been resolved and we were poised to move forward and grow. Tomas meant so much to the company, having become CEO after many years. Most of my colleagues had worked with him for a decade or more and all of us knew him as a charismatic leader.
My first response was to pick up a pen from my desk and hurl it across the room.
Calmly, Franz picked up the pen, placed it back on my desk and said, “Okay. You’re the head of HR. I’m coming to you first. A lot of people are going to be unsettled by this news. The company is now my responsibility and I need your help.” His voice was even. If my emotional reaction affected him in any way, it seemed as if he understood my sorrow, disappointment and anger. I understood what Tomas did, I was angry at him, I wished him well and I wanted my company to move ahead despite him, all at the same time. And Franz understood that as well. He probably didn’t agree with all of my sentiments but he understood them in me.
Together Franz and I, with the General Counsel, worked to smooth the transition of Tomas’ departure and Franz’s assumption of the CEO position. Franz showed his leadership qualities in many ways. There was no midnight massacre of Tomas’ close friends and relatives who occupied many key company positions. In fact, Franz approached all of them and asked them to stay because they were important to the company’s continued success. Some stayed and many left to join Tomas at our competitor. Franz didn’t have to say I was his HR head. He showed it by relying on my advice and the work of my team. Four months later, at the company’s holiday party Franz asked me to sit at his table. His wife, whom I had not met previously, took my hand and said, “I’m happy to meet you. Franz was so happy when he learned you were staying as his HR head.” Her words meant more to me than a raise.
Nine months pass to September 11, 2001. After an early morning doctor’s appointment and listening to a CD in my car, I arrived at my office and was told by the receptionist that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center accidentally. I was unnerved for two reasons; I hate to fly and for almost eight years I was in the Trade Center every work day.
I ran up the stairs past my office and into the boardroom where I knew the TV would be on. A handful of my colleagues, looking bewildered and frightened, watched as a second plane hit the Towers. Our perception of the situation changed immediately from accident to attack. Everyone, including me, began crying. Someone was doing this to us. Who do I know in the Towers? Our head of benefits commuted from New Jersey through the Towers train station. Had anyone heard from him? No. Are any of our people in the air today? Don’t know offhand.
I gathered everyone in the boardroom as the terror played out on the screen in front of me and announced that anyone who wanted to go home could leave on administrative absence. Anyone who wanted to stay and work or watch the events on TV should stay. Anyone who needed to talk to someone should come to my office. I didn’t know what else to do.
Franz flew all the time. Three out of five workdays he was in the air or about to board a plane. I didn’t know where he was. I tried his cellphone number. No answer. I called his assistant. He’s out of the office. I tried to think of what else to do. I couldn’t come up with anything other than go back to the boardroom, watch the news and try to be a comfort for anyone in need.
As I watched the news, I remembered Franz telling me he once flew into Beirut during the civil war to collect an air freight debt. He got the check and flew back out the same day. I asked him if he was scared. “I felt better once the flight out took off!”
I couldn’t figure out if he was fearless, crazy, determined or a bit of all three. But I knew he had four o’clock in the morning courage. What he did next confirmed it for me.
On September 13, 2001, Franz’s management team met in the boardroom where so many of us had cried days before. In one of the most elegant and impressive displays of high level teamwork in the midst of a crisis I had ever seen, with Franz’s guidance we coordinated efforts to support and reassure our employees, inform and assist our clients, and assess the damage 9/11 had done to our business. We also discussed ways our company could aid our country during this period. This was all done smoothly and effectively. In the coming weeks, our customers would praise us for our poise and efficiency. Our colleagues would thank us for our compassion.
Then Franz announced that all business travel by plane was suspended for the indefinite future. That meant domestic and international travel. This was from the man who flew into a civil war to collect a debt. I knew he would continue to fly (and he did) and I knew his bosses in Switzerland would not agree with the air travel ban. I asked Franz about this privately. “Whether they agree or not, I’m not letting my people risk this. We’re Americans and our risk is greater. The bosses in Switzerland will have to understand.”
I know Franz defied them because we didn’t fly for three months and I took a beating from the Swiss HR managers for not flying to Europe for a meeting. But Franz backed me 100% and he backed his people 100%. In addition to the enormous emotional and spiritual toll on all of us, the company took a terrible financial beating because of these events. We went from a modest profit to losing tens of millions of dollars for the year. The company received no government assistance, while other U.S.-based freight companies did receive government aid, because our corporate leaders weren’t American citizens. Ninety-eight percent of our U.S. employees were American citizens and they took a financial beating because of 9/11. None of this compared to our national tragedy. As Americans, we were stunned, angered and emotionally spent for many months well into the next year. When we needed leadership, real 4:00 in the morning leadership, Franz provided it.
I will never forget his example. He and I didn’t always agree. We promised each other at the beginning of our relationship that we would disagree at times but be agreeable. We kept this promise. Leadership and management are both an art and a science. Lincoln ran through a number of generals before he picked Grant. Eisenhower’s troops suffered dreadful losses before D-Day was successful. You can always grow, and you should always do so.
Learning From Erring
Leaders carry their own mantles of responsibility, in failure and in success. Rather than hiding from your mistakes and hiding from possibly making a mistake, your skills and your soul need the experience of mistakes to learn and grow. “Resilient people view mistakes as experiences to learn from.” Managers need to see themselves and their teams honestly, not as Supermen or -women, but as imperfect human beings.
“There is nothing final about a mistake, except its being taken as final.” Phyllis Bottome, English author (1884-1963)
Apple Computer almost went into bankruptcy not so long ago. Harry Truman and U.S. Grant failed at every business venture they each tried in their lives prior to public service. It is not trite to remind ourselves that we all make mistakes because we all do, more frequently than we might wish or admit.
“. . . if at the end of the day all you can say is, ‘So-and-so made a mistake,’ you haven’t solved anything. Telling people to be careful is not effective. Humans are not reliable that way. Some are better than others, but nobody’s perfect. You need a solution that’s not about making people perfect.” James Bagian, former astronaut and current Director of Patient Safety at the Veterans Administration
I am reminded by a colleague that many people in the workplace put inordinate value in being liked by their colleagues. Not loved, liked. For managers this can lead to not dealing with problems for fear that someone may be disciplined or criticized, jeopardizing that person’s positive image of the manager. Similarly, some managers are perceived by some colleagues as being too strong in their management approach because the managers’ motivation is to go all out, without taking into account the more restrained nature of these colleagues. I’ve witnessed workplaces where female managers who are articulate and capable are perceived as being too assertive
