This is all the personal stuff about me. There's absolutely no
business reason for you to look at this section...
Life started for me at Stanford University Hospital on April 13,
1949. My dad, Merle, was an electrical engineer at Pacific Telephone
and Telegraph Company (later becoming Pacific Bell), and had just
returned from WWII as a radar officer on a destroyer escort fighting
in the Pacific. Edith, my mom, had retired from her career singing
with the San Francisco Opera Company. Although both of my parents are
now dead, I have a close relationship with my big sister, Marlene, who
you see in the photo cradling her baby doll.
I grew up in San Carlos, California, a suburb of San Francisco. I
started many little neighborhood enterprises marketing used comic
books, homemade sno-cones, greeting cards, you name it. If you look
closely at my eyes in this photo, you'll note that I'm looking for the
next entrepreneurial opportunity.
My dad was very proud that he took his family on a big vacation
experience each summer. He thought trips like driving from California
to Mexico City in our 1951 Packard were fun adventures. However,
unlike me, he wasn't crammed into the back seat with a big sister and
assorted baskets, pottery, and canary cages (and canaries). Some
years we went to Europe; others involved train trips around the U.S.;
and later, camping and fishing in the Sierra Nevada mountains. My
great great grandfather was George Donner, leader of the ill-fated
Donner Party (check for "cannibalism" under U.S. History in your
encyclopedia) and our family felt connected to those same mountains.
I was severely bitten by the travel bug at an early age.
I lived in the same house all through grade school and high
school, and then headed off to the University of California on the
beach in Santa Barbara.
In my sophomore year, the university's Placement
Director, who helped students find part time jobs, sent me out on an
assignment no other student wanted. I was hired as a "Nut
Demonstrator" at the nearby Sears Roebuck store just off State Street
in Santa Barbara. I remember walking through the store in a tall white
chef's hat with a tray of cashews and a long handled spoon calling
out: "They're grown in India and roasted right here at Sears. Have
one! Give one to your poodle. Then head over to that machine at the
candy counter and get a whole bag of fresh roasted cashews to take
home for your family!"
I did so well with the nuts (and that may have been a personality
shaping experience) that the Placement Director called me in to urge
me to apply for what she told me was the very best job on campus:
"Campus Sales Representative" for TWA. I didn't know much about the
job, but she said it was the best one available, so I set my sights on
getting it. Sure enough, my new boss at TWA welcomed me to the
company and explained that I'd be paid $100 a month part time, which
worked out to $2.50 an hour. Oh, there was one other benefit to this
part time sales job: Unlimited free travels anywhere in the world!
That turned out to be a pretty good job.
This sounds like a fantasy, but it's absolutely how I made
decisions through college: "It's Thursday and my next class is Monday.
I can go to a movie or two, shoot some pool, buy a couple of tacos,
and that's going to cost me $10 to $15 for the weekend. Or, I can fly
to Hong Kong and see two movies westbound, and two more eastbound,
have several meals on the plane, and ride the Star Ferry back and
forth across Hong Kong harbor for a nickel. So, that's going to total
up to about 50 cents for the weekend. Hmmm. Let me think."
Over the next six years, I completed my BA in Rhetoric and Public
Address at UCSB and then earned an MBA in Marketing at UCLA. But this
version of my bio isn't supposed to be about business, is it? Way
more important than the book learnin' was what I did with all those
free tickets from TWA: Hitchhiked from Nairobi to Cape Town and back a
couple of times, trekked into the highlands of New Guinea, hiked to
Machu Piccu via the Inca Trail in the Andes, and on and on and on. I
made extensive use of my free travel benefit, always with a backpack,
a smile, and usually a ponytail.
After finishing up my formal education, I could no longer keep
that cushy $100 a month part time job with unlimited travel and almost
no interference impinging upon my vagabonding nature. I had to get a
real job. After a few months (full time!) as TWA's Supervisor of Sales
Development in LA, I was recruited by a New York ad agency that was
opening a West Coast office. I worked in account management for a
variety of clients including Continental Airlines, McCulloch Chain
Saws, and Van de Kamps Frozen Foods. Ah, but I'm slipping back to
business and this is supposed to be the juicy personal stuff.
In the mid-1980's, I left my career in the ad business and became
a professional speaker, got married, gave a lot of speeches, wrote
three books, established wonderful long-term friendships and
professional relationships, and then, in 1990 the most wonderful thing
happened: I became a father! Kelcie Paige Walther, born on April 29,
1990, has her own section of this web
site, and I encourage you to jump there and take a look at my
charming daughter.
Kelcie's mother and I divorced in 1995 and then things took an
unusual turn. After the divorce, my former wife decided to move to
Canada. As a result, I became Kelcie's custodial parent. She now lives with me in the same neighborhood that has been her home since birth. We live in a sweet little cottage on a small lake and have a very close relationship. She does visit her mom on a
little island in British Columbia regularly. Most days, if I'm not
out on a speaking engagement, I'm at the bus stop sending Kelcie off
to class, or welcoming her home.
As for hobbies, I'm a hiker and enjoy the trails right around my
home. I've been a private pilot; however, after crashing my airplane
in 1996, I took up motorcycling and now enjoy riding my Harleys.
And, I love my professional life as much as my personal life.
Was that a little more information than you were after? Or, way too much?
