I always knew that someday I’d write this column.

All it took was a comment from Jamie Campalongo, CEO of Pittsburgh Transportation Company (a.k.a., the cab company) to get things started.

A guest on my show (and a terrific one, at that … I really liked this guy), Jamie talked about how difficult it was to find “Anyone … drivers, cabbies, dispatchers” who could pass a drug test prior to beginning employment with any of his companies.

(By the way, if you think you’re not renting from “Yellow Cab” when you call, say, “Colonial Cab” or “People’s cab”, think again … if it’s a cab company and if it’s in Allegheny County, then Pittsburgh Transportation almost certainly owns it.)

Anyway, this (comment about drug use) took me to Lee Taddonio’s comment in a recent news article wherein he was quoted as saying, “four out of ten manufacturing job applicants are turned down” … because of drugs in their urine.

So, I dug up Sir Edward Gibbons’ famous “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (which was published in 1776) … to see just what parallels might exist between our present U.S. society and that of the Roman Empire in her last days.

(You see, I had read this tome in high school … it was on a recommended reading list provided to me by a gentleman by the name of R. Burt Gookin. Mr. Gookin was at that time - 1963 - President of H.J. Heinz Company. Mr. Gookin often chose me to caddy for him at Longue Vue Country Club where, in response to my incessant questions about how one might become successful in life and business, he advised me to “read the Greek Tragedies.”)

Essentially, Gibbons said that the Roman Empire succumbed to Barbarian invasions because of a “loss of civic virtue” among its citizens.

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I’m not one to spend time in front of a TV screen; in fact, the last time I witnessed a golf match on the tube it involved players like Johnny Miller and Arnold Palmer. I’ve just never understood sitting and watching when I could instead spend the same amount of time doing.

Nonetheless, I was one of the (perhaps) hundreds of millions of people who spent part of their Sunday and/or Monday watching El Tigre’ and the man from Greensburg, PA slug it out for the right to be called “Champion of the United States” in the sport of golf.

This truly is the one champion event, as it is the only event that is truly “open” to all contestants. Heck, if the guy next door gets on an appropriate hot streak, he can win his way into this event. And, if he stays hot, he can win the Open itself.

Never happens … but it’s possible.

What is possible, but also highly unlikely, is the #158 rated player in the golf world ending up in a tie with the top rated player after seventy-two holes of play. Of course, these were, and respectively, the rankings of Mssrs. Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods.

Think his dad wasn’t at least a little competitive?

They say that this world divides into three “types” … those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.    To me, at least, television is for those who live in the middle third … that is, they choose to be life’s observers, and not those who would initiate action. In some ways, I feel sorry for these folk; for they are missing a chance to truly laugh at life as they live it. But on the other hand, I am grateful for them, because they sometimes make excellent employees for those in the first group.

But this past weekend, I decided to become a “watcher” … and I can see how easy it might be to become a permanent part of this group, for I was absolutely mesmerized by the drama that played out on my home screen.

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For those of you who skipped high school English, the title of this article is by Shakespeare comma Bill.

Sir William makes many references to “discerning emotions via non-verbal means” in his vast writings. In fact, fifteenth century traders (his contemporaries) were quite attuned to either spending, or not spending great sums of time and money based upon both the unstated and/or understated positions of their business acquaintances.

Camel traders, for instance, were particularly concerned with the eyes. A world-class camel buyer, for instance, would partake of a naturally occurring drug called Belladonna; this otherwise harmless seed when properly administered would have the net effect of dilating one’s pupils for a thirty-to-sixty minute period. This, in turn, was extremely useful to the buyer of the animal; after all, the desert-walking salesmen of this era were quite adroit at terms of watching the buyer’s pupils --- so if the buyer liked what he saw, the seller saw the pupil dilate and his sale price simultaneously increased.

You get it, I’m sure.

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The other day, I had to deal with a rather pushy salesperson. She was trying to get me to final-commit to a deal that I had already decided to make, but at that particular point in time I still had not executed the paperwork and signed the check.

I had every intention of doing this deal --- I had already rationalized the payback and I believed that I was making a good investment.

But you know how it is when it’s time to actually pull the dough out of your bank.

As she was pushing me to do these very things, however, I became annoyed. For one thing, I felt like I was being patronized. Further, she had this compulsion to continually let me know how successful she was as a business owner. In time, I really began to personally dislike her. She never got the contract or the check.

Later on, I called the owner of her company (a friend and a great guy) to say that he himself could drop by my office any time he liked to pick these items up, because even while I was sold, I simply was not going to give the sale to her.

He was lucky. Most buyers would not have done this deal.

He commented, “You know, you’re not the first person to tell me how intensely aggressive she is. But on the other hand, my other sales guys have been so weak at closing that I had to bring her on board to at least show them how it’s done.”

I grasped this completely. Because thirty-five years of selling has taught me exactly how difficult it is to cover that “last (sales) yard” … those thirty-six inches between the one and the goal line. How many times do you see an NFL game where the ball gets to the one but no further? You truly need some special individual to force it to pay dirt.

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Perhaps one of a business’s most overlooked assets is its Board of Directors. I say this because a well-conceived and well-represented board can provide invaluable assistance to any company; either start-up or mature.

For purposes of this column, however, let me talk about the value of a start-up’s Board of Directors.

As is often the case these days, a Board of Directors cannot be chosen casually. I’ve seen boards selected right before my eyes, in a matter of minutes. (Example: “Well, Tom … you’ve been a great attorney in terms of helping us get organized and set up as a corporation … so how’s about you joining our board? Oh, and you, too Mike … after all, you really know your accounting.”)

I call this, “Boards by Proximity” --- whoever happens to be hanging around when the company is being formed oftentimes finds himself also on the Board!

Huge mistake.

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