Advancing the Leadership Mindset 
Finding Success in the Success of Others 

This is another in a series of member profiles based on discovery interview questions that were designed to get an up close view of the traits and strengths of some of the members who provide leadership to this organization. 

Membership Spotlight: Jim Farmer 
Family First, Logical Thinker and Aspiring Writer 

Tell us about yourself.  Give us three facts that include information about your family, your career and your pastimes. 

My father was Navy pilot so I grew up as a Navy brat!  By the age of 18 I had lived in seventeen houses in eleven cities on two continents. It entailed making and losing a lot of friendships with people I knew I would never see again.  Asa result, I had to force myself to always look forward, never backward.  I am married to Sue and we have two sons.  The oldest lives with us and our youngest is a psychiatrist who lives in Chicago with his wife and not yet two-year-old daughter.  I earned a B.A. in government at Cornell, and both a Law Degree and Master’s in City and Regional Planning at The Ohio State University. I elected early on not to pursue a career in city planning but it was all worthwhile since that’s where I met Sue.  Over the years, we have rehabbed and/or built several houses, including our current houses in Victorian Village and Lakeside on Lake Erie.  Sue and I like to go antiquing, golfing and traveling but over the past several years I’ve also dedicated a lot of my time to writing a novel and a memoire I’m currently working on. 

How long have you belonged to Rotary?  What’s the best thing about membership? 
 
I joined Rotary in the early 90’s.  I had a desire to give back to the community and develop relationships with others.  To be successful in Rotary you have to be willing to give both time and money and, while neither are particularly easy when you’re working and raising your family, it’s well worth the extra effort. 

As you look back on your life and your career, where and when did you have the biggest impact on others?  Who was impacted and how?  
 
On the personal side, I hope I’ve made a positive impact on my wife and kids as a husband and father.  Two of my fondest memories are hiking 70 miles on the Appalachian trail with my younger son Derrick and his Boy Scout Troop and hiking about 100 miles at the Philmont Ranch in New Mexico with both of my sons and their Boy Scout Troop. On a professional level I would say it was when I was a corporate attorney at Borden.  I really enjoyed being part of a dynamic company.  When I got to Borden in 1988, we were buying companies like crazy and, after the company got into financial difficulties, we started to sell companies like crazy.  Over the 10 years I was at Borden, I was the lead counsel on almost 100 acquisitions/divestitures ranging from $1,000,000 to $200,000,000.  It was a stressful time but I learned a lot and got a lot done for the Company. 

As you look back, which of the opportunities you’ve had has been the most fulfilling to you personally?  Why? 

On the personal level I find fulfillment from being a husband and father.  From a professional standpoint, my most significant accomplishment was leaving Borden in 1998 to start and grow my own law firm.  At its height, we had 5 lawyers, 3 paralegals and 4 secretaries.  After a couple of years, we merged with the Benesch Law Firm and then subsequently moved the practice into the Taft Law Firm, where I spent the last ten years of my legal career, until I retired at the end of 2013. 

Describe the most challenging project you’ve ever worked on.  What was your role?  What was the result?  What did you learn? 
 
On a personal level my greatest challenges came when I was building our cottage at Lakeside (I spent every Saturday for almost two years on this project) and when Sue and I rehabbed our current house in Victorian Village (we spent every weekend for almost a year on this project).  What you learn is that stubborn perseverance is always worth more than skill or talent.   

On the professional side my greatest challenges arose at Borden.  When I arrived in 1988 Borden was a Fortune 100 Company but I soon learned that it was headed downhill fast—in order to make its annual numbers, the Company’s management would do almost anything—including selling extremely profitable divisions and/or buying small companies without conducting adequate due diligence.  Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t always keep them out of trouble--but occasionally I could at least minimize their losses. One week in particular sticks out in my mind.  It was sometime during 1995 and the Company was hemorrhaging money.  Then one day out of the blue we got a call from Sherwin-Williams (who had previously purchased Borden’s extremely profitable Krylon paint business).  They were re-selling a portion of the Krylon business and their buyer was very interested in a certain trademark that had in fact been part of the business.  Borden’s management believed this to be a mere clerical error but they asked me to look into it anyway.  Upon doing so, I discovered that since the mark had not been included as a contract exhibit or in any other due diligence list we had provided, Sherwin-Williams had no basis for claiming they owned the mark.  Long story short, we then got on the phone and after an hour or so of negotiating, I got Sherwin-Williams to pay $500,000 for a trademark that had no value whatsoever to Borden.  During that same week we mediated a dispute with the seller of a clam processing business that Borden had previously purchased.  Borden subsequently had to shut down the facility since the plant building was literally falling apart.  Management then asked me if we had any basis for litigating. My response was that we’d have to prove Seller violated a rep and warranty in the Purchase Agreement and the only way we could do that would be to find documentation that Seller knew of the plant’s poor condition.  Although it was a long shot, I convinced management to send me to Delaware to comb through the now shuttered plant’s records.  After a long day of searching, I found the proverbial smoking gun—an analysis by an engineering firm indicating that the plant building was so far gone that it could not be repaired and would have to be replaced.  At the conclusion of the mediation, Seller agreed to pay Borden $3.5 million.  Since Borden finished in the red that year, I like to joke that I made more money for the Company that week than the rest of its divisions made all year.      
 

What are some things you are passionate about?  What really excites you? What gets your adrenalin flowing?  What makes your heart sing?  
 
We have an almost two-year-old granddaughter.  There is nothing better!  Recently I have become passionate about creative writing. I’ve written one novel (still under revision) and am currently working on a memoire of my early childhood growing up in Morocco.   

What are you especially skilled at?  What is something that others often tell you that they think makes you stand out? 
 
People have told me I’m a logical, rational thinker.  They also say I have a “get it done” attitude.”  I’m sure they have many less complimentary things to say about me but these are the things I choose to remember. 
 
When you have a moment to sit back and think (dream) about your future, what do you think about?  What things would you like to do in your life that you haven’t gotten around to yet?  Is there something else you would like to accomplish? 
 
I have committed myself to the writing process and I have developed an idea for a third book.  I have also dreamed about starting a business to rehab historical buildings that can be adapted successfully for commercial purposes—and someday I might even accumulate enough capital to pull it off.   

If you could choose anyone (alive or deceased) to have lunch with, who would it be? Why? 
 
I was a pretty good football player back in my high school days and the biggest name in college and pro sports at that time was Roger Staubach, the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback.  Given that he played for the US Naval Academy (1961-65), he became the football hero permanently imprinted on my adolescent brain.  I’d really enjoy having lunch with him.