Baking & Snack - June 2006 - 8

EDITORIAL

Baking&Snack
EDITORIAL STAFF
Executive Editor
Laurie Gorton
lgorton@sosland.com
Editor

Renewable Resources

an you remember the name of your 6th-grade science teacher? How about your
high-school music teacher or college career counselor or favorite professor? I know
you can, but why do you remember that specific person or persons? If you think
about it, you will realize that in some way each had a significant impact on your life,
whether you realized it then or only now that you take a moment to reflect.
Perhaps they gave you simple but sincere encouragement, taught you that you can succeed if
you don't give up, took you under their wing and guided you through tough times with patience
and cheered for you when you persevered. Maybe they pushed you to your assumed limits then
let you leap beyond. Or maybe they were just good communicators and listeners who believed
you and your question were more important than their own paper shuffling. It could have simply
been a word of introduction to a potential employer on your behalf that jumpstarted your career.
Scholastically, such people for me include Roger Mills, Dr. Art Seidler, Dr. Earl Auerbach and
Steve Proshkow - a classic old-time baker from Poland - to name a few.
Would I consider any of these people mentors? Not in a formal sense, but each had an
impact that maintains their names in my memory and in some way inspired me to become
the person I am today.
Each year when Baking & Snack presents its Rising Star award (see "Focused Efforts for
Common Goals," Page 32), the person profiled nearly always credits one or more people in
the industry who inspired them and helped them become the person they are today. What
a legacy for the mentor to have contributed to someone else's life, sustained knowledge,
expertise, tricks of the trade and, in many cases, transferred not-so-simple common sense.
That legacy not only benefits the mentee but the industry as well.
And what a lesson the baking industry should take away from these award winners. We all
talk about employee retention issues, lack of expertise or loss of value and knowledge as promising young employees are recruited, enticed or otherwise whisked away to more glamorous
fields of work. Some baking companies have formal mentoring programs, but it takes more
than a company program.
Thom Kuk, president of the American Society of Baking, is in the final stages of crafting
a program with Virgil Smail, chairman of the Grain Sciences and Industry Department at
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, that will pair industry mentors with KSU students. As Mr. Kuk stated, "It is all
part of the bigger picture of community building, something
this industry desperately needs in order to enhance long-term
sustainability." A formal announcement of the program will
come at the annual conference next March.
Keep in mind that mentoring is an art, a behavior, an attitude. It is a form of human development where one person
invests time, energy and personal know-how assisting the
growth and ability of another person.
Take the time, renew the resources.
- Steve Berne, Editor
sberne@sosland.com

10 / BAKING & SNACK / June 2006

Steve Berne
sberne@sosland.com

Managing Editor

Holly Bradley
hbradley@sosland.com

Associate Editor

Jennifer Barnett Fox
jfox@sosland.com

Contributing Editor

Dr. Clyde E. Stauffer

Contributing Editor

Richard F. Stier

Contributing Editor

Donna Berry

Contributing Editor

Hallie Forcinio

Contributing Editor

Rebeca López-García

DESIGN STAFF
Design Services Manager

Sadowna McClun

Designer

Jennifer Cheek

Manager of Advertising Design
Classified Ad Layout

Becky White

Christina Sullivan

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Chairman
Charles S. Sosland
Vice-chairman
L. Joshua Sosland
President
Mark Sabo
Publishing Director
G. Michael Gude
Publisher
Paul Lattan
Vice-President,
Chief Financial Officer
Melanie Hepperly
Audience Development Director Don Keating
Advertising Manager
Nora Wages
Ad Materials Coordinator
Debbie Maniez
Digital Systems Analyst
Marj Potts
Circulation Manager
Sheryl Morrow
Marketing Communications
Coordinator/ Reprint Manager
Carrie Land

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E-mail: BakingSnack@sosland.com
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Baking & Snack - June 2006

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