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Congrats, Patti, and I hope you had a very happy birthday! All the best for you. :)
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#FollowFriday: Work Wife, Patti Knight
By: Gini Dietrich | July 20, 2012 |
About five years ago, I was in a meeting with my Vistage Chair and he told me it was time to hire an assistant.
I remember thinking there was no way I’d have enough work for one person to do full-time and I pushed back on the idea.
But he persisted and, in each meeting, asked me what I’d done that month that I either wasn’t good at doing or was taking a lot of time away from allowing me to grow the business.
I mentioned the idea to my good friend, Scott Farrell, who sent me the resume of one Patti Knight.
So I called Patti and invited her in for an interview.
On the day of her interview, I heard her in the lobby talking to Jack Bauer. You see, he’s a MUCH better judge of people’s character than I am so we always make sure he’s around when we interview.
But Patti. Patti was talking to Jack Bauer as if he were a person (he thinks he is) and, when I walked out there to introduce myself, she was kneeling on the floor, scratching his ears, and he was licking her face.
He does not do that. He’s a big, fat momma’s boy and doesn’t cheat on me.
But there he was, cheating on me with this stranger.
I think it took me less than 15 minutes to decide to take a chance with Patti and, four years ago tomorrow, she joined the team.
What a chance, huh?
She quickly became my work wife and I wondered how I did my job without her. It turned out my Vistage Chair was right. Not only did I have enough for her to do, I began to entrust her with very sensitive items, including personnel files and financials.
When the economy tanked and we lost half our clients, the organization was fat. It was Patti’s job to trim expenses to the point that we could be profitable again. It took her more than two years to do it, but she went way above and beyond the call of duty and, with her help, we’re not only growing this year, but also profitable for the first time in years.
If you do any work with us, contact me for any reason, or need our help, it’s likely you’ve talked to Patti.
Please join me in not only congratulating her on four years with us, but also in wishing her a very happy birthday!
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Congratulations Patti on the anniversary and a very happy birthday. I so appreciated all of your efforts to help me get everything together to make things great for Gini so she could make things great for those attending our conference. You were wonderful to work with and really made things easy for me (that doesn't always happen when dealing with speakers). All the best to you.
Happy Birthday & Anniversary to Patti...just wondering if you've considered cloning yourself? Or perhaps writing a post on what it takes to be an AWESOME assistant? @ginidietrich you obviously made a great decision, even though it sounds like Jack Bauer had already made it for you!! Love that you include your dog in the "sniffing" out process...they really are the best judges of character!! :)
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@lizreusswig I really was worried that I made a fool out of myself with Jack - the office manager kind of gave me a look but it was love at first sight with me and Jackie that's for sure :)
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@lizreusswig They are the best judges of character. And, for us, if you're not a dog person, we're not going to hire you because we allow dogs to come to work and hang out and go to staff meetings and tear through the offices with important papers in their mouths (actually that one was an accident, but it was hilarious).
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Best "forced" decision you have made to date BFF was take on your amazing work wife. :)
@DonovanGroupInc Right??
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@ginidietrich Sorry - "forced" meaning the decision to consider an assistant in the first place vs being forced to hire just about the best "work wife" anyone has ever known. :)
@PattiRoseKnight @ginidietrich LOL - why am I not surprised...however a true sign of growth is acceptance of change so no one epitomizes that more than @ginidietrich :)
@DonovanGroupInc @ginidietrich and it took her FOREVER to give up things to me but she's MUCH better :)
@DonovanGroupInc Oh I knew what you meant.
Latest blog post: Gin and Topics: Kids Hate Social Media and Robert Downey Jr.
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Happy Birthday Patti!!! I don't know what Gini would do without you! She might have to hire me (Gini's mama) and that wouldn't be a good idea.
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@ChristyNorton What?!? Momma commented on the blog?!? HI MOMMA!
Latest blog post: Gin and Topics: Kids Hate Social Media and Robert Downey Jr.
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Congrats and Happy Birthday Patti, you dog whisperer!
Maybe Jack and Patti were discussing the secrets to impressing @ginidietrich!
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Congrats and happy birthday, Patti! And, I love the pic too - it looks like Jack Bauer is biting his lip as if to say "sorry, momma, I found another person to love!" My dog, Bailey, bites her lip like that too. So cute!
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This made me cry...i cant' believe it's been 4 years and any other CEO would have thought I was nuts on the floor with Jackie...Ayanna sure did LOL! I couldn't have done it without you Ms. Dietrch! You are a CEO who actually listens to her assistant - that is rare - trust me it is! And that is why we've only just begun to soar!!!!
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Happy Birthday Patti! I think I got to know you before really getting to know Gini. Thank you for all you do!
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Happy birthday @pattiknight . I haven't met you, but after reading that tribute, I'd sure like to! Any dog lover is pretty great in my book.
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@ginidietrich @TedWeismann Hallelujah and amen.
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@jasonkonopinski @ginidietrich @TedWeismann but stuffed animal dog lovers are even more special right? I had a college roommate that had some high end stuffed basset hound. Wish I knew the brand name. Anyway his name was Fred of course. And he was on the mantle in our house because he was a great conversation piece when we had people over or threw parties with was sometimes twice a day. Because Fred was anatomically correct. Not graphically but he was definitely showing his stuff off. I always wondered who had to sew him at the factory.
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HA! @pattiknight took the day off for her birthday. Wait til Monday when she finds out what we did on her behalf in her absence.
1] Signed her name to $3 trillion loan from the Russian Mafia for Arment-Dietrich expansion. Thankfully we scored it at a low 4% per day interest rate.
2] Order 3,000 Ronco Prune Pitters and Wine Opener combo tools to arrive at her house on Tuesday in her name.
3] Ate all her birthday cupcakes though @shellykramer ate 7 of them (Bad Shelly)
4] She missed her birthday cruise on the Arment-Dietrich party yacht (but we had a blast!) and @Lisa Gerber drank all the Proseco.
5] Signed her up for the Gevalia Coffee home delivery program so the free coffee maker would be our gift to her but she pays for the coffee.
6] Withdrew all her 401K funds and invested them in Saturday's Powerball (you have to be in it to win it!)
Happy Birthday Patti we love you as you can see!
@HowieSPM @shellykramer @Lisa Gerber Howie you should be writing scripts in Hollywood. This SERIOUSLY made me laugh out loud!!! Especially #6.
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Awwwww....that was an awesome tribute to Patti....you are both lucky to have each other...your mutual respect and admiration of each other are very obvious and are part of why it's such a joy to engage with Arment Dietrich! Happy Birthday Patti and congratulations to both of you on four years of career bliss!! Here's to many more!!
xoxo
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@KensViews @ginidietrich I know. she sure spends a lot of time speaking to the dead...
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I wouldn't lose any sleep over that. If I had a buck for every time she said that to me, I'd be rich! @ginidietrich @KenMueller
@ginidietrich Psh. Now you're gonna feel really bad if something happens to me in the next few hours. Way to go, Gini.
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[...] About halfway down the page is a blog post I wrote called, “Work Wife Patti Knight.” [...]