You can always tell a great deal about the morals of a company by the attitude and actions of its CEO. These letters that I am sending you are recent ones that Meiners, CEO of PublishAmerica has been snding out to the authors and
copies of them can also be found on the PublishAmerica website.
few years ago, Mr. Meiners wrote a blog in Dutch for his family and friend in Holland. He also wrote a blog in English that was titled "Hellocopter."
This post was made on the Dutch blog, on August 21, 2008 and it does demonstrate Meiners' attitude towards Americans and his American employees. These words offer us a glimpse into the real nature of the man at the helm of this company. There is an obvious sharp contrast between the real Willem Meiners and the one represented in his book, "Thank You" and these daily emails to these authors. This is relevant because today's letter focused on why he loves America.
"What, how it is that I man behind desks to eleven o'clock in the morning mn blog to write about? Because there is nothing else to do in the office. I have in the last sixteen months the workforce reduced from 80 to around 55, but since I am not by busier. Rather, more people mean more communication. Fewer people are often more efficient. We have thirty thousand writers under contract and on a beautiful day I thought: you know what, that may itself be a little more so. So now all those correct themselves their new book. Only if they are really a mess of it, we intervene. Scheelt all in all a man or twenty to editors.
"What, how it is that I man behind desks to eleven o'clock in the morning mn blog to write about? Because there is nothing else to do in the office. I have in the last sixteen months the workforce reduced from 80 to around 55, but since I am not by busier. Rather, more people mean more communication. Fewer people are often more efficient. We have thirty thousand writers under contract and on a beautiful day I thought: you know what, that may itself be a little more so. So now all those correct themselves their new book. Only if they are really a mess of it, we intervene. Scheelt all in all a man or twenty to editors.
For a staff of 55 here we have an unusually large publishing house. Every day hundred to sign new authors, we accept there twenty, and every day we give twenty new books. It is one oiled machine, with its own printing plant. Tampering after nine years still rarely required. Actually the only time where I lost the daily flow of threats of lawsuits in which the lawyer now and then a directive. Welcome to America. It is a country of carriers and complainants. The carriers are world champion. The complainants in the dressing room at either end. They have the effect of flying at a renpaard. A zwaai with the tail does half disappear, the rest remains behind once the race started.
It is obvious a great country. Nowhere else can I collect what I have now in our pockets. A miljoenenwinkel. Two houses, one with its own runway. Four cars. Private helicopter. Duplicate wereldrecordhouder (triple actually, we also hold the world record books since we sign five years ago a complete shopping mall filled). Three women, although not simultaneously. Oh, and the Yankee cat, Larry the vuilbekgoudvis, and a John Deere tractor grasmaai.
All opschepperij, you say. That's true, that you learn here soon enough. But it is not a sin if the facts are true. And importantly, it's all nothing compared to what is still in the barrel. That's it. Aanvangerscursus. Tipje of the veil: an orphanage. Packed with children where you vadertje and mother may come into play. There are 140 million orphans in the world. Of Alice and I go there to begin a thousand under the arm."
Here is another excerpt from a blog written by Mr. Meiners, he makes a strange observation that his employees like being terminated by him because of his "cute" foreign accent.
"I have been speaking Dutch with an English accent ever since, like all Hans Brinkers's who move overseas. We just can't wrap our mouths around the fat R's and the meowing Wow's.
If anything it has generally worked to my advantage; people like foreign accents, they find me sounding cute when I don't mean to sound cute. Staff prefers to be fired by me because it sounds better (I had one actually hugging me after I gave her the boot), stuff like that. I have stopped overhearing myself a long time ago, I'm never conscious of my own sound anymore, even when in the helicopter you hear your own voice in the headset all the time. Until this video tape. Who the heck wants to listen to this?"
It is obvious a great country. Nowhere else can I collect what I have now in our pockets. A miljoenenwinkel. Two houses, one with its own runway. Four cars. Private helicopter. Duplicate wereldrecordhouder (triple actually, we also hold the world record books since we sign five years ago a complete shopping mall filled). Three women, although not simultaneously. Oh, and the Yankee cat, Larry the vuilbekgoudvis, and a John Deere tractor grasmaai.
All opschepperij, you say. That's true, that you learn here soon enough. But it is not a sin if the facts are true. And importantly, it's all nothing compared to what is still in the barrel. That's it. Aanvangerscursus. Tipje of the veil: an orphanage. Packed with children where you vadertje and mother may come into play. There are 140 million orphans in the world. Of Alice and I go there to begin a thousand under the arm."
Here is another excerpt from a blog written by Mr. Meiners, he makes a strange observation that his employees like being terminated by him because of his "cute" foreign accent.
"I have been speaking Dutch with an English accent ever since, like all Hans Brinkers's who move overseas. We just can't wrap our mouths around the fat R's and the meowing Wow's.
If anything it has generally worked to my advantage; people like foreign accents, they find me sounding cute when I don't mean to sound cute. Staff prefers to be fired by me because it sounds better (I had one actually hugging me after I gave her the boot), stuff like that. I have stopped overhearing myself a long time ago, I'm never conscious of my own sound anymore, even when in the helicopter you hear your own voice in the headset all the time. Until this video tape. Who the heck wants to listen to this?"
Furthermore, the writing style in those blog posts does not match the style of these letters that are being sent out in his name. I suspect he has a ghost writer.
Good morning!
I received many warm reactions to yesterday's letter about Anne Frank. Thank you for that.
I wrote it because this is the week when the Dutch have their own Memorial Day, dedicated to those who perished during the second world war. It is observed one evening only, the eve of what's known as Liberation Day, May 5. That's the day in 1945 when Eisenhower's armies kicked the enemy out of the Netherlands.
Let me tell you something about what happened that day, after this book review:
Jeffery Jones (1081jks@yahoo.com) wrote Parents Dreams, Family Addictions. The most difficult moment of being a parent is the day that nobody prepares you for: it's the moment you realize that you have lost control of your child. They have become somebody with a mind of their own, and they have stopped listening to you. Or worse, they turn their back to you and do something really stupid. Like using drugs, and becoming addicted. That's when a parent is almost literally doused with a realization that they now feel totally paralized.There is not just one approach to a situation like that. But there is basically just one way to discuss it with the prodigal child: with clear, no-nonsense language. And that's what Jeffery Jones has found in his very helpful book. Jeffery's goal is to get kids off the streets, period, to get them off that runaway wagon. I laud Mr. Jones for his effort. He is making a serious effort to talk to these young people, to make them see the light of a dream, to spark a rekindling of a parents-child relationship, by essentially doing one thing only: talking sense.
I don't want to dwell on the past with you, but it's worth realizing that what happened in May 1945 changed the world in a way that had never been witnessed before, or has since. America did not only bring freedom to Europe's shores, but love, kindness, prosperity, health. And ingenuity, entrepreneurship, a culture of can-do.
Don't get the wrong impression when sometimes you watch the news on TV and you're told that Europeans don't like America. It's not true. Europe loves America and they do everything they can to emulate her. Europe idolizes Hollywood, sings along with American music, watches American satellite TV; everything else is second rate. Europe talks using iPhones, communicates through Facebook, dines at McDonald's.
My wife, Alice, is American. When we travel to Europe she's the center of everyone's attention. Women want to know what she's wearing, they marvel at her English, they're floored when they hear that Alice is a private pilot. In Europe it's rare for anyone to fly a plane, let alone for a woman. But in America you can do that, and Europeans are filled with admiration for that fact. It's what they want too.
So when Ike liberated the country of my birth in those early May days, he brought along much more than sheer force. America brought hope, determination, renewal, inspiration, creativity, invention, none of which you can buy with money or force onto a people with military power. America also brought efficiency and opportunity, and all you have to do to understand why that is true is to look at just about any manual that comes with anything new you buy. The odds are that it's in two languages, English and Spanish. Compare the number of words that are needed in English to how many are needed in Spanish. English is 20 percent more efficient, because America is more effcient than any other nation.
Then ask yourself why we need manuals in Spanish to begin with. It's because so many people from south of the border have come here, 50 million of them, the vast majority of whom are here legally. Stick to the big picture and be proud, because you as an American should be. Everyone wants to be like an American, poor and rich. Just about every European wants to be like an American. That was absolutely not the case before that war seventy years ago. America did not start that war, but she did end it. And when she did, a peace broke out like no peace ever before.
And that, more than anything else, is why I love America.
On the soapbox today, open mic: Joseph Lopez, The Bootlegger (http://us.mc1204.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lopscott@yahoo.com): "The Bootlegger is the story of a guy who takes the wrong road in life but eventually turns around and heads in the right direction."
I invite you to talk back to me. I don't guarantee a response, but I do guarantee that we listen. You can reach me by email at http://us.mc1204.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=meetpublishamerica@publishamerica.com. In the subject line write Attn. Willem.
Have a wonderful day!
--Willem Meiners
If you want to rent space on Willem's future Letters-from-the-CEO, go to www.publishamerica.net/service/Willem.html. Have your book reviewed for tens of thousands of people to see, or talk into the open mic!
You can read this letter also online here: http://www.publishamerica.net/ceo043012.html.html. All previous letters are here: www.publishamerica.net/ceoarchives
What do you think about Mr. Meiners' opinion about Americans? Do Europeans really want to live like Americans?
Europe does not admire America or it's 'culture.' Americans are obsessed with McDonalds, celebrities and sex. Europeans would never 'marvel' at an American pronounciation of English. Manuels in Spanish? They’ve screwed the English language up beyond belief. Get a handle on English before taking on a second language over there.
ReplyDeleteFashion trends start in Europe and become trends everywhere else a year or so after we wore it. If anyone is asking 'what she is wearing.' I think a far better question is 'why are you wearing that?'