This book is intended for those early in their careers who tend to view employment primarily as a means of earning an income. In the early chapters, the origins of employment are discussed and the viewpoints of both employees and employers examined. In the latter part of the book, these issues are rolled together, and, combined with the author's and other's experiences, developed into a "how-to" for employment success. We will even define employment success (or, more precisely, let you, the reader, define it).In the middle of the book, there is considerable material about employment freedom. It is the author's implicit contention that most employees today are not free, for they have succumbed to easy credit, primarily in the form of credit cards, to satisfy their lusts for material things. Like the Tennessee Ernie Ford song of the '50's, "Sixteen Tons," most cannot go when St. Peter calls, for they "owe their soul to the company store" except today the company store carries the name MBNA or Citicorp (ask your grandparents about this song).From the author's experience, many older workers could also benefit from this book, for, by his observation they have either (a) failed to learn certain basic truths about employment or (b) try to ignore them. To operate in such a vacuum is foolish. The truths expounded here are as basic as gravity, and despite one's attempt to ignore or refute them, they, like gravity, continue to affect life in the subsets of the civilized portions of this planet-our collective places of employment.
Author Biography:
Jim Thompson (James R. Thompson) BSME, University of Cincinnati, 1973; MS Studies, Engineering Economics, University of Cincinnati. Married to Laura Feix, 20 years, Thompson resides in Duluth, Georgia. He and Laura have three grown children and two grandsons. Thompson currently owns and operates Talo Analytic International, Inc. and is one of the owners of Paperitalo Publications, LLC. He has been a private consultant to the pulp and paper industry for over twenty-five years, always operating his own business. He has special expertise in advising international financial center banks (such as Bank of America and others) in new construction in the pulp and paper industry. His consulting has been instrumental to nearly $6.5 billion in fresh investments in the pulp and paper industry. Paperitalo Publications publishes the two highest readership ranked (according to alexa.com) pulp and paper e-newsletters in the world, PaperMoney(R) (www.globalpapermoney.com) and Nip Impressions(R) (www.nipimpressions.com) and the only internet radio network in the industry, Pulp and Paper Radio International (www.ipulpradio.com). Thompson is the author of several books on the pulp and paper industry, including a novelette murder mystery. A three time cancer survivor (NHL, 2000; Burkitt's Lymphoma, 2006; and NHL, 2017), Thompson is interested in cancer research and support for cancer patients. Thompson has an active interest in missions, especially in India and the Porch de Salomon, Panajachel, Guatemala. Thompson's hobbies include extreme driving--he has solo driven the 48 contiguous states in less than 7 days (April 29 - May 5, 2005). He is currently planning to circumnavigate Australia (on land). Jim and Laura like to travel. Laura's career (she is an Aerospace Standards Engineer with SAE International), as well as Jim's, help facilitate this avocation. Earlier in his career, Thompson was Executive Vice President, Jaakko Poyry, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina. During his tenure with this company, he also lived in Helsinki, Finland. Previously, Thompson was a Paper Mill Manager for Packaging Corporation of America and a Project Engineer at Westvaco Corporation. Thompson began his career in the engineering division of Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. Along the way, he taught (part time) Computer Science at Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri; been the part owner of a computer store and had several other side ventures.
