GOOD EVENING, FRIENDS. I have been selected to speak here this evening at Jim's retirement dinner because I am the only individual who can with certain knowledge explain how he came to be hired in the first place. Having been an administrative assistant myself, I must confess that I had, what some thought, was an exaggerated sense of the role administrative assistants could play in furthering the corporate future, a sentiment not shared by my successor. I had already had three individuals who had served me successively if not successfully in this position. Each was bright. Each was experienced. Each came early and worked late. Each was very ambitious and aspired to my job as President and General Manager before I was willing to vacate it. Each managed to alienate key people in Utah's organization. So I decided to change the standards, to downgrade the job, take someone right out of the Graduate School of Business with no impressive experience or record of accomplishments. Jim was the perfect fit - ideally qualified for the position. He was the first of the new breed. How has it worked out? The "old breed" group can boast of a one-time Assistant Secretary of State and a current Secretary of the Army, and both are still working. The record of the "new breed" shows that Jim climbed the corporate ladder higher and faster, and will beat all the others - even those older than he into retirement. For those of you who must carry on, it may be valuable to examine the qualities of character and leadership that made this impressive record possible. First, you need to know how to put your best foot forward. Jim wakes up grumpy. Barbara comes from a little town near the metropolis of Grass Valley called "Rough and Ready." Even so, she was never ready for how rough it was with Jim first thing in the morning. So Jim made it a lifelong practice never to arrive at the office before nine a.m. which was about when he began to thaw. He conspicuously stayed until after five, then would station himself near the exit and, looking at his watch, cast critical glances at those who had arrived at eight but were leaving at five. How long he stayed after five is not so clear anymore because there are so few witnesses around now to testify. Friday was the exception. He still arrived late but under the guise of improving employee relations Jim was part of a group of comely secretaries, up-and-coming corporate male types like Bob Wheaton and Charlie Guthrie, and, I must confess, on rare occasion, me. We would adjourn for alcoholic refreshment and frivolity at a public service pub called The Red Knight. Dinners at home were sometimes delayed and the explanations not always accurate.