Mr. Xerox

"Most everything I've done I've copied from someone else." - Sam Walton

Billions of human-years of experience around the planet have resulted in some pretty great ideas. Which is faster, to come up with them ourselves or to read them?

Though imperfectly, through the years I've seen things in my bosses that I try to copy.

Susan Waring - (1) She is results-oriented. During her presentations she offers a half-dozen or so figures that illustrate our progress for the year. Within our mentoring relationship she ends each session by asking what we should talk about next time, to make sure it's worth our while. (2) She's inclusive. She established a series of informal visits with groups of employees (hundreds, ultimately) to hear what was on their minds and to share with them some things that were going on.

Barbara Bellissimo - (1) She's also results-oriented. Under her leadership, our company seemed to become more expressive of its plans with target dates. (2) She's a consistent communicator. There was emphasis on "Completed Staff Work" - i.e. a template for bringing a report to a meeting. Regular, weekly communication structure included a preview of upcoming announcements to leadership.

Joe Monk - (1) The guy always seems to have a smile on his face! (2) He has a little cheerleader in him, in a way that expresses just enough vulnerability to give a "regular guy" quality.

Gerry Brogla - (1) When pressure was at its highest, I've seen him become utterly calm, especially in his tone of voice, in a way that helps keep the peace.

Rusty Hendren - (1) He's extroverted and willing to be silly, which greases the wheels of creativity. (2) He is supportive of work/life balance, including flextime and the "dress for your day" policy. (3) He is eternally thankful and generous with praise, with triple exclamation points. (4) He challenges conclusions, and doesn't settle for groupthink.

Rusty Schopp - (1) He's empowering, even rewarding people who used him little in making decisions. (2) He almost never became angry, and brought humor to almost every conversation. (3) He cares about people's personal lives and is open with his own. (4) He is open-minded. More than once he deferred to the group against his better judgment. (5) At the same time, he questions the reasons behind change, not settling for "I don't know why we do it this way."