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Spend A Day With The Miller Company's Tom Miller
By: Tama Swan, Associate Editor
Issue: 2009sep
Things haven’t been quite normal for Tom Miller as of late. The president of Colleyville, Texas-based distributor The Miller Company (UPIC: MILL0006) recently returned from France where he attended his graduation ceremony from HEC School of Management in conjunction with Oxford University. Miller earned a master’s degree in coaching and consulting for change. “I’m not an MBA kind of guy, but I wanted more substance around people issues and change management. And I wanted a better understanding of international perspectives,” he says. Miller squeezed his quest for higher education onto a plate full of commitments to three industry associations. He says this much travel and excitement is atypical for him, but here’s proof he maintains an active lifestyle whether he’s working or not.
4:45 am I wake up a little earlier than normal. I don’t need an alarm clock anymore and usually get up sometime around 5:15 or 5:30 am. I eat a bowl of cereal and then read The Wall Street Journal and my local paper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I like being well-informed about the world, and I always start the day with those two papers. Next, I check e-mail, respond to a couple of issues I’ve been putting off and make the rounds of the social networking sites to see what might be new. I visit Facebook mainly to keep up with my 20-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter (though she’s not a big user). I’m new to the LinkedIn thing, and I’m working to figure out how to gain value there.
6:15 am Go for a run. For a few years now I’ve focused on staying in shape and have competed in various endurance races to provide a goal for training. Living in Texas, the only option for summertime training outdoors is early in the morning. As I get older—I’m 47—the early morning workouts are becoming harder and my body just doesn’t want to move until about mid-morning. I don’t listen to music when I train as it gets in the way of good thinking time. I’ve just returned from a couple of association meetings, so I roll those issues through my head and mentally cover some of the outputs I’m responsible for. [Miller serves on the board of the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement, is the immediate past president of Recognition Professionals International and is a founding member of the Recognition Council.—Ed.]
When I return, I clean up, kiss my wife, Catherine, grab my computer and a banana and head to the office.
8:04 am I arrive at work. It’s great that I live less than a mile from our office. We’re building a new office in Grapevine, Texas, which is seven miles away but still very close.
We’re not much on clock punching at The Miller Company. Some people like to get in early, others arrive later. With technology these days it’s easy to work wherever you’re most efficient. We just got a new phone system that makes working remotely a lot easier. That said, I believe people working in creative environments need to “rub up against each other.” We work in an open office where our close proximity makes communication easy and ideas are generated on a regular basis.
I’ve been out of the office a bunch, so I grab coffee and spend some time catching up with people. I get harassed by Sharon Webb, program manager, for being gone so much and commiserate with Brian Rhea, marketing director, about the Texas Rangers’ recent slump. I also catch up with Julie Ayala, purchasing manager, on our shared interest in running and family stuff.
8:45 am I review recent expenses, approve the week’s outgoing checks and then walk around the office real quick. I make a mental note to freshen up the office a bit—we’ve got clients visiting next week and there’s some stuff that needs to be done. We’re competing for business that’s a pretty good size and, like it or not, many people are impressed by “bigger”—bigger offices, balance sheets, staff numbers, etc. It makes me wish we were already in the new office, but this office suits us fine for now.
9:30 am I respond to a couple of brewing issues, one with a client and one with a supplier. I resolve the client issue, which allows me to cancel a meeting planned for the afternoon. The supplier issue is a nice one to deal with. One of our account executives, Gene Park, had a good year with this supplier (CSI) and achieved their President’s Club level. A nice trip to Utah is on the way for Gene and his wife, Jill.
10:20 am I put thoughts on paper regarding association issues. There are too many associations serving the same constituencies. It’s a legacy of the days when industry segments were more defined. If associations were first forming today, they would not look like what currently exists. I think it’s a good time to re-evaluate the alphabet soup of associations serving people in the branding/people engagement business.
11:15 am I head home for a quick lunch, raiding the fridge for leftovers. Someone made something sweet and gooey for breakfast and there’s some left. I break training and scarf the sweet/gooey thing after eating a healthy broccoli/pasta thing.
12 pm Back at the office, I review some work by our accounting manager, Susan Hunter. I’m not numbers oriented by nature, so Susan’s a big help here.
1 pm I return some e-mails involving sales-related issues, a new business card design, association issues and medical insurance renewal issues. Then I work on a blog posting. I try to keep our company blog, Inspiration Conversation, fresh. I’ve become better at updating more regularly.
2:45 pm I look at my calendar and consider travel logistics for the next few months. Conferences, supplier sales meetings, out-of-town clients, trips with Catherine—what do I have to get to?
3:15 pm I meet with account executives Kathy Hartzler and Brian Dodds about a large RFP. It’s a company store application with a new client. There are a few tough calls on this one, but we wrangle through a strategy that will work for us. I hope it will work for the client.
4:30 pm I respond to a couple of e-mails and then shut down the day and head to the gym for a swim. I’m a so-so swimmer. My buddies call me a “swinker”—I swim and sink at the same time. Later, I arrive home and help Catherine prepare for some friends coming over for dinner. It’s a nice dinner with relaxed, great conversation.
9:30 pm It’s off to bed for a little reading before lights out.
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