WINTER 2016 - Amazon S3€¦ · 2 creativeliving · winter 2016 ABOUT THIS MAGAZINE tally refer professional decisions I Creativ iving’s editorial mission is to bring you thought-provoking

®®

Inspiration for the Northwestern Mutual Community

W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

INSIDE AMC’S HIT FACTORY WITH

CHARLIE COLLIER

MASTER STORYTELLERPLUS:

ARTISANAL FLAVORS

THE GENX FACTOR

MENTORING 101

2 creativeliving · winter 2016

ABOUT THIS MAGAZINE

Creative Living’s editorial mission is to bring you thought-provoking articles and inspiring ideas to enrich your daily life. In each issue, we also provide helpful tips and tools to help you achieve financial security.

This exclusive quarterly magazine is a reflection of the Northwestern Mutual community, with advice and vision from the people we serve. We encourage you to join the conversation and share your story with us.

[email protected]

IS A GIFT TO YOU FROM

®

Editor

COVER: MATTHEW FURMAN

Meet My Mentor

Some years ago, I moved halfway

across the country to take a job

in Boston. It was the first time I

had the word “director” in my title,

and I was both exhilarated and terri-

fied that I was actually going to be in

charge of a department. The non-

profit I joined had a wise, humane,

and hilarious woman some 20 years

my senior as executive vice president.

A Midwesterner, she was, like me (a

Washington, D.C., native), bemused

by Boston’s wait-and-see attitude to

newcomers. She became my sounding

board, my court of last resort, my

shoulder to cry on. In short, she

became my mentor. Even now, I men-

tally refer professional decisions I

make to her, whether inside my head

or through a phone call to the apart-

ment where she and her husband live

in retirement. What were her secrets?

She let me make mistakes; she stood

up for me when I was right; she knew

when to laugh; and she kept her eyes,

always, firmly on our association’s

educational mission.

We know you’ll enjoy meeting the

mentors we profile in this issue. And if

you’re a member of Generation X, we

hope you’ll welcome the reconsidera-

tion writer Autumn Latimore—a

Gen-Xer herself—offers of this some-

times overlooked cohort. I know I

won’t underestimate them again—

and I don’t even need to check with

my mentor to confirm that wisdom.

creativeliving · winter 2016 1

contentsw i n t e r 2 0 1 6

features

departments

Cover: Charlie Collier at his office in the AMC Networks building in New York City

12 The Mentoring Effectby Bob Woods

These Northwestern Mutual clients from a range of professions have discovered the power of connecting.

18 The GenX Factorby Autumn Latimore

Are you a member of the generation born between 1965 and 1980? Then this just might be your time to shine.

12 short takesby Reneé Roubique

Why you need to read to your kids; oversharing online may be okay; more good news about the Mediterranean diet; interview tips from an executive recruiter.

15 smart solutionsby Stephanie Thurrott

Talking about money with your significant other; working during retirement; choosing your next book, with a little help from math.

18 creative businessby Michael J. McDermott

A real estate broker’s love for his adopted city fuels success; a family marble and tile business profits from best practices.

28 creative thinkingby Peter Balistrieri

For AMC President and General Manager Charlie Collier, the secret’s in the storytelling.

30 american travelerby Andrea Chavez

Ten years after Katrina, New Orleans’ winning ways are back in force.

32 outlookby Anthony Norelli, M.D.

Change is constant. So why is it so tough to manage?

24 Celebrate Artisanal Varietiesby Megan Hoefler

Thirsty? Hungry? Step right up. These Northwestern Mutual clients have some treats to offer.

TOP LEFT: RICHARD T. NOWITZ/GETTY IMAGES; TOP RIGHT: YI LU/CORBIS; CENTER: GARY LANDSMAN


dispatches from the world of ideas

short takes

Do you remember being read to as a child? Did you pick out a stack of books at the library, or demand to hear the same book over and over again? Those hours are more than a fun bedtime activity, it turns out. Research shows that parents reading to their children can support kids’ cognitive development.

Currently, fewer than half of children under age 5 are read to daily in the United States, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports—but the activity is critically important.

A study published in the journal Pediatrics in August 2015 reports that reading at home with pre-school children promotes their

ability to understand narratives and use their imagination to create mental images.

In the study, 19 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years had MRI scans while they were read stories. The scan results were compared with data from parents who were interviewed about their reading habits with their children. Parents reported reading with their children from two nights a week to every night—and the children who were read to every night showed more activity in areas of their brains that are important for learning.

The AAP recommends that parents read to their children every day, even as infants. Especially before children reach school age, being read to sets them up with vital early reading skills.

TOP: STOCKBYTE/GETTY IMAGES; LEFT: SEBASTIAN PFUETZE/GETTY IMAGES

Ready to read? Get started with these

recommendations from Karli

Pederson, children’s librarian at the

Milwaukee Public Library.

— ——

Little Alphaprints: Numbers by Jo Ryan,

natalie Munday, and aMy oliveR

(Ages 0–3)Counting, texture,

playful art, and number recognition combine in this fun

and educational book.

— ——

Peek-a-boo Zoo by Joyce Wan

(Ages 0–3)Play a game of

peek-a-boo with Wan’s sweetly illustrated zoo animals in this

lift-the-flap board book.

— ——

Touch the Brightest Star

by chRistie Matheson (Ages 2–6)

Kids’ engagement turns dusk into a starry night until

dawn breaks.

— ——

I Wish You Moreby aMy KRouse Rosenthal and

toM lichtenheld (Ages 3–6)

This picture book expresses the dreams of happiness parents

have for their children.

— ——

Waiting by Kevin henKes

(Ages 3–7) A serene and detailed story of five objects on

a windowsill … waiting.

BY RENEÉ ROUBIQUE

Read Them a StoryFIVE GREAT BOOKS FOR THE

UNDER-7 SET — ——

R E A DY FO R T H AT B E DT I M E STO RY ?

In a recent toolkit, the AAP offered these tips for reading with young children, an activity that also can strengthen your emo-tional bond with your kids. To learn more, visit aap.org/literacy.

Cuddle your child as you read.

Read with emotion.

Choose colorful books.

Turn off distractions like TVs or smartphones.

Ask your child questions about the story to keep his or her

interest.


short takes

TOP: CI2/CORBIS; BOTTOM: ANDREW UNANGST/GETTY IMAGES

SCIENCE AND PSYCHE

Mediterranean Diet + EVOO May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

You may have heard that the Mediterranean diet—high in fruits, vegetables, olive oil, and whole grains, and low in dairy and red

meat—is healthy. A new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2015, goes further, linking a version of the diet with added extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) to a lower risk for breast cancer.

The study followed more than 4,100 women with an average age of 68 for approximately 4.8 years. Some were assigned a Mediterranean diet supple-mented with EVOO, while others had the diet supplemented with mixed nuts. A control group only reduced dietary fat.

The women who ate a Mediterranean diet supple-mented with extra-virgin olive oil had a 68% lower risk for breast cancer compared with the control group. The study is an indicator that diet could help reduce the risk of developing this cancer, the incidence of which has increased 20% worldwide since 2008.

Oversharing Has Benefits—Really

As adults in the 21st century, we’re admon-ished repeatedly not to share too much online. However, oversharing can be a

good thing, reports the Harvard Business School (HBS).

In a study reported in HBS’s Working Knowledge blog in June 2015, participants were asked to choose dating partners based on their online profiles. Participants were 80% more likely to choose partners who answered all of the questions, even if the answers revealed bad behavior in previous relationships. Another study asked participants to choose how much money to give to another person based on profile questionnaires. Participants usually gave less money to those who didn’t answer questions compared to those who answered them—even those who admitted that they “frequently ” have tried to access someone else’s email account.

Surprisingly, people seem to prefer honesty, even when someone reveals an unsavory fact, to a secretive profile. Is it time to relax some of our online etiquette guidelines?

Information in “Short Takes” is intended for general reference pur-poses only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment. Medical information changes rapidly, and while Creative Living and its content providers make efforts to update the content, some information may be out of date.

SCIENCE AND PSYCHE


short takes

p u b l i s h e r

Shawn Rolland

e d i t o r

Catherine O’Neill Gracem a n a g i n g e d i t o r

Amy Korpi a r t d i r e c t o r

Glenn Piercep h o t o e d i t o r

Sara Elderc o p y e d i t o r

Tara Kawara c c o u n t m a n a g e r

Stephanie Gallagherp r oj e c t m a n a g e r

Connie Ottop r o d u c t i o n a r t i s t

Brenda Waugh

d e s i g n , p r o d u c t i o n m a n a g e m e n t ,a n d c i r c u l at i o n

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Creative Living, published by Northwestern Mutual, tries to present useful, thought-stimulating articles to enrich your daily life. It is not intended that articles express views held by Northwestern Mutual or its financial representatives, nor is it intended as legal or tax advice. Your attorney or accountant should always be contacted about such matters.

Copyright 2016 by Northwestern Mutual. All rights reserved.

V O LU M E 4 5 · N U M B E R 1 · W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

®

JAMIE GRILL/MEDIA BAKERY

POLISH UP THOSE INTERVIEWING

SKILLSThe job market is competitive these days, so landing a new posi-tion can be stressful. To get some tips for landing your dream job, we spoke with Laura Reyes, a recruiter at GE Health care. Reyes, a Northwestern Mutual client, has 23 years of recruiting experience to back up her suggestions.

1. Build your brand. Keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date and

don’t simply copy-paste your résumé. “Be creative,” Reyes says. “This is a place to build your personal brand for the job you want.” From your career history to work samples, show the skills related to your next job. A solid endorsement from a colleague can only help. Reyes also recommends joining groups in your field and actively post-ing. Don’t forget to read the LinkedIn profile of your interviewer. Do you have a common professional connection or alma mater? Learning a commonality can make you memorable.

Reneé Roubique, a Milwaukee-area writer and avid

reader, is already collecting books for her future kids.

2. Understand the company. Beyond researching your potential new man-

ager, you should look into the employer. You can start with its official website, but then check its reputation in the industry media. Is it respected and financially stable? Keep a lookout for red flags like recent lay-offs. Your next stop should be Glassdoor.com. The website may offer a wealth of useful information, from the number of employees who approve of the CEO, to average salaries and advice for interview questions you may encounter. However, Reyes notes, “Just like on social media, take any negative reviews that you read with a grain of salt.”

3. Sell your skills. Now that you’ve finished your online branding and

research, you need to mentally prepare to make yourself shine in your interview. Read over the job description and think of how your professional experiences make you the perfect fit for this position. “Even if your interviewer doesn’t ask you the best ques-tions, make sure your answers tell your career story,” Reyes advises.

4. Prepare questions. Inevitably, your interviewer will give you time to ask

questions. This is a chance to use your research and ask questions that strategically show your knowledge of the job and com-pany. “You want to make your career in the right place, like any investment,” says Reyes. Now you can learn more about the role that could be yours for years to come.

5. Close the deal. Stay positive and enthusiastic through the end of your

interview. “I often hear from recruiters how people seem tentative, like they’re not sure if they want the job,” Reyes says. Don’t let a lack of confidence ruin your chance for a second interview or a job offer. Make it clear you’re interested.


creative ideas for today and tomorrow

smart solutions

TOP RIGHT: RADIUS/GLOW IMAGES; LEFT: TABOR GUS/CORBIS

BY STEPHANIE THURROTT

accounts or credit cards and not allowing your spouse access to that information can certainly be a problem. Not knowing what the other person is spending money on can be a source of conflict. It’s important for people to be honest about what they are spending money on and where the money is going.

Honest conversations about money are key to a relationship’s success, but having these talks with your partner can be challenging. Brian Zoeller is a family law and mediation specialist and a Northwestern Mutual client based in Indianapolis. He works with people who have seen their relationships shattered by financial problems that might have been averted with good communication. We asked him to share his insights about this sensitive subject.

What’s the top financial issue couples need to face?It’s the need to be transparent. A lack of transparency creates distrust, and if there’s distrust, that creates problems within a relationship.

Where do couples struggle with a lack of transparency?Having separate checking

have these conversations with you in a way that’s a little less threatening. These issues can be so sensitive that one party doesn’t hear the other because they are focused on the emotion of the topic. A counselor or financial planner can say, “This is really what makes sense. Let’s dial down the emotion and look at what’s important, which is making good decisions.”

How can new couples start off strong in terms of financial communication?They should make sure they understand the importance of sharing information. Communicating and understanding your goals is important. If you’re not communicating, it can foster mistrust about what your partner is doing with the money and where it’s going. Budgeting can also help. It’s so important to live within your means.

What steps can couples take if they can’t agree on financial issues?Dealing with concerns early is important. If people wait, tough financial issues can fester and lead to breakups. It doesn’t take much discord to fester and grow. A third party like a financial professional can help provide clarity.

Talking theTalk

How can couples foster transparency?Allowing access to account statements is the best way to ensure that there are not any misgivings. Separate accounts are fine. Perhaps both parties work—they want to be able to spend whatever money they don’t need for the household budget the way they want. Each spouse needs to know where the money is going so there’s not a sense that something’s being hidden or stashed away.

What’s the best way to approach these conversations?If talking about money creates problems, seek a counselor or financial planner—someone who can


smart solutions

To discuss the content of Smart Solutions—like budgeting for a

special country vacation, or any other financial security need—

please contact your Northwestern Mutual financial repre

sentative, whose contact information appears on the inside

front cover of this magazine.

ADRIANNA WILLIAMS/CORBIS

To discuss the content of Smart Solutions—like contemplating retirement, or any other financial security need—please get in touch with your Northwestern Mutual financial repre sentative, whose contact information appears on the inside front cover of this magazine.

You’ve hit that age you’ve been working toward all your life—you can start collecting Social Security retirement or spousal benefits. But you aren’t ready to give up your job. What can you do? Your choices vary based on your age and earnings.

If it makes sense for you and your family, you can wait to start collecting Social Security. Currently you have the option of starting to collect benefits as early as age 62, but you don’t reach full retirement age (FRA) until 66 or 67, depending on your year of birth. If you claim your benefit early, it will be reduced. So, the longer you wait, the larger your monthly benefit will be. Additionally, if you file early and you plan to keep working, an earnings test applies, which could further limit the amount you receive from Social Security.

If you’re younger than your FRA: If you decide to work and collect your benefit early, you can earn up to $15,720 annually with no change to your benefits. Once your income exceeds $15,720, Social Security will withhold $1 from your Social Security payment for every $2 you earn over this limit.

If you’re turning FRA this year: If you’ve been collecting benefits early and continue to work, the math for the earnings test changes in the year you turn your full retirement age. In that year, the earnings limit jumps up to $41,880. If your earnings exceed this limit, Social Security will withhold $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn over this limit.

If you’re 66 or older: Once you reach full retirement age, the earnings test no longer applies. You can earn any amount without a reduction in your benefits.

It’s important to know that the withheld benefits don’t just disappear. When you reach full retirement age, your benefits are recalculated; you get credit for the months when you didn’t get a benefit because of your earnings. As you can see, if you are planning to continue to work, you should review these rules as it may or may not make sense for you to file for your benefit early.

Double Dipping

The Social Security Administration’s online calculator can help you

determine how your earnings will affect your monthly benefits. Visit ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/RTeffect.html to try it.


smart solutions

The information in Smart Solutions is not intended as legal or tax advice. Please consult your attorney or tax professional about such matters.

MORSA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

When you fall in love with a book, it’s a magical feeling. You’re transported into another world, and as you reach the end of the story you want nothing more than to recreate that feeling with another great book. Where do you look?

The top websites for book recommendations (see sidebar) can help you find the next book you’ll love. And the way they work isn’t magic; it’s math.

Book selection websites don’t all use the same algorithm, but they work under the same premise—they compare what you like to the information in their databases. The more “matches” they get, the more likely they’ve found a book that will strike a chord with you.

What Should I Read Next, for example, looks for overlap among readers’ lists of favorites. If two books consistently appear on the same lists, it’s likely that someone who likes the first book will also like the second. So, if you liked Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You (Penguin, 2014), the site figures you might also like The Book of Unknown Americans (Knopf, 2014) by Cristina Henríquez.

Industry powerhouse Goodreads, with 43 million reviews, claims that when you list the titles or genres you’ve enjoyed in the past, it will give you “surprisingly insightful recommendations.” The site also provides plenty of details about each book, from your friends’ reviews to awards the author has won.

Goodreads even offers tips on how to improve your recommendations:

Rate more books.

Identify your favorite genres.

Create your own custom shelves to get recommendations targeted to your interest in, say, local farming or futuristic fan fiction.

Click on “Not interested” if you get a recommendation that misses the mark.

OFF THE SHELF

6 S I T E S FO R F I N D I N G YO U R N E X T FAVO R I T E

Looking for a good read? Check out these five virtual options, plus one real-life opportunity:

n n n n

Which Book (whichbook.com). A unique slider-based system makes recommendations based on whether you are looking for a book that’s short or long, safe or disturbing, optimistic or bleak, etc.

n n n n

What Should I Read Next (whatshouldireadnext.com). This interface couldn’t be simpler—enter the title of a book you liked and you’ll get a list of books to try next.

n n n n

Book Riot (bookriot.com). Podcasts, columns, bookish lists and reading-themed T-shirts and tote bags are all part of this site’s offerings.

n n n n

The Millions (themillions.com). This online magazine launched in 2003 and covers books, arts, and culture.

n n n n

Goodreads (goodreads.com). This heavy hitter boasts 40 million members and 1.1 billion books.

n n n n

Your local library. Your librarian is trained to do a lot more than scan the bar code on your library card. Ask for a recom-mendation, and your next favor-ite book might be in your hands before you walk out the door.

Stephanie Thurrott,

a writer based

in Dedham,

Massachusetts,

has lined her

virtual Goodreads

bookshelves with

more novels than

she could read in

her lifetime.

Read More About ReadingPlease turn to page 2 in this issue to read a short article exploring why reading to your kids is so good for them.


insights into founding and growing innovative companies

creative business BY MICHAEL J. McDERMOTT

TOP LEFT: GEORGE DIEBOLD/GETTY IMAGES; ABOVE: MATTHEW FURMAN

Edward Mermelstein was just 8 years old when he and his family arrived in the United States from Ukraine, by way of Israel and Germany, at the height of the Cold War. They settled in New York City, a gateway to a new life of freedom for millions of immigrants going back hundreds of years. Their journey was made possible by the efforts of philanthropic groups who fought hard to get the Soviet Union to allow the emigration of a repressed Jewish minority—and who lobbied equally hard to get the United States to allow them to immigrate here. Mermelstein never forgot any of those sacrifices, and they continue to inform the choices he has made in his life.

Today, Mermelstein, a Northwestern Mutual client, wears many hats. A multilingual real estate attorney, legal strategist, and developer, he serves as managing partner at Rheem Bell & Mermelstein, LLP (rbmllp.com), a boutique real estate and corporate law firm with a rapidly expanding global network. And, as president of Alfa Consulting Group (alfaconsultingny.com), he provides legal, consulting, and strategic business development services to international investors. But if you wanted to describe what Mermelstein does in a word, you might say he’s a fixer—and a very good one. The New York Observer lists him as one of the top 10 “Lawyers You Call” in the Big Apple.

“Practically everyone in my office is an immigrant who speaks another language and was educated in the United States. Over the years, we have built a niche that is very much a reflection of where we live—New York, a city of immigrants,” Mermelstein says. “Representing foreigners requires us to have tremendous flexibility in dealing with multiple languages and cultures. Things don’t always

AT HOME IN A CITY OF IMMIGRANTSReal estate attorney Edward Mermelstein arrived in New York as a child—and has made it his own

translate seamlessly, and cultural differences can be even more nuanced. It is our job to flatten the bumps in that road.”

Mermelstein serves primarily highnetworth clients, many from developing countries. A common challenge is convincing them that the sanctity of attorneyclient privilege is very real here, and that it trumps the shadow relationships and political loyalties common in some other parts of the world. “It can take time to build that kind of trust, and being able to help them with other aspects of adjusting to life here is an important part of the process,” he says.

Things don’t always translate seamlessly, and cultural differences can be even more nuanced. It is our job to flatten the bumps in that road.”—Edward Mermelstein

“


creative business

Michael J. McDermott

is a business journalist

based in Carmel, New

York. The business

people profiled in this

column are clients of

Northwestern Mutual.

If you know someone

you think would make

a good subject for

Creative Business,

please contact

your Northwestern

Mutual financial

representative, whose

contact information

appears on the inside

front cover.

He advises his clients on everything from getting their kids into good schools to dealing with immigration issues to managing finances. He comes up with creative solutions by tapping into a vast network of contacts he has cultivated over a 25year career in New York City real estate. And he does it all in an understated but decidedly confident way that bolsters his reputation as a reliable fixer among the wealthy émigré community.

Providing that kind of service is demanding and timeconsuming, but it hasn’t dulled Mermelstein’s enthusiasm for two passions in

I N S I D E R T I P S

Ready to Buy?Edward Mermelstein offers these tips for choosing real estate.

1 Location, location, location. Buy in the

best area you can afford.

2 Don’t skimp on professional

services at closing. It’s more expensive to fix problems later.

3 Think long term.

his private life: “Philanthropy and sport, in that order.” He has very good seats at the city’s major sports venues and enjoys attending games with his family. But he is even more involved in philanthropy, serving as president of the Council of Jewish Émigré Community Organizations and on the boards of UJAFederation of New York and several other nonprofits. “I’ll never forget the role organizations like these played in making the life I have today possible,” he says. “I want to do my part to make the same opportunities available to others.”

Edward Mermelstein surveys New York City from the penthouse at 50 UN Plaza, a condominium property he represents.


creative business

The best of the old and the best of the new is an apt description of Bourbon Tile & Marble, Inc. (bourbontile.net). That’s because, when they married in 1991, owners Nancy and Larry Bourbon decided to tap into the legacy of four generations of family involvement in the Chicago area’s union tile business to launch their own company. “We felt that putting our name on the business would show our clients that we take pride in every project we do,” Nancy says. “We believe we set a very high standard of quality in Chicago, and we consistently strive to be the best in our trade.”

Twentyfive years later, that decision turns out to have been a very good one. From a company born in the dining room of their small Chicago apartment, Bourbon Tile & Marble has grown into a much larger enterprise, employing up to 80 tile and stone installation professionals, adding its own stone fabrication shop, and completing projects for some of the largest and most prestigious organizations in Chicago—leading hospitals, universities, hotels, corporations, and even the United Center, the home arena of the city’s professional basketball and hockey teams.

Early on, the Bourbons struggled with the same challenges facing most startups, especially working day and night to bid jobs, do the installations, service clients, and pay the bills on time. “In the beginning, we had only each other,” Nancy says. “Since then, we have grown our company with both family—currently seven Bourbons—and nonfamily members, all of whom have contributed to our success over the years.”

We felt that putting our name on the business would show our clients that we take pride in every project we do.”—Nancy Bourbon

ESTABLISHED BUSINESS, NEW IDEAS The owners of Bourbon Tile & Marble keep their family legacy fresh

Creativity is at the heart of what Bourbon Tile & Marble does. “I’m a big fan of craftsmanship, and our installers and finishers are all artisans,” Larry says. The level of skill and creativity they bring to their work is evident in their finished projects, especially those on the high end. “A good mechanic can make a bad product look good and a good product look even better,” he says.

In 2003, the addition of the stone fabrication shop with waterjet cutting capabilities brought new opportunities for artistry. “It lets us do all kinds of creative things—logos, intricate designs. We do things that other people can’t do,” Larry says.

The company’s focus on quality, craftsmanship, and creativity does raise some challenges. “Unfortunately, not everyone shares our belief in the importance of great quality and craftsmanship. That makes it tough bidding on some jobs,” Larry admits. And in an industry that tends to be slow paying, cash flow can be challenging. “A good credit rating and keeping debt to a minimum enables us to be more competitive,” Nancy says.

Like the generations of Bourbons in the tile business before them, Larry and Nancy find ways to meet all the challenges that come their way. One thing that’s never up for negotiation, however, is their commitment to quality and being the best in their trade. “I want to be able to look back at every job that has our name on it and be able to say, ‘That really looks nice.’ I remember my dad telling me that’s the most important thing,” Larry says. “Do that, and the money and everything else will take care of itself.”

“


creative business

BOB STEFKO

I N S I D E R T I P S

Tackling TileThe Bourbons offer these insider tips for getting the best tile/marble jobs.

1 Pay up for labor, down for material. Skilled

installers can make any material look good, but not vice versa.

2 Use a product that fits the application.

3 Select a product you like as is, not one that

requires an enhancer for the desired result.

Larry and Nancy Bourbon with the tools of their trade in their stone fabrication shop in Buffalo Grove, Illinois

BOTH MENTEES AND MENTORS BENEFIT FROM THE GIVE-AND-TAKE OF THEIR INSPIRING RELATIONSHIPS

Ralph Reynolds (left) and Zachery McGee of the clothing design and distribution company RP55 Group in Virginia Beach, Virginia, have worked shoulder-to-shoulder for a decade.


B Y B O B W O O D S

erhaps even before Socrates took Plato under his philosopher’s wing and taught him the method of seeking truth by asking questions, the prac-tice of mentoring has been a human pursuit. After all, up-and-coming cavepeople had to learn from their grizzled elders how best to hunt and gather, just as fledgling rocket scientists seek guidance from experienced aerospace engineers. Indeed,

history is rife with muses, sages, gurus, savants and, lately, consultants, advisers, and subject-matter experts.

Mentoring is an essential ingredient in the pursuit of professional, and personal, goals—and benefits the mentor as well as the mentee. “The definition of mentoring has morphed over time to incorporate cur-rent knowledge about how adults learn best,” says Lois Zachary, director of the Phoenix-based Center for Mentoring Excellence (centerformentoringexcellence.com) and author of several books on the subject. “It’s a reciprocal learning relation-ship, where the mentor and mentee agree to a partnership and work collaboratively toward achievement of mutually defined goals focused on the development of a men-tee’s skills, abilities, knowledge, and/or thinking.” Or to put it more simply, “The ‘sage on the stage’ is no longer the case,” she says.

Learning is the purpose, process, and product of mentoring, she adds, and a life-long pursuit. That’s how it’s worked for Northwestern Mutual client Jack Lashenik, a vice president and partner at American Structurepoint, an architectural firm in Indianapolis (structurepoint.com). “I’m a big believer in lifelong learning,” he says, “and mentoring is a necessity in order to achieve that goal.”

MARK ATKINSON

14 creativeliving · winter 2016 JONATHAN ROBERT WILLIS

Lashenik’s earliest mentoring happened in his youth in Gary, Indiana. His dad, a local police-man, “showed me the conse-quences of breaking the law,” he recalls. Lashenik abided by that injunction and other sensible rules, all the way to earning a Purdue University degree in agri-cultural and biological engineer-ing in 1998. During his final year, unsure of a career path, he got a helping hand from a professor who went over and above his academic role, counseling Lashenik to persuade a farmer to pay him for the irrigation system developed for his senior project. “He taught me the business of consulting engineering, which got me excited about what I was going to do with my life,” Lashenik recalls.

As a fresh hire at American Structurepoint, he learned the ropes from a team of engineer-ing peers, all around his age. “We were a think tank,” he recalls. “We had brainstorming

sessions and asked each other for advice. Just starting out, it was valuable to go through the same experiences with people like me. I was able to learn much faster being around great people.”

From there, Lashenik’s late boss, Mark Harris, took over, sharing his 20 years of experience with the firm and challenging Lashenik with increasingly tougher tasks. “He’d test me, then make sure the next test was more dif-ficult, so the challenges became greater and his support more strategic,” he says.

Although he’s now one of the veterans himself, Lashenik still has two mentors in the firm. With one, he bounces around ideas about the various private-sector architectural projects he oversees; with the other, he con-sults about the state of the company and how people are performing. In turn, Lashenik mentors a senior project

manager, meeting with him every two weeks over breakfast to candidly review his mentee’s accomplishments and offer advice on his aspirations. “I also offer him strategies for how to mentor junior people in his group,” thus enhancing the company’s men-

toring structure.While Lashenik describes American Structurepoint’s

mentoring program as informal, many organizations maintain formalized initiatives with required training on how to be an effective mentor. “Training gets people on the same page, clarifies expectations, creates a road map, and helps in skills building,” says Lois Zachary. As a tem-plate, she’s devised a four-phase mentoring cycle:

• Prepare yourself for the responsibilities involved.

• Establish agreements on measurable goals and accountability.

• Facilitate the actual learning and mentee support.

• Provide closure to ascertain and celebrate what’s been accomplished during the relationship.

HE TAUGHT ME THE BUS INESS OF CONSULT ING ENG INEER ING , WH ICH GO T ME EXC ITED ABOUT WHAT I WAS GO ING T O DO WITH MY L I FE .

Architect Jack Lashenik of Structurepoint in Indianapolis, with younger colleague John Krupski, believes in handing down the wisdom he learned from his own mentors.

creativeliving · winter 2016 15GARY LANDSMAN

xcellence is critical to Nth Dimensions, a nonprofit mentoring organization established in 2004 by Bonnie Simpson Mason, M.D., an orthopedist, to help medical students—spe-cifically women and minorities—prepare for orthopedic residencies and ultimately their own practices (nthdimension.org and drbonniemason.com). Over the years, Mason, a Northwestern Mutual client, has enlisted more than 40 well-established ortho-

pedic surgeons to mentor nearly 3,000 students from 100 or so U.S. medical schools. Through its pipeline initia-tives, Nth Dimensions trains students throughout their time in medical school to excel as future leaders, research-ers, and physicians.

“This year, 92% of our kids who applied for orthope-dic residencies matched,” Mason reports, using the med-school term for being accepted into a hospi-tal residency program. “And 30% of those were women,” nearly double the nationwide population of female orthopedic residents. “This is important, because having a diverse physician workforce is critical to the health of our nation.”

Mason’s efforts follow her own life experiences with mentoring, which began while growing up in Atlanta. Her father, a physicist, worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; her mother was a construction engineer. Along with full-time jobs and raising Mason and her sister—now a child psychiatrist—her parents both also mentored young people in the community. “Our par-ents never told us we should be mentors,” Mason says. “They inspired us to do so by showing us how.”

Her mother served as a role model when Mason chose a medical specialty dominated by men. “Orthopedics was not daunting to me in those terms, because I saw what she did in the 1970s and ’80s as an African-American woman in an all-male field,” she says.

In 2000 Mason was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthri-tis, which forced her to retire just five years into her Washington, D.C., clinical practice. While devastated, she

focused her energy on building Nth Dimensions. “Although I had always seen myself as a con-nector of bones,” she says, “now I get to connect with far more people in a far more meaningful way with the oppor-tunities and resources they need to be successful, and I’ve proudly embraced that as my role,” says Mason, who is mar-ried and the mother of two sons.

In recognition of Nth Dimensions’ pipeline initiatives, including internships and schol-arship programs, Mason received the 2015 Diversity Award from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Among her nomina-tors was Claudia Thomas, M.D., the first African-American woman to become an orthopedic surgeon, who was Mason’s first mentor when she was attending Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.

“With one look at her,” she recalls of their first encounter, “I knew I could be successful.

WITH ONE LOOK AT HER , I KNEW I COULD BE SUCCESSFUL . SHE WAS L IKE ME .

Orthopedic surgeon Bonnie Simpson Mason, M.D., shown here at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., has mentored hundreds of medical students during her career.

16 creativeliving · winter 2016 RUSSELL JAMES

ike Lashenik and Morris, beneficiaries of life-long mentoring frequently cite their parents as their first mentors. Add to that list Gabby Karan De Felice. In 2014, the Northwestern Mutual client opened the Manhattan branch of Tutto Il Giorno. The Italian eatery is the third De Felice has opened with husband Gianpaolo De Felice and chef Maurizio Marfoglia, follow-ing two popular locations in the Hamptons on Long Island (tuttoilgiorno.com).

“My mom was my biggest mentor,” says the daughter of Donna Karan, the celebrated fashion designer and cre-ator of the DKNY brand. The Tribeca location of Tutto Il Giorno features items from Urban Zen—Karan’s collec-tion for the home.

Despite years of exposure to a power-ful and successful woman in the highly competitive clothing industry, De Felice opted to use what she’d learned to become a restaurateur. Watching how her mother learned from mentors became a primary lesson. “My mom grew up in fashion, where she was so close to many fellow designers,” De Felice says. “Restaurateurs are the same. We look to each other for guid-ance and work with one another. It’s a great example of the mentoring concept.”

A big part of that concept is paying it forward, a continuous cycle in which a grateful mentee returns the favor by becoming a mentor, whose mentees become mentors and so on. That’s taken a familial twist with De Felice, who says

She was like me.” Thomas worked at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, so the two embarked on a long-distance relationship, communicating by phone and letters. “We strategically met at conferences, where she introduced me to her colleagues, which led to other advances in my career. I was doing my part academically, and with every step we would meet and stay in touch. And we continue to do so.”

Through her work, Mason continues to move the men-toring effect forward. “Ultimately, mentoring is a process and a key tool that everyone can use to help shape the future of a young person by sharing the benefits of our own knowledge and experience,” she says. “I believe that’s what we’re here to do, so that together we can make a difference.”

MY MOM GREW UP IN FASH ION , WHERE SHE WAS SO CLOSE T O MANY FELLOW DES IGNERS . RES TAURATEURS ARE THE SAME . WE LOOK T O EACH O THER FOR GU IDANCE AND WORK WITH ONE ANO THER .

Restaurateurs Gabby Karan De Felice and her husband, Gianpaolo De Felice, enjoy some downtime in their garden on Long Island. De Felice says her mother, designer Donna Karan, has been an important mentor, though they are in different fields.

creativeliving · winter 2016 17MARK ATKINSON

Similarly, McGee, who’s also a Northwestern Mutual client, didn’t start out looking for a mentor as he worked his way up from his role as an assistant. Then, one day when he was leaving work at 6 p.m. with everyone else, Reynolds pulled him aside. “Ralph said, ‘You don’t need to leave just because the work is over,’” McGee says. “‘If you want to stay and learn, you can do that.’ That was the beginning.”

As the relationship grew, so did the mutual trust and respect for one another. “You can find a lot of people who work very hard,” Reynolds says, “but it’s rare—like one in 10,000—to find someone and say, ‘Let me see how much more he can handle, how much stress he can take.’ And the more Zach took, the

more I could let go.”McGee agrees. “Now, Ralph can go where he needs to

go, come back, and the place didn’t burn down.”Plato couldn’t have said it any better.

Bob Woods, a freelance writer in Madison, Connecticut, counts several

editors from early in his career among his informal but influential

mentors, and has paid it forward by counseling budding journalists.

she’s become a mentor to her mom. “Our roles have reversed as we’ve gotten older. She’s been inspired by my restaurant work”—so much so that the two have joined forces to purchase a small hotel in Bridge hampton, New York, with plans to remodel and reopen it as a boutique inn.

Another corner of the fashion world, one that outfits hip-hop devotees, has nur-tured a mentor-mentee relationship in Virginia Beach, Virginia. That’s where Northwestern Mutual client Ralph Reynolds is the co-owner of RP55 Group (RP55group.com). The company designs and distributes several clothing brands, including one, AKOO, for Grammy-winning rapper T.I.

About 10 years ago, Reynolds inter-viewed Zachery McGee, a fashion design major at Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, for an internship. Things didn’t work out, but a year later, nearing graduation and look-ing for his first job, McGee knocked on Reynolds’ door again. The outcome was dif-ferent this time. “I’ve been here ever since,” says McGee, now one of RP55’s lead designers, thanks to hard work and Reynolds’ tutelage.

Becoming McGee’s mentor was more organic than delib-erate, Reynolds recalls. “It didn’t happen formally. He appeared to have all of the work ethic and talent that it would take be ‘that guy,’” he says, someone who could be a rising star in the company, perhaps his successor.

Reynolds says he’s always been willing to advise his young workers, yet McGee was the first in whom he took enough of a personal interest to mentor. Even so, he instinctively realized that it was a two-way thing. “You have someone ready and willing to learn everything he possibly can,” Reynolds says. “And you have a person on the other side who’s willing and not afraid to teach every-thing he can. At some point, they’re going to catch up, and you’re going to be learning from each other.”

MEN T OR I N G 101Lois Zachary, director of the Center for Mentoring Excellence, offers six tips for success:

1. Be a good listener. Listening is the prime attribute that mentees look for in mentors.

2. Mentees should drive the relationship and ask for what they need, because the mentor is not a mind reader.

3. Mentoring is a leadership competency. If you want to be a leader, you need to be a mentor and know how to sup-

port mentoring in your organization.

4. Mentoring is not coaching. Coaching focuses on the present; mentoring focuses on the future. Yet coaching is a mentor-

ing skill; all mentors are coaches, but not all coaches are mentors.

5. From the beginning, set up regular, consistent meetings. They don’t need to be face-to-face; you can have a great

relationship via Skype. The point is to stay connected.

6. A mentor is not a psychiatrist. Confiding serious per-sonal problems is not a good thing. The mentor’s focus

should be on fulfilling learning needs, not psychological ones.

Zachery McGee (left) and Ralph Reynolds developed a mutually supportive relationship as McGee moved from assistant to right-hand man.

GenXTH

E Factor

creativeliving · winter 2016 19LEFT: IZABELA HABUR/GETTY IMAGES

Don’t count this

sometimes-overlooked

cohort out

I’ll say it loud, and I’ll say it proud: I am a member of today’s Sandwich Generation, the socio-logical embodiment of the classic middle child.

Yes, I’m Generation X. But really? I’m Generation Ex(hausted). We who were born between

1965 and 1980 might have started out tired. Generation X experienced having parents with the highest divorce rate in history, reports the Gilburg Leadership Institute. And our mothers moved into the work-force before the advent of systematized daycare, making us self-reliant latchkey kids.

GenXFactorB Y A U T U M N L A T I M O R E

20 creativeliving · winter 2016 ANNABELLE BREAKEY/MEDIA BAKERY

A generation often is differentiated from others by a “defining moment” that molds it—one with a collective perception and strong clarity around an event. Some writers believe September 11, 2001, was that defin-ing moment that gave us a “where were you when … ?” question to link every member of our generation. The youngest of us were 21 that day; the oldest, 36. Many of our contempo-raries were among the casualties. And we were many of the heroes, as well. We were among the police, the fire-fighters, the passengers who crashed, and the workers in the World Trade Center Towers. And we responded with a patriotism we’d never experi-enced before.

Before 9/11, as children and teens, we witnessed gas shortages, the Tylenol murders, and the Challenger space shuttle explosion. We had to check for razor blades in Halloween candy, and read about the start of the AIDS crisis and the unfolding of the Iran-Contra scandal. We saw Americans held hostage in Tehran, the Rodney King riots, and the OJ trial and verdict. We lived through corpo-rate downsizing (which often affected the employment status of our par-ents). We experienced the first Gulf War, the emergence of the Internet and computer technology, the 20-year evolution of personal music devices from the Walkman to the iPhone, and the 30-year continual evolution of Madonna. Yes, the constant for GenX has been change, lack of predictabil-ity, and the decline of long-recognized social institutions.

So where are we today? GenXers began to turn 50 in 2015. Yes, real midlife! Circumstances have molded us into survivors, realists, and prag-matists, into problem solvers who bridge the generational divide between the conventional Baby Boomers and the outspoken Millennials.

We have weathered numerous eco-nomic storms. And just when we

thought we could settle down, in 2008 our economic peak plummeted with what has been called the worst market failure since 1929. Perhaps that’s why, according to the 2015 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress Study, GenX attitudes are high on financial concern and low on optimism and action. We readily spend before we save and are more likely to have debt than savings. And who can blame us? We’re still paying off student loans, while raising our families on salaries that haven’t notably increased in years. Almost

40% of us “don’t at all feel financially secure,” according to the study, while 38% of us have more debt than savings.

Some of this is the result of follow-ing a convention our Boomer parents taught us: Get an education, then a job. But we entered the workforce during the recession of the 1990s, only to be followed by the bursting of the dot-com bubble. We bought homes in the 2000s, and then the Great Recession robbed us of almost half our wealth when real estate went south and the stock market slumped—

We experienced the first Gulf War, the emergence of the Internet and computer technology, the 20-year evolution of personal music devices from the Walkman to the iPhone, and the 30-year continual evolution of Madonna.

creativeliving · winter 2016 21JUSTIN GEOFFREY/GETTY IMAGES

I don’t see the connotations of being GenX as negative.

Northwestern Mutual client Kathy Reid is a GenXer who

represents how to positively work through the challenges of her

generation. “I don’t see the connotations of being GenX as

negative,” says the busy, Connecticut-based financial services

industry executive. “We’re so much a product of our upbringing,

Boomer parents—they grounded us in the important things in

life. I think we’re driven to be as successful as our parents were.

And the Millennials we’ve raised and who are around us, they

have been inspired by so much we have done, and they con-

tinue to inspire me. We have the best of both worlds.”

Like many GenXers, Reid is married. As a working mother

and wife, she feels very lucky to have her husband’s ongoing

support. “He works in the building industry, and when I need to

travel, he’s the one home with our children, doing the errands

and practices. We have a solid marriage based on a nice balance

of responsibility.”

Like other GenXers, she looks for work-life balance as a pri-

mary need. “Flexibility has become a huge factor for my quality

of life. When I need to work from home, I do. Without those kinds

of work options, I’d have issues coordinating everything for my

family’s quality of life.”

Reid admits that having co-workers and friends who are also

GenX makes it easier to navigate schedules and life overall. “It

takes a village,” she says. “That’s a real thing.”

more than that of the Baby Boomers, according to a 2013 Pew Charitable Trusts survey.

STRUGGLES INTO STRENGTHThrough it all, we Xers have learned much and applied those lessons to become a highly productive genera-tion, turning struggles into strength, resilience, and fortitude. Consider these points:

1 We’re small, but mighty.As Xers, our collective 46 mil-lion sit between the 80 million Boomers and the 76 million

Millennials, according to figures from the Pew Research Trust. Xers are called a “sandwich class,” squeezed between raising children and caring for aging parents. Forty percent of us have children under 18, and almost 25% of us have a parent or another relative living in our household, according to the 2015 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress Study. We juggle challenging economic cycles with home mortgages, educational debts, and lifestyle needs. We’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting for society right now.

2 Our families are stable.We enjoy the lowest divorce rate in 40 years, according to a 2011 CBS News report. We saw firsthand the impact of

divorce on our families and our parents, and we don’t want that for our children. We maintain a highly family-focused agenda, especially as we approach career and work. We make flexibility and work-life balance a priority when we’re deciding where to work. In some cases, we slip into overparenting, wanting so much to “be there” for our children. (We invented extreme kids’ birthday parties!) Regardless, we’re devoted parents, creating traditions and legacies for our children.

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22 creativeliving · winter 2016 TOP: MONIQUE LE LUHANDRE/GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM: F8 IMAGING/GETTY IMAGES

were first in line for cellphones when they hit the market. We grew up in a world without social media, yet have adapted to it and, in some cases, have invented it—rather well.

4 We know how to navi-gate risk and actualize our ingenuity.Perhaps due to the volatility of the world we grew up in,

GenXers became risk takers with a “go big or go home” attitude. We’re

the generation who embraced Star Wars and extreme sports. And we’re great at making assessments: The vestiges of our “change manage-ment” experience show us that some risks are worth taking and some sac-rifices are worth making.

At 55%, Xers make up the greatest proportion of startup founders living today, according to a report from Sage North America, a leading provider of business management software and services to small- and medium-sized businesses.

3 We have created the change we wanted to see in the world.Millennials didn’t get their much-publicized open-

mindedness on their own. The progres-siveness many of them exhibit is rooted in the environment we Xers helped create and the choices we made to bring about further change. With the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ending school racial segregation, we were raised in racially diverse schools. We embraced the idealism of Sesame Street and the consummate (albeit romanticized) blended family of The Brady Bunch. We have turned societal changes, including increased diversity and women in the workplace, into norms. And our cohort includes a sizable number of cultural influencers: Think J.K. Rowling, Jay Z, and J.J. Abrams. We used rotary phones as kids—and

creativeliving · winter 2016 23YI LU/CORBIS

GenX

Success List

Kathy Reid (see page 21) has some learned-

from-experience advice for members of

her busy cohort.

Find flexibility with work.

Drive to succeed; always keep your eyes on your

goals.

Always work to achieve balance.

Find a support group that sustains your goals and

success.

Have a plan! Engage all kinds of coaches, as they

can be extremely valuable.

Work on things collaboratively; we live to

work with others.

Work to live; don’t live to work.

The Xers’ entrepreneurial energy might also be the result of frustration that Boomers are slow to retire, making the workplace environment tough for advancement. In an article in the May 2010 Harvard Business Review, T.J. Erickson reported that research has shown that Xers have a negative attitude toward the business establishment, believing that security isn’t an option, and thinking that there was much to gain in leaving corporate America and striking out on our own.

5 We are highly educated.Xers are the best-educated generation in U.S. history. According to a report from the

Center for Work-Life Policy, a non-profit think tank based in New York, 11% of us hold graduate degrees, and 43% have a bachelor’s degree (46% of women and 40% of men).

6 We like our fun.Like the Millennials, we talk on the phone, text, and email. We host dinners for friends and we participate heavily in

book clubs. (And we loved Hello Kitty from the beginning.) Based on the results of the 1987–2010 annual Longitudinal Study of American Youth, we like to go outside and participate in water sports, hiking, hunting and fishing, skiing, snow-boarding, mountain climbing, and bird watching. In fact, only 13% of those surveyed did not engage in any of these outdoor activities.

7 We believe everything is possible.Generation X is redefining “midlife.” We’re not yet empty nesters, since we

pushed back major milestones like marriage and children until we were older. We’re now deep into the family-formation stage, according to Sheryl Connelly, a global trends and future forecaster for Ford Motor Company. Xers are strong consumers of home stores, as we continue building our nests rather than pushing our chicks out of them.

Bottom line, GenXers are experts at adapting to change: We’ve been laid off, restructured, outsourced, reorga-nized, and relocated more than any other generation. We’re sensitive to being treated disrespectfully and discourteously. We want to be valued and trusted. We’re over being over-looked. And we want the world to make room for us.

After attending eight schools in her formative

years, Autumn Latimore is no stranger to

change. She is a consummate Xer who married

her husband at 36 and had her daughter at 39,

all while remaining Hello Kitty’s number-one

fan. She’s also a Northwestern Mutual client.


BUT BEWARE—THESE CRAFT BEVERAGES AND OTHER TREATS

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Martin House Brewing Company martinhousebrewing.comIn a state where Shiner and Lone Star once reigned supreme, small-batch breweries are now reinventing the craft brew scene. Located in Fort Worth, Martin House Brewing Company is made in Texas by Texans. “Being only the second brewery in the Fort Worth area, we like to think we’re the community-forward beer,” says brewery mem-ber John Vacalis. Prefer light beer? Its 4 Grain Breakfast Brew was modeled after a bowl of cereal, made of barley, wheat, oats, and rye, finished with honey, milk, and sugar. Tried and true hophead? The company’s Cellarman’s Reserve IPA is a classic American-style IPA that uses only a single hop varietal for flavor. Bottoms up!

Olivia’s Beer Cheeseoliviasbeercheese.comCombining two of so many football enthusi-asts’ favorite treats, Olivia Swan, owner of Olivia’s Beer Cheese, produces high-quality, incredible-tasting beer cheese that she sells throughout her home state of Kentucky, as well as in Cincinnati, Chicago, and online.

“Kentuckians have been eating beer cheese since the 1940s; it’s a local specialty,” says Swan. “I feel fortunate to turn something that I’ve been obsessed with since the age of 3 into my own business.” Swan makes six flavors of beer cheese, including traditional favorites Mild and Hot, unique flavors like Bourbon and Rye Whis-key, plus one exclusively sold at a popular Lexing-ton brewery that uses the brewery’s flagship beer.

e hate to be the bearers of bad news, but let’s face it—most New Year’s resolutions don’t last forever. According to

University of Scranton research, just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals. Statistics aside, any realistic resolution accounts for the occasional glass of red wine or slice of creamy Brie. We did our research, and we humbly suggest that whether it’s salty, sweet, or spiked you crave, when you splurge, instead of reaching for an off-brand chocolate bar or bottle of grocery store wine, try one of the artisanal treats below—all made in America, and all the products of Northwestern Mutual clients. Some of these are available online; others might inspire you to take a road trip so you can enjoy them like a local.

›› I feel fortunate to turn something that I’ve been obsessed with since the age of 3 into my own business.‹‹—OLIVIA SWANV

AR I E T I

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Glacial Lakes Distilleryglaciallakesdistillery.comWhen you think of world-renowned vodka distilleries, your mind may wander to Poland, Sweden, or Russia. But what about South Dakota? For a spirit made mainly of water and grain, what’s a better birthplace than the high plains in the Mount Rushmore State? Glacial Lakes Vodka is hand-crafted, fermented, and distilled using locally grown wheat. “Absent is the alcohol burn most people equate with straight vodka; like other premium vodkas, it can

stand on its own, neat or on the rocks,” says co-owner Travis Tisher. Currently, you must go to South Dakota to sample its product, but look for it soon in neighboring states.

Bosque Brewing Companybosquebrewing.comSince 2012, this Albuquerque brewery has been offering quality craft brews, from hoppy IPAs to classic pale ales, to thirsty New Mexico beer lovers. Looking to drink like a local? “We sell almost equal amounts of Riverwalker IPA and Bosque Lager. IPAs account for the vast majority of craft beer sales on a national level and crisp, clean lagers have been a favorite of

the American palate for more than a century,” says Bosque Brewing co-owner Jotham Michnovicz. When you’re in the Land of Enchantment, make sure to swing by and pick up a 22-ounce bomber of spe-cialty beer or a 32- or 64-ounce growler to tote your favorite brew home.

Tittles Cake Dotstittlescakedots.comA tittle is made by crum-bling a fresh-baked cake and forming the crumbs into small balls that are hand-dipped in choco-late. After receiving rave reviews from making the “cake balls” for family and friends, Katie Nord Blackman opened Louisville, Kentucky–based Tittles Cake Dots in 2009. Tittles offers numerous flavors, includ-ing traditional chocolate, strawberry and cream, and butter cake, with her most-ordered variety being red velvet. “Irish Cream is my favorite regular-menu tittle, but I especially love the ever-changing seasonal flavors,” says Blackman. Tittles Cake Dots is a delivery-based business. Louisville residents can order from the website and tittles are delivered right to their door.

Overland Distilleryoverlanddistillery.comSince 2009, Joe and Amanda Pawelski have been serving up smooth and citrusy absinthe to satisfy American curios-ity and thirst for what some may consider the black sheep of spirits. Based in Loveland, Colorado, Overland Distillery is helping to fill the need for absinthe in the increasingly popular

›› Absent is the alcohol burn most people equate with straight vodka; like other premium vodkas, it can stand on its own, neat or on the rocks.‹‹—TRAVIS TISHER

›› Irish Cream is my favorite regular-menu tittle, but I especially love the ever-changing seasonal flavors.‹‹ —KATIE NORD BLACKMAN


craft cocktail scene. “Absinthe is really mak-ing a comeback, thanks to the desire for people to try historic cocktails,” says Joe Pawelski. As with all spirits, to achieve a great blend, you must begin with a pure prod-uct. Trinity Absinthe is made with organically grown, all-natural ingre-dients. Because of its pure, clean nature, Trinity Absinthe is best enjoyed simply with ice-cold water.

Jack Pine Breweryjackpinebrewery.comOpen since 2013, Jack Pine Brewery in Baxter, Minnesota, is bringing the ancient art of com-bining barley, hops, and water to an area that hasn’t seen local craft brew in over 30 years. “We were the first brew-ery within 30 miles since Prohibition,” says owner Patrick Sundberg. But he and his team of brewers are taking craft beer a few steps beyond what it was during the early 1900s. In addition to sea-sonal suds, they currently offer five year-round beers. The crowd favorite is Fenceline Pale Ale, a hopped-up American Pale Ale.

Tradesman Brewing Company tradesmanbrewing.comBetween its two tasting rooms in Charleston, South Carolina, Tradesman’s impressive 14 beers on tap can leave even the most decisive beer lovers scratching their heads wondering where to start. Between its hugely popular agave-infused Welder’s Wheat, its robust Red Ale, and its Circuit Breaker IPA, this self-styled “nano-brewery ” has a brew to satisfy every palate. “Unique to our brewery is a range of beers called the Harvester Series. The series is a Belgian-style Saison that uses locally sourced ingredients such as blueberries and figs,” says owner Christopher Winn. Thirsty yet?

Eiland Coffee Roasterseilandcoffee.comFounded in 1998, Eiland Coffee Roasters, of Richardson, Texas, integrates old-school roasting equipment retro fitted with modern technology to specialize in roasting rare and unique coffees from around the world. Its unique technology is matched only by the expertise of its staff; with the exception of one, every member of its team has been in the specialty coffee industry for at least a decade. “Most of our coffees are sold as single-origin estate cof-fees. That means one country, one exact farm,” says owner Clay Eiland. Eiland’s coffees range in origin from Burundi, East Africa, to Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea. How can you get your hands on a hot cup of Eiland

joe? You can find its cof-fee in high-end coffee bars and restaurants in Texas and surrounding states or online.

Power House Brewing Co. powerhousebrewingco.comLooking for a cold brew in Columbus, Indiana? Look no further than Power House Brewing Co. Power House offers numerous beers, includ-ing its best-selling Ceraline Cream Ale, its seasonal Peanut Butter Porter and its German Alt-style Don’t Be a Bum Ale. Power House is most known for its Diesel Oil Stout, paying homage to the fact that Columbus is home to Cummins, Inc., maker of diesel engines. “I like to say we’re the blues musicians of brew-ing….What sets one blues artist apart from another is their approach to their craft. Our cre-ativity and our love for bold flavor and balance set us apart from other breweries,” says co-owner Jon Myers.

Megan Hoefler, a writer in

Milwaukee and Northwestern

Mutual client, judges a city by

its craft beer selection.

›› Unique to our brewery is a range of beers called the Harvester Series. The series is a Belgian-style Saison that uses locally sourced ingredients such as blueberries and figs.‹‹—CHRISTOPHER WINN


crea t ive thinking

MATTHEW FURMAN

Don Draper, Rick Grimes, Walter White—these characters’ names are mentioned regularly around water coolers, on social media, and at dinner parties across the country. Some of them have even become part of popular culture lingo (“This isn’t a democracy. It’s a RICKtatorship!”).

For almost a decade, AMC has been invading our households with original programming that has us binge-watching, discussing, even debating. Shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead have led an amazing evolution for the brand. But how? And why? President and general manager of AMC, Charlie Collier, a Northwestern Mutual client, says it’s all about distinctive storytelling, trusting your creative, and taking risks. He talked to us about how he approaches his job and why he’s been so successful at keeping us entertained.

A Conversation with

Charlie CollierBY PETER BALISTRIERI

CL: How did you get your start? What attracted you to the career and the industry?CC: I always loved televi-sion and media in general, and thought it would be great to work in the indus-try I cared so much about. What I loved was the union of business and creative.

CL: What advice would you give to people who want to follow in your footsteps?CC: You have to be passion-ate about storytelling and surround yourself with peo-ple who appreciate not just one piece of the puzzle, but bringing them all together at once. Stop and appreciate how rare creative excellence really is—and respect it when you find it.

CL: What are your pas-sions outside your work?

CC: First of all, it’s my fam-ily—my wife and four kids. That’s why I work so hard. That’s what it’s all about. Beyond my family life, everything from golf and tennis to some side busi-nesses I’m very excited about. I have an interest in a minor-league baseball team. I’m also part of a startup company in the golf space called swingOIL that’s really building momentum.

CL: How did AMC reach its new distinctiveness?CC: What we’ve done at AMC is try to embrace more of a premium televi-sion notion, of television more eclectic, by design. It’s a consistent through line of quality storytelling. We are still the largest ‘movie net-work’ in the country. Unlike vertical networks

like Bravo, Food Network, or HGTV, for instance, one night on AMC you’ll see an eclectic lineup of original programming and the next night you’ll see something completely different, which is distinct from a lot of very successful basic cable.

CL: What prompted you to go into this format? Was there resistance?CC: My bosses, Josh Sapan and Ed Carroll, had a vision to take AMC into original programming. This was a transformational moment for our business and our brand. We knew we wanted to very much put distinction above everything, including even ratings. So it was actually the opposite of resistance; they led the charge.

To stand out in a world with this insane amount of


crea t ive thinking

Milwaukee writer Peter

Balistrieri is an unapologetic

zombie show fan.

original content that has grown over the last 10 years, and the proliferation of channels, we needed to think about what it would take to differentiate us. We all agreed we’d try to do fewer, better shows and that we’d lean into projects that were the types we thought could stand seam-lessly side-by-side with some of the greatest movies of all time.

CL: What makes viewers care about the characters on your shows at such a deep emotional level?CC: There’s a level of authenticity in storytelling that has emerged over the last decade-plus that allows viewers to get to know these characters in a way we used to rely on films for. Two or three hours of storytelling have been replaced with possibly spending a decade with some of these charac-ters. If I refer to a Don Draperes que moment, most folks know what this means—and not just to fans, but, to some degree, anyone who’s been a student of pop culture over the last decade. Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould [Breaking Bad], Matt Weiner [Mad Men], Scott Gimple and Robert Kirkman [The Walking Dead], and John Wirth [Hell on Wheels] and so many others we’ve been lucky enough to work with are some of the finest storytellers in any medium, building stories that really resonate over the long term.

CL: What do you want peo-ple to love about AMC?

CC: I think the greatest compliment we get is when people tell us they never thought they’d watch a cer-tain type of show and now it’s one of their favorites, and the only reason they sampled it is because it was on AMC. So, during the launch of The Walking Dead, we’d hear from Mad Men fans who said, “I’ll never watch a zombie drama.” The value of the AMC brand is people know we’re going to lean into the story and the character in a way that attempts to make it meaningful and, as we say in our tagline, make it “something more”—certainly something more engaging, something more compelling, something that truly elevates the story.

CL: Have there been any setbacks or surprises?CC: If you meet someone in my chair who hasn’t had setbacks, they’re either brand new to the chair, not being truthful, or not tak-ing big enough swings. We’re doing work with some of the finest creative minds in the business, and, of course, even they’ve had ups and downs along the way. Our job is to nurture them and elevate them and, when we find something that really resonates, to make sure it reaches the heights that often are elu-sive if you don’t both take and support that big creative swing.

“Stop and appreciate how rare creative excellence really is—and respect it when you find it.”


BY ANDREA CHAVEZ

an insider’s look at our great cities and towns

american traveler

TOP: COURTESY OF CRAIG BORGES’ NEW ORLEANS SEAFOOD COMPANY; ABOVE: JOHN COLETTI/CORBIS

AN AMERICAN ICON REBOUNDS

NEW ORLEANS has always played a large role in the country’s consciousness, even before the 19th century when it was the wealthiest and third-

largest city in the country. Today, it’s still an American icon, known for its jazz, cuisine, vintage electric-rail streetcars (never trolleys—ask any local), distinctive neighborhoods, and, of course, its resilience after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina a decade ago.

Andrea Chavez hasn’t

traveled nearly as much

as she would like, but

wherever she goes, she

enjoys conversations

with locals to get a

sense of a city’s culture

and nightlife.

The city’s six vintage streetcars operate along the popular Riverfront and through other neighborhoods, including the Garden District. A streetcar ride can be a great way to take in the atmosphere of each unique ward within this diverse city of some 350,000 resi-dents. Whether you’re experiencing New Orleans by streetcar, automobile, or on foot, a little insider information is invaluable. So we asked two locals, both Northwestern Mutual clients, for their advice on what to see, do, hear—and eat (of course).

Bob Phelps went to law school in New

Orleans shortly after a stint in the Army, and decided to practice municipal finance in the city after graduation. He now travels between homes in Texas and Louisiana, but finds it hard to leave the city where he and his wife have invested many years of community vol-unteer work, and in which his two grown children still reside.

From his many years in the city, Phelps sug-gests that the best way to get to know the area is to steep yourself in its history. For an immer-sion in Louisiana lore and legend, plan a day (or more!) to explore the six sites that make up the Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve (nps.gov/jela). Your visit will give you an over-view of the Delta region, a crossroads that over time has been shaped by people from myriad countries, ethnic groups, and religions.

Back downtown, listen to free jazz as you

Above: The Saint Charles streetcar rumbles through downtown New Orleans. Right: Hungry? Try a dish at Ralph Brennan’s Red Fish Grill. Or sample mussels from Craig Borges’ New Orleans Seafood Company (top).


american traveler

TOP LEFT: ANDREAS POLLOK/GETTY IMAGES; TOP RIGHT: RICHARD T. NOWITZ/GETTY IMAGES; CENTER: THOMAS NORTHCUT/GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM: COURTESY OF RALPH BRENNAN’S RED FISH GRILL

stroll through the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (nps.gov/jazz), which explores six distinct neighborhoods, paying homage to the people and places that shaped the musical evolution of the city. The National Park Service also offers walking tours of the French Quarter, New Orleans’ oldest neighborhood.

Craig Borges’ knowledge of the city started at birth. His family business, Craig Borges’ New Orleans Seafood Company (craigborges seafood.com) has supplied his hometown’s restaurants with seafood for more than a cen-tury. For Borges, the New Orleans story is best told through its food, cocktails, and musical hot spots. He suggests the Bourbon House (bourbonhouse.com), known for its bourbon milk punch. Or drop by Ralph Brennan’s Red Fish Grill (redfishgrill.com), to sample alliga-tor boudin balls. At GW Fins (gwfins.com), grab an order of lobster dumplings. And don’t miss Emeril Lagasse’s flagship restaurant, NOLA (emerilsrestaurants.com/nola- restaurant), in the heart of the French Quarter.

Need coffee to keep you going? Stop by

Café du Monde (cafedumonde.com) for a chicory-laced cup or a café au lait, accompa-nied by a few fresh beignets. Looking for an after-dinner drink? The Napoleon House (napoleonhouse.com) in the French Quarter has been around since the 1700s, and since 1914 has offered Pimms Cup cocktails as an effective antidote to a hot Louisiana night.

Borges tells visitors not to leave town with-out breaking out your dancing shoes and heading to Tipitina’s (tipitinas.com). Whether it’s Mardi Gras or a random Wednesday night, you’ll have a great time. The two-story venue is big enough for you to feed on the energy of the crowd, but small enough to get up close to the live act of the night.

A decade after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the two locals we consulted were happy to report that their vibrant city has bounced back and is enjoying all that it has always been known for. As they say in New Orleans, there’s no such thing as summer, autumn, winter, or spring. There’s crawfish season, shrimp season, and oyster and fish season. So, come on down.

As they say in New Orleans,

there’s no such thing as summer,

autumn, winter, or spring.

There’s crawfish season, shrimp

season, and oyster and fish

season.

Left: Preservation Hall, a club with no seats or air conditioning, is still the “home of jazz.” Right: Bourbon Street, the backbone of the French Quarter, pulses with life at twilight.


perspectives on the world of medicine

outlook

TOP: SASA ROKVIC/GETTY IMAGES

“Outlook” information is intended for general reference purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment. Medical information changes rapidly, and while Creative Living and its content providers make efforts to update the content, some information may be out of date.

BY ANTHONY NORELLI, M.D.

TRANSITION BLUES

While doing some reading for this column, I came across research

identifying qualities shared by families

who are able to stand strong in the face of

disruption and change. It turns out

that resilient families:

�

CELEBRATE, noting birthdays, religious

occasions, and other special events

�

MANAGE FINANCES,

developing decision-making skills about

money

�

USE SUPPORT NETWORKS,

emphasizing the positive aspects of relationships with

in-laws, relatives, and friends

�

CREATE TRADITIONS,

honoring holidays and important family experiences carried through generations

Source: “Transitions and Changes: Who Copes Well?” Colorado State

University, 2011

So, if change is inevitable, how can we best protect ourselves from getting overwhelmed by it?

1Keep up your good habits. Eat well, exercise, destress in whatever way works

best for you, and get adequate sleep. Avoid excessive drinking, eating, or other destruc-tive behaviors.

2Don’t waste time and energy fighting something you cannot alter. That time

and energy will yield much better results applied in positive ways. Also, if you are con-stantly fighting change, it may eventually come back to haunt you in your work or family life.

3Maintain your network of friends. They can help with advice, leads, or by just

listening. If they are true friends, they may even tell you what you need to hear rather than what you want to hear.

4Maintain a positive attitude. I think author and coach Brian Tracy sums it up

well: “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.”

For me, having time to accommodate the inevitable changes arising in a given day means getting up early. That’s no small task for a lifelong night owl. But fellow physician Richard Swenson’s book, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives (NavPress, 2004), helped me focus on the importance of making time for the unavoidable changes that come my way on a daily basis.

Like you, I’m continually working on ways to better accommodate change in hopes of someday getting it right. We can do this!

If I ever write enough music to be able to release a “Greatest Hits” compilation, I already have the title: His Old Stuff.

Whenever people discuss a band or musician, it’s always, “I like their old stuff.” Diana Krall writing and recording her own songs? The Stones’ evolution into and through disco? No way, no how. I want that old time rock ’n’ roll.

We know what we like, we like what we know, and we know we’d like more of what we like. So please don’t change it.

But life is change. Artists evolve, and so do we. We change to adapt to our daily wants and needs. And yet we dread change.

Much of that dread that seeps into one’s psyche—on a Sunday night while thinking of tomorrow’s workload, at a new job, at the end of a relationship—may arise from a sense of not being in control. Most often we cannot drive the change. Rather, we must respond to it, like it or not.

Mild to moderate change can be a chal-lenge. And extreme change—the loss of a loved one, being fired from a job—can over-whelm. This can be serious stuff. In the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) there’s a diagnosis called “adjustment disorder,” which has also been referred to as a “stress-related, short-term, nonpsychotic disturbance.” Whatever you call it, the condition can cause behaviors similar to depression and/or anxiety.

Rx

Tony Norelli is medical director at Northwestern Mutual, and a client. Previously, he practiced family medicine at Pro Health Care Inc., in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin. His hobbies include music,

reading, food and wine, and distance cycling.

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