Fripp THE Executive Speech Coach

Toyah Willcox shows us how we CAN look over 50

One of the most talented amazing women I know is my sister-in-law Toyah Willcox.
She has enjoyed a successful career as a singer, actress, TV presenter, voice for cartoons, and still singing up a storm in her new band The Humans. Feast your eyes and get inspired.

"Stew Leonard, My Story" a good man tells all and a great read

As a personal note from Patricia Fripp. I know and really like Stew. He is a great speaker and I am glad he wrote his story.

Stew Leonard tells his life story in new book
By Beth Cooney
Stew Leonard did not want to tell his life story.

"I didn't want to relive the past," he says.

"The way I saw it, I had just gotten out of a prison camp. When you walk away from that, you want to leave it behind you. I did the time. I paid for the crime. My feeling was it's the past. Let it stay there."

So it may surprise readers of his new book, "Stew Leonard, My Story," that he begins his biography from the vantage point of a lecture hall at a federal prison in Bradford, Pa. It was where he served most of his 52-month, 1993 sentence for tax evasion. Rather than sugar-coating his story like the candy sprinkles on one of his famous dairy store's ice cream cones, Leonard decided to document his exhilarating rise, his humiliating fall and his climb back up.

It was Scotty Reiss, a journalist and business consultant from Greenwich, who persuaded Leonard to write a "tell-all"- style book. She is the co-author of the biography, which began selling in Stew's four dairy stores (including Norwalk and Danbury) last week. Leonard has dedicated the book to his grandson, Stew Leonard III, who drowned in an accident during a family vacation in 1988 when he was just 21 months old. All of the book's profits will be donated to the water safety foundation started in the child's name.

Leonard, 79, has rarely spoken publicly about his 1993 conviction for tax evasion for a scam that involved skimming millions in cash from some registers at his original Norwalk store.

In a wide-ranging interview, a robust Leonard says it was time to share "all of my life, good and bad, and hope that someone gets something out of it."

Reiss, who spent years prodding Leonard to write the biography after meeting him through an assignment for the New York Times, believes the former milkman has a story of redemption to tell.

"The theme of his story is the importance of doing the right thing," says Reiss. "For years, Stew did the right thing and he prospered. When he didn't, he paid the price, but I think what gets lost in his story sometimes is he accepted his punishment, took complete responsibility and moved on. I believed there were lessons in his life, positive and negative. It was just a matter of getting him to open up."

For Leonard the time was right to write it all down. His wife, Marianne, had urged him to write a biography, "if only for the sake of the grandkids."

"I began to see that there was something to be said for talking about your adversities. I had been through some tough times. I had done some stupid, stupid things -- I still don't really know why -- but I also came to believe that maybe I could help inspire someone by writing about them." Three years ago, he began collaborating with Reiss, "who never took no for an answer when I told her I didn't want to do a book."

Leonard's story reads with an almost Forest Gump-like quality of an ambitious man who was in the right place at the right time. Except unlike the fictional Gump, whose brushes with great figures and experiences were the result of improbable luck, Leonard had a brilliant knack for seizing opportunities and taking inspired marketing ideas and giving them a unique spin.

He started his original Norwalk dairy store to salvage a third-generation family dairy business that was dying as delivery customers dropped service for the convenience of grocery purchases. The farm-themed store, on the Post Road in Norwalk, quickly became a huge success. Inspired by Walt Disney and his theme parks, Leonard made his store a destination with its animated singing farm characters, live animals, truckload sales and food samples galore.

Along the way he launched the late actor Paul Newman's line of salad dressings, became pals with retailing geniuses such as Frank Perdue and Sam Walton, and was honored by President Ronald Reagan for business excellence.

Leonard, who wrote in his high school yearbook that he wanted to make a million dollars, became rich.

His reputation took an epic fall when federal agents launched a 1991 investigation into his business dealings.

Leonard does not offer elaborate details of the cash diversions in his book, but explains that it began rather innocently when he began paying private security guards he hired to help with crowd control, "straight out of the cash register." Later, he admits to stashing cash to pay contractors who worked on store expansions in exchange for building discounts.

Leonard says when he talked to his tax attorney about the diversions he was assured it was, "what every businessman does." Leonard declined to name the adviser, saying he has since died and "It doesn't matter. I did it. It was my fault. Nothing I say should let you think that I am OK with what I did or that it is anyone's fault but mine."

When IRS agents arrived at the Norwalk store with search warrants, Leonard says he knew he was in serious trouble.

"What I did not know was that I was going to jail. It never occurred to me that could happen. Never. I thought that I would pay a fine. The idea that I could go to jail was the shock of my life."

Leonard was never indicted. His attorneys negotiated a plea deal with prosecutors to spare his immediate family members from prosecution. Two of his brother-in-laws and a company executive also took plea deals. While it has been widely reported that Stew Sr. accepted a plea to protect his son and current company president, Stew Leonard Jr., the father insists that "Stew Jr. was never involved." His plea, he says, was based on threats from prosecutors "to go after my whole family, including my wife, merely for signing our tax returns. I was never going to let that happen."

Leonard was sentenced to 52 months in jail and ordered to pay back taxes, penalties and fines of more than $15 million. He describes his period of confinement as "bleak" but "not as bad as it could have been." He went to prison depleted, after undergoing a hip replacement and heart surgery.

In prison, he says, "There is a time when you look out the window. And all of the sudden it is snowing. And you are inside. And you realize that you are stuck there. You can't leave. And that's the idea. That's what prison is supposed to be and I would never want to go back."

He was also struck by something he saw in common in his fellow inmates, many of them white collar criminals. "You know, everyone who comes to jail shows up saying they didn't do it. It was a mistake. It was almost funny after a while. I was determined not to be that guy. I wanted to talk about why I was there, to own up to what I did."

Still, he says he benefited from spending most of his prison time at the minimum security campus in Bradford where a benevolent warden, Dennis Luther, put Leonard to work helping struggling merchants in the neighboring town. His Bradford Merchants workshops became a "reason to get up in the morning" and Leonard loved doling out anecdotes to inspire them. The workshops grew and soon he was speaking to an auditorium of local business owners on a regular basis. The workshops ended when a new warden took over and had Leonard transferred to another prison. "To this day, I don't see the point of that," says Leonard, who has stayed in touch with merchants he mentored.

He got out of prison after 42 months and returned home, but was afraid to set foot in his stores.

"I was ashamed," he says. "When I finally did it, I was stunned. Customers came up and greeted me. They treated me the same. They patted me on the back and stopped to talk. I am grateful and humbled by it."

Today, Leonard says his role in the company is that of "coach' to the franchise that bears his name. He seems in remarkable health, flying through the Norwalk store at such a pace during a recent tour of a new sushi bar and pasta station, he lost followers half his age more than once.

There is a silver lining in his story, Leonard says, in that his confinement forced him to turn over the reigns of the business to his children. "In family businesses, letting go for the next generation is always a problem. I could have been 80, like I am now, holding on"¦ telling a son with grown children he wasn't ready. My kids had to take over to save the business and look at what they did."

Stew Leonard's has grown to four stores and eight free-standing wine shops. Each of his children and many of his 13 grandchildren have a role in the business. His son Tom has opened his own farm store in Virginia that is not part of the chain, but carries some Stew Leonard's products.

Leonard writes about Tom and the fact that he was sent to a federal halfway house for allegedly skimming cash from a hot dog stand in front of the Danbury store, ending up in Alcoholics Anonymous before striking out on his own in Virginia. "He had some tough times too. Made some mistakes and I am very proud of where he's gone since."

The family has even created a succession plan which requires grandchildren interested in joining the business to work outside the company, after college, for a minimum of two years. "Here at Stew Leonard's we believe a few hard knocks are good for you," he says.
 
 
 
 

Bill "Alfie" Fripp, The Oldest Surviving & Longest Serving British POW

This text and these images are excerpted from my brother's diary during a recent visit with my family in England to record an oral history from my Uncle Bill "Alfie" Fripp, Britain's oldest surviving and longest serving POW of WWII.

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Robert Fripp's Diary - Tuesday 1st September, 2009

09.03 - DGM HQ.

During the sitting, a sense of a different approach to a particular morning exercise.

The sun is shining. The car is at the front of the building, ready to carry me off to adventures of the day, adventures of the Fripp Family kind with Sister Patricia & Uncle Bill.

20.03    Leaving c. 09.10 for Wimborne. On the way, an insight into using the tetrad in a different way to that I conventionally employ.

Collecting the Sistery Person who is staying with pals at Gravel Hill, Merley, just along from where the Fripp family lived between c. 1949–1954; and then to Southbourne & Uncle Bill. The aim in Patricia coming home is for us to film & record Uncle’s life story. Recently, Alfie Fripp has become the most famous Fripp in the family, and deservedly so. The recent media coverage on Uncle relates to the 65th. Anniversary of the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III.

Uncle Bill was well prepared I…

II...

III...

IV (Charles, Grandma & Maureen)…

V...

VI...

VII...

VIII...

IX...

X (at 5000 feet with a camera)…

XI...

XII...

XIII...

XIV...

XV (March 24th. 2009)…

Uncle Bill, aka Squadron Leader Alfie Fripp (RAF Retd.) is the oldest surviving & longest serving British POW. He now represents not only the Fripp family, but his generation of service people.

Leaving Southbourne c. 15.30, returning Sistery to her pals on Gravel Hill, arriving back at DGM HQ c. 17.50 with an overfull inbox.

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Thank you Brother, for lending me your photos and diary entries!  

To learn more about my brother, legendary guitarist Robert Fripp visit his websites: http://www.dgmlive.com or http://robertfrippspeaks.com

Title 70th Anniversary of England Going to War with Germany

Greetings to my Glog friends from Wimborne, Dorset. Sitting here looking out at my friend's English garden. Returning to my roots is always interesting and very emotional.

The purpose of this trip was to interview my 95 year old Uncle Bill. He is the oldest living prisoner of war from World War II. He also was the longest in captivity. He has received a lot of publicity from the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Great Escape and his trip to Poland to see Memorial to the 50 who were shot after their escape.

Uncle's memory is great. 2001 when I took my friend David Palmer to meet him was the first time he ever spoke of the war and his experiences.

September 3 was the 70th anniversary of when England went to war. That was the day Uncle spoke for 45 minutes to the Wimborne Rotary Club. My dad was a founding member in 1950 and President in 1967-8. Everyone was very interested and impressed with his delivery. Can you believe at the end of the war they were paid their entire salary minus 50% income tax!!! That is a higher tax rate than if they had earned it. At that time there was no talk of post traumatic stress and 6 weeks later he had his next posting.

(At right: Wimborne-Minster church, one of the lovely local views of Wimborne, England.)

Executive Speech Coach's sister-in-law Toyah Willcox

You may have read about my brother Robert Fripp performing in Estonia for the celebration of their independence. I read this on his wife Toyah's blog. Excuse me for being a proud sister-in-law, but is amazing, beautiful, and multifaceted in her talent. She can sing, act, write, be an amazing talk show guest or host. Her stage performances have been delighting audiences for thirty years. She started performing in her teens and has been in movies with Sir Laurence Olivier and Katherine Hepburn.

"WE ARE THE HUMANS" BLOG - MAY 2009

Hello my friends,

I'm just between flights from Estonia and Gran Canaria!

The last month has been extraordinary. The filming of THE POWER OF THREE went from strength to strength, I even started to get film offers from productions over Europe asking me to fly out and do a few days filming whilst still commited to PO3! The team where brilliant, Mikolaj Jaroszewicz the Director of Photography created wonders on a budget of pounds. The first AD Stephanie Zari kept us all to time and my fellow actors (including myself) GAVE BLOOD! Rumour has it the 'rushes' are splendid and the director Yvonne Deutschman is off to Cannes on the 15th May! I pray she kicks as much butt as she did on set and a little bit more.

The last week has been a pure joy. Bill Rieflin, Robert Fripp, Chris Wong and myself all met in Tartu, Estonia on the 26th April where we had a week's rehearsal before performing THE HUMANS album, in it's complete form for the President and the First Lady at Tartu University. Robert was with us to open the show with his 'soundscapes', but it became evident on the first days rehearsal he was intending to play the whole of THE HUMANS set too. This is partly down to the calming effect of BILL. Bill has the presence of a 'kindly father'; when he is not being manically scary, he and Robert are like brothers. I don't think I could have encouraged Robert to play the whole set unless I had a spare million to give away but Bill managed it without even being aware of it!

The sound was awesome. It added a whole new dimension. I created THE HUMANS because I wanted a project that Bill and I could work on but also, because I wanted tonal space so my voice would sit on it's own without competing with guitars and keyboards. So THE HUMANS consist mainly of bass, vocal and sound effects. Robert added another tonal dimension that didn't venture into my vocal range, he added a commentary to my vocal lines. Apart from rehearsing the set daily, (some days we ran the set four times) we ate a lot of cheesecake. Tartu is renowned for cheesecake. Bill, Robert, Wongy, 'Trev the sound' and myself can eat cake till the sun sets.

We always knew we where playing for the President but what we didn't know was we where going to be in the same hotel and dining with him. On the Wednesday the secret service arrived at the hotel, checking it out and us too. We had probably been well 'checked out' before we left our countries of residence. I found these men on the roof and in the corridors very amusing, they all talked into their shirt pockets and wrist cuffs but never cracked a smile. Soon the bulletproof limo arrived and the hotel was buzzing with excitement. On Thursday evening, at the hotel, THE HUMANS had dinner with the President and the First Lady plus the Estonian Ambassidor for England, the Minister of Justice and Robert Fripp. The President is a huge Fripp fan which is partly why we were all there to perform.

I gave the President a HUMANS CD. He was very, very happy that is says 'written and performed in Estonia'. This is an immensely proud country, which has fought for it's independence from Russia and to have musicians visit and site it for the inspiration for a whole album really means something. I sat next to the President all evening and his last remark got a huge laugh (and I'm sure it was a joke) “Toyah I'd like you to know I will not being hosting a dinner for Madonna when she visits later in the year!”

The show the next day started at midnight on Friday evening, it was too late in the day to be nervous, I could only be extremely excited. Our audience where mainly musicians invited to say thank you for being in Tartu for the Tartu Music Days festival. The President introduced us, which caused a stir because no one in the audience knew he would be there, and when he stood up from the front row and walked to my microphone there was a gasp from the assembled people.

AND the show itself? It was magical. At one point I caught the eye of the secret service men either side of the President, one winked at me and the other put his thumb up and smiled! At 1.15 am we received a 10 minute standing ovation. Congregating in the backstage area after our one and only encore available to us because we only rehearsed the album material, I asked Bill what where we going to do? They where clapping for more. So we went out, bowed and told them to go to bed!

Estonia is an extraordinary place, it has a magical resonance. I strongly recommend you visit it, take a good book and soak up the atmosphere, because it is a place to think and grow.

I hope all of you who have your HUMANS album by now, enjoy it thoroughly!

BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD.
LOVE TOYAH

Speaking Skills Experts says "Way to go Uncle Alfie "Bill" Fripp"

Growing up I knew my Uncle Bill spent all the war (WW2) in a prisnor of war camp in German. Until 2001 he never spoke about his experience. My brother Robert Fripp and I am very interested in family history. Yuo can imagine our excitement to read of his trip from the local paper where I come from.

Emotional Return to the Great Escape site from the Bournemouth Echo
Written by Joanna Dodd

AN RAF veteran from Dorset has made an emotional return to a German Second World War prison camp to honour a comrade who was gunned down by the Gestapo after taking part in what became known as the Great Escape.

Former navigator Alfie Fripp, 94, of Southbourne, was one of six ex-prisoners to take part in a memorial event to mark the anniversary of the escape from Stalag Luft III.

The veterans gathered for a minute’s silence at the exit of the tunnel nicknamed “Harry” at 10.15pm on Monday night – exactly the time that the escapees started entering it 65 years before.

A total of 78 Allied airmen took part in the escape, but only three made it to safety. Fifty were rounded up and illegally shot in the back on the direct orders of Hitler.

RAF personnel accompanying the veterans read out a roll call of the murder victims before everyone raised their glasses to toast them in Champagne. On Saturday, the mayor of the nearest town, Zagan, now part of Poland, will be hosting a civic service to rededicate the renovated memorial stone to the 50.

Although Mr Fripp did not take part in the escape, his Irish pilot, Mike Casey, then 28, was among those killed after the escape.

Speaking from Zagan, Mr Fripp told the Echo: “I’m very pleased to have said goodbye to my pilot. I’m sure he’s much happier up there than we are down here. He was a very nice bloke and very friendly. He got married two days after I did, on September 8 1939, and we flew out to France on September 30.”

The pair’s Blenheim aircraft was shot down during a reconnaissance flight over Germany 16 days later. “In the first place, there were just a few of us, so things weren’t too bad,” he recalled.

Mr Fripp – known as Bill to his family, including his famous musician nephew Robert – was held in a dozen different POW camps during his five years and seven months of captivity, but spent two years in Stalag Luft III.

“The guards weren’t too bad because they were Luftwaffe (German air force). They realised that the English had some Luftwaffe prisoners and were looking after them, so they treated us well. Food was very scarce. We had a lot of black bread, which was 25 per cent sawdust.”

Mr Fripp was put in charge of the Red Cross parcels and, through that, was able to help with the escape effort. “I went down to see the tunnel and determine what instruments, if any, I could get from my liaison with Polish workers at the railway station.”

He managed to procure wire cutters, pliers, screwdrivers and parts used to build a radio set, which was hidden inside a portable gramophone. “If the Germans came along, we could put on a record,” he explained.

Mr Fripp was transferred to another camp six months before the escape, then was repeatedly moved around as Russians moved in from the east. After three weeks of marching, he and his fellow prisoners eventually met up with British troops advancing from Holland.

After the war Mr Fripp stayed in the RAF, taking part in the 1960 Berlin air lift. After retiring in 1969, he spent a further 10 years as chief laboratory technician at Brockenhurst College.

Widowed after 57 years of marriage, he has two daughters and four grandchildren.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4230742.Emotional_return_to____Great_Escape____site/

If you are interested in reading more just google Alfie Fripp. 

Great Advice Does Not Have to Cost! Fripp & CanDoGo

Times are tough. We all know it. When times are tough top performers still find opportunities to win. Fripp is part of a team who wants to help you win: CanDoGo’s exclusive Expert Sales, Leadership and Motivation Advice is now free!

 

That's right, free advice from Zig Ziglar to turn temporary setbacks into new successes.The best advice from Tony Parinello in reaching the Very Important Top Officer. Valuable advice from Dr.Tony Alessandra on building relationships and from Jill Konrath on selling to big companies... Patricia Fripp, Tom Hopkins, Dr. Denis Waitley, Andrea Sittig-Rolf, Keith Rosen and dozens of other experts.

 

CanDoGo offers more than 10,000 short, concise pieces of advice in video, text, and audio from over 150 of the greatest leaders, authors, speakers and motivators. Tips on leadership, motivation, sales techniques, networking, negotiation and much more, all there at your fingertips right now to achieve, succeed and thrive. 

Visit the redesigned www.candogo.com No registration required. Find what you need and plug it right into your workday. Forward the tips to your friends and family.

Everyone can benefit. Tell your friends and colleagues. Why not forward this message to them?

Patricia Fripp and Michael Norton, Founder and CEO, CanDoGo invite you to check it our. This may be just what you are looking for. Check out Fripp’s videos, including this one on how relationships drive your business:

http://www.candogo.com/search/insight?i=8152

Great Quality Story - Why Did You Do It That Way?

I love interacting with attendees at my classes and seminars. This came from Joyce Ward. Hope it inspires you to ask questions in your company.

Why Did You Do It That Way?

Joyce Ward is with Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activities, a Navy organization that fixes ships. "As a Business Performance Officer," she told me, "I go out and work with the shops, focusing on teamwork.

"In 1994, I was working with my first team, our lifeboat repair shop. These rafts hang on the decks of ships and need to be inflated in an emergency. However, the failure rate in 1994 was 40%. After we asked some questions, we dropped the failure rate to 1% or less by the year 2000. How did we do this?

"We looked at the processes and made a flow chart. We kept track of who was working on what so we could spot where the errors were occurring. When we did this, we discovered one extraordinary employee whose work was always perfect. There was no failure rate for Joey. "We decided to observe Joey carefully to figure out what he was doing right. We watched and watched, but couldn't see that he was doing anything different from the other workers. Then we decided to videotape him and asked him to describe what he was doing as he did each step. We encouraged the other members of the team to observe, reminding them that they or their family might be the ones needing a lifeboat in an emergency.

"So the whole team was there watching. At one point, Joey said, 'And now I fold the valve under.'

"'Wait!' the other said. 'But we fold it toward the top? Why are you folding it underneath?'

"'Because," Joey said, 'it lies flatter, and there is less chance that it could be broken when the life raft is compressed into the little package.' Joey was a young man very low on the totem pole, but we've learned that you have to listen to the kids down on the deck. They are the ones who make it happen. We ask the teams to define problems and describe what they've done to solve it. After we collect their answers, we brief the executive officers who can make it happen. Then they make recommendations to leadership who can bring about a permanent change. Joey's idea became the department standard for the entire Navy. (He also got an award of $2500.)

And thanks to Joey and our asking the right questions, your chances of having a working lifeboat have risen to 99% or more."

This great story was told to me at a leadership session I was conducting at a Quality Conference.

Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Heroes from World War II

You may be interested in ready from my brother Robert Fripp's diary. His landlord came back from Germany on vacation and saw the memorial that is close to the heart of the Fripp family.

http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?entry=12039

 

"Upon returning to DGM HQ Butcher Fry, our Landlord, appeared from the back door of the Village Shop to show me a picture taken on his recent holidaying in Germany…

The photo depicts the memorial to The Fifty from Stalag Luft III. Of 78 escapees in The Great Escape, 73 were recaptured and 50 of those were shot. My Uncle Bill, who is often mentioned in this Diary, was a prisoner in Stalag Luft III at the time of the escape (1943). Bill was the navigator of an RAF reconnaissance flight shot down over Germany in October 1939 and held in a dozen different POW camps during the 5 years 7 months of his imprisonment. Although not a Great Escaper, Bill’s pilot was; recaptured and shot; and one of those commemorated on the memorial. Butcher Fry reports that this was a moving visit."
--Robert Fripp

Learn more about these heroic men of WWII:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III#The_.22Great_Escape.22

One of my other clients John Melia of the Wounded Warrior Project was just on a program with Tom Brokaw in front of 5000 people who are security professionals. We must never forget what so many do to keep us safe.

Patricia Fripp, proud niece to Uncle Bill and honored to have worked with Wounded Warriors