another, who was weaning herself off of a 20-year valium addiction…by herself…without her doctor’s help, as he had no desire to interrupt ‘treatment’.
A woman who had been fired by her own daughter-in-law once diagnosed with terminal cancer. We made a place for her. She could only work on the days and hours when she was able. But she needed to be among people. I now had 3 generations of her family working (another broken rule of the business world) I was graced to be the last person by her side when she passed.
Once they healed each other (and me), they went on to heal their community…
There were others… Support and love were often wordless. Good will was in plentiful supply. We relaxed completely out of the corporate model and just became Human.
There is no better business model…
It was not contrived like much of what followed in the American marketplace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were some interesting chapters as I began to design and import goods from the Orient. China was the obvious country of choice at the time, but I found the poverty and the debasement of the people disturbing. We Americans callously took advantage of their slave labor for decades.
Here is where an important lesson was learned from an unexpected source…Reader’s Digest. They had proposed a custom project. Once I submitted the samples, they grilled me thoroughly and in minute detail regarding each component. Very unusual. No explanation given. It was only at the end that they explained.
They had an internal policy of not doing business with any totalitarian regimes.
Had any of the components come from such a country, they would have asked me to source it from a free country. A valuable perspective that brought needed clarity.
From China, I made my way through Japan and Taiwan (both superb experiences) and then on to Thailand…a country with unique history and appeal. As a prelude to ordering custom-made giftware, I toured their factories.
This was to be a life-enhancing experience for all of us! Once again, I would need some coaxing, however!
Their idea of a factory was worlds apart from mine!
The scene that greeted my eyes…
I saw a large open-air courtyard surrounded by a low brick wall about 2 1/2 feet tall by 2 feet wide. It was set on a dirt road at the edge of the jungle.
Craftspeople…and their families!…were scattered around the grounds in no particular arrangement. Some were seated on low stools, others sat on the ground doing their work, while others could be seen napping on the compound walls. Some of them were cooking lunch on the walls over portable burners. It was all very casual and relaxed. I saw people joking, playing with kids, being quite cheerful with each other. Working, resting, caring for their families.
“How does anyone get anything done in this country!!??” I was aghast! Everything about it ran contrary to my well-ordered, efficient and carefully-timed approach!
It was pure mayhem to my eyes! It got under my skin…in a terrible way!!!
A couple of trips later, it was even suggested to me that I should consider having my own factory in Thailand… Madness!! It was explained that when you have an employee, you take on the care of their whole family. (Turkey shares aspects of that, as well) You provide wages, housing, food, fuel, protection, etc.
While I could not imagine such a move, and was anxious to return to my own environment, their example tugged at me below the surface. In fact, it would not let me go…
I began to take a softer-more Thai-style approach to the workplace. We began to have ‘flex-time’…before we had flex time in the States. The more I relaxed into the Thai style, the happier and more productive we were. As soon as I learned about profit-sharing, we instituted that, as well.
Based on the Thai example, as I came to the end of my time there, I handed the company to them in stages…eventually offering the company to the ladies for a nominal fee.
Eat, pray, love...for grownupsDebra Robinson·May 30, 2025Read full story
There was never any need to regard employees as ‘underlings’. They were fully valued as self-responsible, talented people who would naturally give their best.
Now on to my favorite part of this story!
As we grew, we added a second shift…a student shift…from 4-9pm. Another big learning experience! A fresh perspective!
This one took me back in time to my own youth. I remembered fairly bursting at the seams with energy and promise…only to confront a world of nay-sayers and adults intent on lording it over us and holding me/us back. For one thing, we were much smarter than we were being given credit for! We had fresh ideas and perspectives. We didn’t need hobbling and restrictions…we needed room to run!
With that keenly in mind, I thought ‘this is my big chance to treat them as I had wished to be treated at that age! To ‘give them their head’. To treat them with respect, to trust their instincts! To enjoy and affirm what they brought to the table!’
I hired every one who came as fast as they came…with one exception…a bowed-down 16 yr-old young man who struck something on the inside of me that was so unexpected that I reflexively turned him away for no clear reason. More on that in a bit…
This was the first job experience for most of them. I had a gaggle of rambunctious country kids all enthusiastic about getting their 1st paychecks. They were eager to buy cars and clothes and all that went with their time in life. They would first learn how to work…
I got them all squared away on the work floor after a short time. A bit rough around the edges, but that was ok. Then their culture emerged. The popular kids and the jocks elbowed the other kids out of the way and tried to assert supremacy. Less-advantaged kids suffered. Good kids suffered. Quiet kids were over-run.
I started by breaking up the little cliques and placing the popular kids at the bottom of the heap. They worked alongside kids they didn’t know or like. It was a little disorienting to the diva types. I gave active preference to those who did good work and those who showed a desire to earn their paychecks and not try to shirk the work or hoodwink the boss.
Thus they slowly got to know each other… Acceptance became camaraderie and friendship. On the morale side of things, I let them play their own music…loud. I let them be their rambunctious selves as long as we met our deadlines.
Once they got underway, all they needed was a bit of guidance and encouragement. As they became more confident and experienced, I could entrust them with things like training the new kids as they arrived. Little by little, they were taking ownership of their workplace. There was a good momentum building. It was very fun to watch it all unfolding.
Then the big day came when they arrived at work and saw the new sign over the door.
When it was time for their shift, they owned the business…no adults allowed! Loud music, freedom and having fun while getting the work done! They took the lead!
A friendly rivalry developed between the generations! Soon they were vying with the day shift ladies for production output. And, of course, our day shift ladies were only too happy to encourage and bring them along as they grew into their young adult roles-much as an older generation had done for us.
Ownership of a business called for learning all kinds of things! They were eager to learn. This was applicable knowledge, after all.
They learned every facet of the business. Inventory management, ordering their own botanicals, perfumes, and supplies. Keeping track of losses and waste. I showed them how to do their own hiring, training and firing (they never had to fire anyone), payroll and accounting, customer service and all the rest.
By the time they left my employ, they were fully equipped to start and operate their own businesses if they were so inclined!
There were times when a machine would break down…and one of the kids called his uncle in to repair it. Then the uncle taught the kids how to repair their equipment. Everything became a community effort. As time went on, when a major piece of equipment wore out, I was able to guide the kids in dealing with the factory. They suggested modifications and ordered a custom-made packaging machine. Then I showed them how to pay the bill for that $50,000 machine. They learned step-by-step how to manage the entire business!
What could have been grunt work under ordinary circumstances became a lively real-life adventure.
So that was the practical side of the experience…
On the human side of the equation, another scenario was unfolding.
Do you remember the young man that I turned away? I went home that night wondering why I had reacted as I had. It felt more and more like a misstep. In fact, I felt sick at what I had done. I hadn’t even taken his name or number... I prayed hard for a second chance…a chance to correct my mistake.
I remembered his meek down-cast demeanor. He couldn’t meet my eyes.
For my part, I felt like I had been punched in the gut…startled and uncomfortable. In the quiet of the night, I felt a deep concern. By morning, I told my husband “I think this kid needs a place to stay…can we manage that?” I prayed for him to show up again…
About a week later, he meekly approached me again, saying “You hired my best friend, but you didn’t hire me. Can you tell me why?” It was painful. He still couldn’t look me in the eye.
“I am soo sorry! I made a terrible mistake. I’m so glad you came back! Yes, you’re hired! Please forgive me…
I was learning my community. The two friends didn’t fit in easily…I could see that the other kids regarded him and his friend a little differently…with a kind of discomfort…even wariness. I couldn’t escape the urge to offer him a place to stay. My husband was cold to the idea. I couldn’t explain myself. I was in no position to speak to the young man I had just met. I agonized in private.
Someone took me aside to let me know that the first young man had recently ‘found his father swinging by a noose on the front porch.’ Ooof!! Barely 16. No one had seen it coming.
The second teen had been in some kind of abusive home situation.
A week or so passed. I called him into the office discreetely and asked him how things were going… ”Fine” came the flat answer. He seemed so defeated.
“Do you by any chance need a place to stay?” He tried to put a brave face on things as he said simply that he was sleeping in his car. This in a bitter cold Pennsylvania winter! His beat-up old car was not big enough for his frame. The story emerged in embarrassing bits. The State had removed him from his abusive mother and boyfriend and had ordered his father to take him until he was of age. His mother lived in squalor, well off the beaten track. From the age of 3 he had been kept outside in a dog kennel under the porch. He could barely speak, had never attended school and more. He was 12 by the time he was discovered and sent to live with his father and his girlfriend, who also did not want him. The father was court-ordered to provide a home for his son. The State stepped in to help the boy with his developmental difficulties. In time, he fell through the cracks once more and he was relegated to the car. There’s more to that tragic story, but I’ll leave it at that. To this day, I have not encountered a worse abuse history than his.
So my impressions lined up…
As we worked through it, I alerted the authorities and his father was brought for questioning. We established continued oversight.
The simple daily routines where they were treated as equals did much to help heal them and knit them into the community. Stability and love…with plenty of doses of spontaneous fun.
We looked past the story to the person inside who was struggling to live…
A challenge came…
There came a time when they confided in me that they’d met a really great guy who showered them with attention. He invited them to his house a few times, threw a couple of parties and bought them gifts.
Over the next weeks, I realized that they and others were being groomed by a homosexual and didn’t realize it. He had an eye for the vulnerable kids.
With this challenge, we deftly brought it all out into the open and got the parents of all the young men involved. The community handled it and it was quashed.
That was met with some backlash the following year when I applied for a building permit for a much-needed extension and was inexplicably denied. The groomer was a member of the planning commission. Oh well…
On a brighter note, our 2 young men were serious motorheads and when it was time for me to get a new car, they took me shopping…I came home with a fiery red Camaro! When it was prom time, both of them got to take turns borrowing it.
After several trips to the Orient, I had a free plane ticket to share. My first instinct was to take our 2nd young man, but I overruled it. I then offered it to family and friends. There were no takers. Perhaps one of our hard-working employees? Again, no takers! I offered it to the student shift. Only one hand was shyly raised…his. In the end, it fell to him, after all.
He had an artistic temperament. I thought Japan would be a life-altering experience.
It was…in more ways than I could anticipate!
I consulted with his dad, got the ok, procured a passport and off we went to Japan as part of the 1st US delegation to exhibit at the Tokyo Internation Gift Fair.
I wanted him to have the full cultural experience, so I booked a room at a ryokan…
(a traditional Japanese inn. Ryokans originated centuries ago. Tatami mat floors, shoji sliding doors leading to a private garden. Beautifully crafted kaiseki meals. Guests don yukata, simple Japanese robes)
Our room attendant was a motherly middle-aged woman. She would give us an orientation, with a traditional tea ceremony, bring our meals, transform the room in the evening for sleeping. It was a thorough immersion into the culture!
She set about helping him change into his yukata with all the attention a loving, doting mother would offer. It was a level of respect and care that was unfathomable to him. She regarded us as mother and son. He was first in everything. It was deeply transformative and healing…
A few days later, when it was time for the exhibition, we were assigned a translator, who came in the form of a very cute young lady. The kids had an instant shy crush on each other.
The Customs officials had withheld my show samples until we left the country, so there was little for me to do, so I let the young ones run and have fun.
A trip of a lifetime for him…
He was a big hit on his return…filled with stories of his trip! It opened him to life and his potential in a way that nothing else could have done.
Fast forward several years, I watched all my people grow, kids graduate, etc. It was a gratifying decade. It was time for us all to move on… New and easier jobs were coming to the area, so we helped our hatchlings make the transition. American Greetings was coming to the end of their cycle as well. They gave us a year’s notice. In the end, we all came to a soft landing…
When I sold the last parcel of the farm, I took a long final slow walk around the house, the barn, and the factory, now quiet and empty. So much to be amazed at and thankful for…
I lingered longer than I planned, reminding myself that I needed to be on the road to Atlanta to arrive by nightfall. I took another walk…and another. Why was I lingering?
A car passed me on that solitary stretch of road that saw maybe 10 cars a day. A few hundred feet beyond me, I heard a sudden screech of brakes! The car reversed and stopped in the middle of the road. A door was flung open and a man emerged calling my name in disbelief. It was him…but not the ‘him’ that I had left.
The man that stood before me that day was whole. He stood tall, shoulders back, fully embodied. He looked me fully in the eye now. I knew in that moment that he had made it.
“Debbie, I can’t believe it’s you! I never come down this road…maybe 2 or 3 times a year, but today it was like something made me…
We laughed in amazement and caught up on things…and people. They were all doing well!
He teased me about what a handful they were at times (they were!) He laughed and said ‘We all loved you! We would have done anything for you! All you ever had to do was turn up the volume!” (a much-needed insight!)
Over the years I check in occasionally on my people. The moms, the kids…
This young man married and raised a family successfully. The other young man is retired from business and living in Florida. A young woman followed me into a massage career, etc.
A few years later, during a road trip, a storm drove me to get a hotel for the night. I turned on the TV just in time to hear about a ferocious storm up north in Pennsylvania, in my old neighborhood. It struck me as more than coincidental. The next day, as I scanned their newspaper for information, I came across an obituary…the father of the abused boy had just died. I wondered how it would affect him…
Sometimes you just have to wonder what connects us…what it all means…where it is taking us.
I can only conclude that there is an active Beneficence that undergirds the world…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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