Jon Hersey - Fly Fisherman | Page 6

their money, and if
you met them on the street, you would never know they are wealthy."

The mini-vacation is wonderful: - Jon picks-up fly fishing quickly thanks to David's
teaching technique, - Scott spent an hour teaching Jon how to select the right fly
(Paul's favorite saying goes through Jon's mind - the correct fly catches the right
kind of fish), - Daryl spent an hour showing how to use the accessories, - and the
first "fishing hole" produced two five-pound Rainbow Trout and one two-pound
Brown Trout ... The fish ... and Jon were hooked.

On Saturday night, Daryl cooks his special Trout-ala-orange-Daryl-sauce. The
food, company, and conversation are great.

Sunday morning everyone packs-up their SUV ... signaling the end of the fishing.
Jon and Daryl are the first to leave - Daryl has an early flight - they pull onto state
road #2174 and Daryl says, "Talked with Peter. He has assured me that Mark
Dayton will not be in Cincinnati next weekend. Apparently, Carl Walden has
invited Mark and family to San Francisco for a long weekend."


500,000 Flies

5:00 AM on a Monday is an odd time for his phone to ring, "hello, this is Jon."

- "Jon, it's Peter, sorry to call so early. I've got an international conference call in
about 30 minutes and it could last two, two and a half, hours. Daryl called
Sunday afternoon about Mark Dayton being part of your "regular" job and our
disruption assignment. This is a first for Zeta. My advise is to get as much on this
disruption as possible while Mark is in San Francisco this weekend."
- "are we sure Mark will be in San Francisco?"
- "Carl said Mark had agreed to spend the weekend. Just Mark, his family is
visiting family in Indiana."
- "anymore info from Carl?"
- "Carl told me he might be the cause of Mark's down mood. Carl convinced Mark
to be part of the fishing group you are working on with Biz Planners. He thinks
Mark might be having money problems at one or more of his companies,
because Mark is worried about something he won't talk about, and he has
stopped all his community involvement and donations. This info goes counter to
our thoughts about Mark's illegally selling medical supplies for money ... You
might consider a carefully worded conversation with Carl and, or, Mark. Do not
risk exposing Zeta, or this disruption! I'll call if something new comes up. Call me
if anything, anything, changes. Continue to handle this as any other disruption."

On the downside, Peter's call was disturbing, and on the upside, Jon now has an
extra hour to review his "winging it" plan for the Fly Fishing Wholesale Group
meeting.


Gathering five entrepreneurs, with cell phones, to start a meeting is like herding
cats. After about twenty minutes of various members coming and going, Jon
started the meeting when three of the five members were ready to go. Jon
passed out his agenda:

- review of the original plan
- assignments to validate assumptions
- review the financial statements
- discuss enhancements to original plan
- review changes to financial statements
- discuss funding needs
- schedule individual meetings for tomorrow
- review key organizational needs
- Tuesday 3PM is Go / No Go decision.

With the meeting started, the other two members ended their calls and joined the
meeting. Jon passed out the original plan which had been prepared by Gary
Holstein, the designated accounting guy. Quickly, participation blossomed to
almost out-of-control ... more cat herding ... the variety of opinion was
surprisingly different from the "Gary Holstein" plan ... the members were having
sidebar conversations, interrupting each other, not listening, and trying to hog the
floor. Jon tapped a spoon on his tea cup until all the members were quiet, "we

will not get anything done unless we exercise some control. Write your questions
and comments down as they come to mind - at the end of each section we will
review your input - tweak the plan accordingly - then vote on going to the next
step." ... [cats corralled!!!]. The rest of the first section goes well and the
members are impressed with Jon's quick action and command of the meeting.

The meeting is progressing as planned, the participation is good, the members
are starting to have a common vision, the financial review goes better than
expected ... Jon's only concerns are the lack of focus and participation by Mark
Dayton; and, Carl Walden's weird attention directed at Mark.

After lunch, each member leads the discussion on their ideas and improvements.
When all had participated, Jon asked the group if they thought a