People often ask me whom I consider to be the most inspiring and effective of leaders, and mostly they expect me to call out the famous folks–like Jobs, or Gates, or Lincoln or Washington or Mother Theresa.
But I prefer to answer the question from personal experience and not from what I’ve gleaned about people by watching the news, and reading articles and history books. And I’ve never met Steve, or Bill, or Abe, or George, or Mother T.
But I have met Dick Nettell, and he is, hands down, the finest Extreme Leader I’ve met in 20 years of working with leaders across the spectrum of public and private organizations. When we first met, Dick was a VP at Bank of America (pre aquisition by NationsBank ) where he ran the check-processing operation, among other things. I wrote about him in The Radical Edge (bonus points for anyone who finds the reference), but there’s so much more to tell. If you’d read his recommendations on LinkedIn, you’d get a taste of what I mean. There are 41 of them.
Last I checked, I had 8.
I’m telling you about Dick now, because the last time he and I talked, he was finally getting around to writing a book of his own (he’s retired from BofA), and I want to encourage him to finish it. This is my way of giving him a nudge.
In the meantime, he recently posted this tidbit over on our GTY Project Group. I gave it a slight edit (I can’t help it!), and I’m happy to share it with you here. As far as Dick’s wisdom and experience goes, this is the tip of the tip of the iceberg:
“Years ago, my biggest single weakness (and I had a lot) was my tendency to react very quickly to situations, without thinking through the impact my words may have on others. I had a new boss, whose career had been sidetracked for just this weakness.
“One day, after an event where I went off on someone half-cocked, he came into my office and shut the door. I has in the middle of budgets, with papers scattered around my desk as I double checked a spreadsheet with a calculator (yep, it was a long time ago). He asked me what I would do if I found an error.
“‘I’d fix it,’ I replied.
“‘No,’ he said. ‘What specific action would you take?’
“‘I’d erase it and start over.’
“He then held out his hand and asked for the pencil I was using. He held it up and pointed at the eraser and said, ‘Dick, they don’t make one of these for dealing with people. If you are writing something or adding up columns of numbers and you make an error, you can simply erase and correct, and it’s as through the error never occurred. They don’t make an eraser for dealing with people. People might forgive an error, but they will never forget. You have to live with that.’
“That had a huge impact on me. Not only did I not forget, it systemically changed my approach, especially during ‘moments of truth.’ Because of his gift of coaching I was able to not only turn a weakness into a strength, but to share this with countless teammates over the years.”
And thanks, Dick, for sharing that with us.
We’re all looking forward to much, much more.
Aren’t we, folks?
You, once again, have accomplished the impossible Mr Farber. I think I’m actually blushing….
Seriously…..high praise, especially coming from you. I do appreciate the kinds words…..
On the book, you’re right…. I need to get it off the back burner and get it done. I made a great deal of headway then the California trout population required a little thinning out and, you know, someone had to do it.
Time to get the rest of my thoughts together in some kind of semi-lucid form and get it wrapped up.
Appreciate your support and friendship.
Dick
You, once again, have accomplished the impossible Mr Farber. I think I’m actually blushing….
Seriously…..high praise, especially coming from you. I do appreciate the kinds words…..
On the book, you’re right…. I need to get it off the back burner and get it done. I made a great deal of headway then the California trout population required a little thinning out and, you know, someone had to do it.
Time to get the rest of my thoughts together in some kind of semi-lucid form and get it wrapped up.
Appreciate your support and friendship.
Dick
Mr. Nettell,
I can't tell you how much influence you have had on my life. You are a great leader, friend and mentor. GET THIS BOOK DONE! I need something that will inspire me and the people who work for me EVERYDAY!!
Melissa
Thanks for helping to nudge the old boy, Melissa!
I couldn’t agree more with Melissa. Dick was the best leader I have ever had and I look forward to the book and all of the Nettellisms that are so effective.
I had the privilege of working for Dick for a few of my 30 years at Bank of America and I can tell you he is without doubt, the best manager and person I have ever known. I can still remember the first day I met him. He had just assumed management responsibility for our organization and came to introduce himself. When he was done speaking, I remember thinking to myself; this guy’s too good to be true. We’ll never see him again and if we do, he’ll never live up to half of what he promised. I spent the next 10 or so years working for Dick and not once did he disappoint me or promise something he didn’t follow through on. He was the reason for my success at Bank of America and had a significant impact on the way I approach people overall. I too look forward to your book Dick!!