Letters To Samuel

Dear Samuel,

Ross Perot is one of my favorite Americans. I actually met him in person a few months ago. I was in the lunch line at a food establishment where Ross was eating and Ross cut in front of me in the lunch line. I stood there just staring at him thinking “Wow, that’s Ross Perot! Right in front of me!” He looked over at me, waved and said: “Sorry.” Then got his lunch.

To be fair I was eating lunch at Perot Systems, and Ross basically owns the company. He can cut in line anytime he wants and I honestly didn’t mind.

When Ross started his first company – EDS – he had a slogan he used to inspire the Human Resources people to attract talent. He didn’t want them just going to Harvard and hiring any old person in the top 5% of the class. He wanted them to find qualified candidates who would deliver top notch service day in and day out. Mr. Perot came up with a slogan he used and repeated often. “Eagles don’t flock. You have to find them one at a time.” You can’t go far at Perot Systems without seeing that slogan somewhere plastered onto a statue of an Eagle flying majestically. There are pictures of eagles flying majestically, and statues of eagles flying majestically throughout the building.

There’s this one HUGE statue of an eagle. It is mounted to a base the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. The Eagle probably has a wing span of 8-10 feet. On it there is a plaque that says the statue was given to Ross Perot on his 75^th birthday by his son Ross Jr. The slogan on this particular statue says “Eagles don’t flock. They team.”

Before I die I want to know what that slogan means. Do eagles really team? Is it just some sort of dumb slogan vacuous of meaning? Or is it a real slogan rife with meaning that I just can’t understand?

I’d like to know.

Jay

# posted by Big Jay : Thursday, September 07, 2006