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Article Excerpt
The Buzz Creates Buzz

An engineer friend of mine just read me your fantastic article in Automotive Industries about "the Buzz." (Al November 2002, pg. 64) I would dearly love a copy, or perhaps the URL to a website where I could send folks to read it -- or perhaps a best-selling paperback based on it!

Thanks for putting those thoughts into such eloquent written form.

Tracy Logan

Rochester, NY

As defined in your article, I have been branded as a "grouser" during various stages of my career.

In one case, as a result of protecting the company from being put at a competitive disadvantage by an undocumented print change that an OEM was trying to force upon us, I was put on probation by a "protected" sales manager.

In another case, I ticked off another protected manager who was technically incompetent but involved with higher management. This indiscretion resulted in me being "laid off due to the need to rationalize the staffing requirements in response to a business downturn."

The ONLY way to address the "buzz" issue that you so aptly describe is to issue diplomatic immunity and/or get-out-of-jail-free-cards to designated creative staff members in the engineering and/or development ranks. This can't/won't happen.

In my case, things have improved over the years and I am now employed at a company where my knowledge and experience are valued.

Name withheld on request

Reading the "Buzz" was like having a fortuneteller tell you things about your life they couldn't possibly know....