New Years' Eve Greetings

Many of us will spend the next few hours reflecting on the highs and lows of 2009 and thinking about what surprises 2010 may have in store.

I want to thank my family for the many wonderful hours of visits during the past 12 months. Having children, grandchildren, siblings and extended family scattered from New England to Virgina and Florida to the desert of Arizona to Romania and Poland provides both challenges and opportunities for staying in contact. Skype and Facebook and LinkedIn are all wonderful tools, but nothing beats the chance to visit face-to-face, so I am grateful for the visits we were able to have during 2009.

I am blessed with more special friends than any human being deserves to have, and I am perpetually grateful for that blessing. So, thank you for including me in your extended family of trusted friends and colleagues.

Financially, 2009 was a challenge for many of us. Recruiting is always impacted during an economic downturn, and many of my valued client companies were in hiring freeze mode during the past year, so we have had to scramble. As the new year dawns, please keep me and White Rhino Partners in mind if you are aware of companies that need help in identifying, recruiting and hiring gifted leaders, whether they be senior executives or promising bright young leaders of the future.

Finally, please keep in mind as you celebrate the turning of the page in the calendar the men and women - and their families - who continue to serve our nation in the military. These are challenging times for our soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors who are deployed, preparing for deployment or recovering from deployments. I am in frequent communication with our young leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I can tell you that they need our prayers as they carry out what often feel like thankless assignments under that most challenging of conditions. Knowing that those of us back home in the U.S. are remembering them with prayers, letters, packages, e-mails and phone calls makes the sacrifice a little less daunting.

God bless - and Happy New Year!

Al