What makes a good leader?

A Quick Story on Leadership

Back in my Corporate Accounting days, I was assigned to a project to work on a major real estate lending institution in Northern Virginia.

This was right in the thick of the Great Recession (Fall ’09), and shit was wack.

Folks from several accounting firms were called in to sort out the financial, accounting, and operations mess that many of these lending institutions were facing (or, perhaps, that they brought about themselves, but I’ll leave opinions out of this… 😉).

From my company alone, we had over 30 individuals roped into this project from all over the east coast. Yet for some reason, I still had to share a cube with my terribly annoying colleague from the Philly office? 😩

Anyhow, a few months into the project — which like many of them, was supposed to be a “short-term engagement” — downstairs in the lonesome cafeteria during the mid-morning stall, our Managing Partner from the McLean, VA office (yeah, the big shot) called an all-hands meeting. It felt like a scene right out of Office Space.

Haha, ok, maybe he didn’t actually say it like Lumbergh, but that’s what I heard.

I, like most of the players, was rightfully incensed. I had only worked for this company for a whopping 15 months, and I had already been schlepped ALL over east coast.

• Commuting to a project in Boston from Philly for 6 months straight, by train

• Driving to and from Rochester, NY for a total of 6 weeks

• Trips to Northern Kentucky, small towns on the eastern shore of Maryland and middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania, even industrial complexes in my home state of NJ, just to name a few

And now, I was asked to give up an entire weekend, away from my friends and home in Philly, so that I could help some partner and firm make more money?!

I was livid.

Despite my initial defiance, though, something happened that weekend that didn’t go unnoticed.

Remember that managing partner that called the cold cafeteria meeting earlier that week?

Turns out he was the first one on-site on Saturday, with bagels and coffee for everyone on the team.

Even further, he made rounds twice, first in the morning, and then again in the afternoon, going up to every single employee on our team and thanking them for their hard work and sacrifice of their weekend plans.

That stood out.

In the previous dozen or so projects I had worked on for this company, not a SINGLE higher-up (Partner, Senior Manager, etc.) EVER thanked me for the work I did, let alone made an act of service to show their appreciation.

And while I was still sour about working that weekend, I finally felt appreciated.

I finally felt, for a brief moment, like someone at this ugly corporation actually valued me as a human being and for what I was contributing (and sacrificing) in order to help fulfill its mission.

Now, I’d be lying if I told you that made any sort of long-term impact on how I felt about my job, this company, or the travel obligations to come (more on the full story in a future post)…

But the simple act of showing appreciation — get this — made me feel appreciated.

So the next time I was asked to take on a new piece of the project, or was told I had to stay on for a few more weeks, I felt like I was doing it for someone who saw me as a human rather than a machine.

If nothing else, this experience taught me - yeah, not everyone who’s a leader in the workplace has to suck. Even if most of them do.

Let’s Hear from You

Do you have a story of notable leadership in your recent life? Good or bad?

I’d love to hear it. Reply and let me know!

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See ya next week!

🥯 Bagel 🥯