WEEKLY WAITE-O-GRAM (RELEASE 6.0)

QUIZ TIME

No CEO Deadly Sins this week-- but I do have a quiz question. Quick, WITHOUT LOOKING IT UP ON GOOGLE or any other search engine, what were the original Seven Deadly Sins? The answer will be found at the end of this blog.

GOOD BOSS, BAD BOSS

Over the course of a career, one typically has many bosses - and of course some of us become bosses ourselves.  Some are good; some are OK; some are the bosses from hell. While most people think of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" as a story about the spirit and meaning of the holiday season...one can argue it is really about bosses...contrasting "Good Old Fezziwig", with his kindness to employees and apprentices... with Ebenezer Scrooge... who makes Meryl Streep's character in "The Devil Wears Prada"... look positively cuddly.

A GREAT BOSS... GONE

This all came to mind this past week with the passing of Jerry terHorst... my former boss at Ford Motor Company back in the mid-1980's in Ford's Washington, D.C. office. Jerry is best remembered as the man who resigned as President Gerald Ford's press secretary...on September 8, 1974...in protest over Ford's pardoning of disgraced ex-President Richard M. Nixon.  All of Jerry's obituaries, including the one in the New York Times, led with this incident.  And this was only natural -- an individual willing to walk away from a top job in Washington for the sake of principle... was and is about as rare as a buzzard excusing itself from fresh road kill. But Jerry terHorst was more than one brave gesture...he was a terrific manager of people and great mentor... and he leaves behind dozens of former colleagues who have tried in one way or another to emulate his style of leadership.

A BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE

I first met Jerry terHorst thanks to a bridge game. To illustrate just how civil-even cosy-- Washington was a quarter century ago...my bridge partner was journalist Cheryl Arvidson...whom I had met when she was with UPI covering the Senate and I was with Republican Senator Ed Brooke. Our worthy opponents were Dale Leibach, Jimmy Carter's former assistant press secretary...and his spouse Kathy Patterson, Washington reporter for the Kansas City Star...whom I had interacted with frequently when working as Bob Dole's press secretary. Dale...between tricks...let it be known that he'd soon be leaving Ford Motor Company...for the more lucrative if somewhat murky world of the Teamster's Union Central States Pension Fund. Would I be interested in his job?  Never having met a job offer I wouldn't at least consider... I said "sure".

'HAVE FUN WITH IT'

Soon afterwards I met Jerry...armed with a good recommendation from Dale...some kind words from several journalists...and praise from political types from both sides of the aisle (I may have been the only Reagan Republican, other than David Gergen, who did things like ski every winter with a group organized by the left-leaning Americans for Democratic Action...and summer in a beach house on the Delaware shore with a score or so journalists...who had viewed the 1980 election of a California actor as the end of civilization.) At any rate, Gerry, who himself was married to a liberal Democratic activist, saw such cross-over activities as a plus, not a blot or stain, and (after a ritual visit to the "Glass House" - Ford's HQ in Dearborn, Michigan) hired me. "We are here to do a serious job," he told me on my first official day. "But I also want you to have fun with it. No job is worth having... if you are not having fun."

PATIENT, KIND AND CALM

Jerry's mandate, as he liked to put it, was to be "the eye's and ears of Ford in Washington." He had been brought on board in the wake of the Pinto and other product disasters... to shore up Ford's tarnished image. Wisely, he insisted that he would only take the position if it worked both ways - he would happily carry Ford messages to Washington...but only if senior management would listen to, and take seriously, the intelligence he gathered in Washington from politicians, regulators and media..."the unvarnished truth."  In reality, Jerry couldn't have varnished the truth if he had wanted to. A veteran of World War II (US Marines) and the son of Dutch immigrants who saw moral issues in stark black and white, he was as a journalist and as an executive, the straightest of straight shooters. Yet he was also a patient teacher; kind and thoughtful and - perhaps his greatest strength-always calm center when all others around him were losing their heads. The only clue that he was agitated...was that he would puff more frequently on his ever-present pipe.

FUN, FUN, FUN

What I loved most about Jerry was that he was open to new ideas...and would let you run with them. A colleague and I came up with the idea of a "Political Pursuit" game (modelled loosely on the Canadian trivia game) that we proposed to distribute at the 1984 Democratic and Republican conventions. "Give it a try!" he said (and we did; it ending up on "The Today Show" on NBC and in the hands of virtually every politician, delegate and journalist.) How about I take a cherry-red Ford F-150 pickup down to the beach house and let it loose among my foreign car-loving media buddies?  "Sure" said Jerry...and the "the TRUCK" as everyone called it...became more popular than first dibs on the outdoor shower.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE 

Of course it was not all fun and games. There were serious issues, like air bags and seat belts, crash test ratings, fuel economy standards, import quotas. And, true to his word, Jerry delivered the unvarnished truth to Ford executives. He even on many occasions delivered it directly to Henry Ford II (or "Hank the Deuce", in Jerry's parlance.) Henry, the grandson of the founder and a man who had himself had saved Ford after World War II, would come into Washington, stay at the Watergate or Four Seasons. He would invariably wish to be "briefed" after a good dinner...and several bottles of wine. I was brought along, I think, as a kind of witness. Jerry always delivered his messages remarkably cogently under the circumstances. I am not quite sure Henry listened with quite the same precision... but to give Jerry credit, the company did warm to taking a leadership role in the safety realm... although it (and other US manufacturers) fell short on fuel economy.

LESSONS LEARNED 

After a few years, I moved on to Ford of Canada...taking a "developmental" assignment. I developed alright... meeting my future spouse...settling down...and having a couple of kids. But I never forgot Jerry... both as a boss...or a person. The lessons I learned from him were useful throughout my career. Be the calm center when others are losing their heads; be generous in letting your folks try new things (and let them take the credit when it works); always communicate in two directions; and most of all, take some joy in your work. (I also learned that you can lead Henry Ford to wine... but you'll never out drink him.) Jerry, I missed you from the day I headed to Oakville from D.C. - you were that rare find, a great, good boss.    

AND THE DEADLY SINS ARE...

The modern (post-590 AD) deadly sins are generally accepted to be 1) Wrath; 2) Greed; 3) Sloth; 4) Pride; 5) Lust; 6) Envy; and 7) Gluttony. But did you know that over various points in history there have been as many as 11 deadly sins... and as few as six? Or that one was once "Acedia"... which is defined as "apathetic listlessness... depression without joy"? This may offer a clue as to why mental illness...even to this day...is so shunned a topic of conversation. At any rate, so far as I know, Jerry terHorst never displayed any deadly sins, from six to 11. I would go so far to say he was something of a Saint... except I think his Dutch Reform parents would say that smacked faintly of Pride.

AND FINALLY... 

I proudly (sin alert!) put my Red Sox flag atop the flagpole in front of our house on opening day. A week later my neighbour across the street, Dr. Claude, said he found it interesting that I had added editorial comment to my annual ritual. "What do you mean, Claude?" He said take a close look... and, sure enough, the flag was upside down...the international signal of distress. Now I am trying to figure out if I put it up that way...or there's a mischievous Yankees fan in the neighbourhood!

(This blog may be forwarded near and wide, as a blatant marketing tool for Waite + Co. www.waiteandcompany.com <http://www.waiteandcompany.com/>  The author is solely responsible for its content, including any inaccuracies, exaggerations or omissions. For example, while I described members of the Washington media in the 1980's as Toyota-hugging left-wing Reagan-haters, it should be pointed out that Cheryl Arvidson, Iowa born and bred, loves Ford Mustangs and other made in the USA vehicles. And she didn't hate Reagan - she had used up pretty much all of her hate on Richard Nixon...and didn't restock until the second Bush. I should also point out that we should be happy to be living in the 21st century and not at a time when there were 11 deadly sins. Otherwise we'd all be more or less in Tiger Woods' shoes. Minus the Nike ad.)