Thomas G. Pownall was my only mentor in business. If there ever was someone who impacted my career and my overall life to some extent it was Mr. P. But how many of you guys ever heard of him?
Its not that he wasn’t well known. He was. In fact, he was a corporate giant. But he was of actually four generations ago. Someone who would be the age of my parents really. Or is that five generations? (parents, baby boomers, gen x, gen y, and current generation of unknown name if not origins).
What can I tell you about him? He was the former chairman of Martin Marietta and he helped engineer the merger with Lockheed. He was famous for what’s called the Pac-Man Defense for businesses. Here’s his story from the Washington Post in 2005, the year he died. He was tough and stern at times, but always generous in his time to young business people like me (I wasn't really that young - early 40s - but then, he was in his 70s at the time). He was the chief economics advisor to Jack Kemp and thus a diehard supply-sider and we didn't agree on politics at all, yet we got along famously.
I particularly remember my visits with him in his DC office on 18th and K. I'd get into the city and we'd meet up and as often as not, he'd take me to lunch at a good restaurant in the city (the Bombay Palace was one I had a particular fondness for - as did he). He and I would kind of amble down the street and he'd ask me questions about varying things he knew I was doing - and how was I proceeding according to plan - you do have a plan for this, right Paul - and if I did he asked me what it was and if I didn't he'd ask me when I'd have it. Over lunch we'd discuss the details of that plan and how I was going to address those details and what were the objectives I had for each stage of the plan and what were the things I thought could go wrong with the plan and how was I going to deal with those things?
In the midst of all this discussion, he would regale me with stories of his life - business, travel, time in the Navy, rise to leadership at Martin Marietta etc. I was fascinated needless to say, not just by the storytelling, which was “annals of history” worthy, but also because I realized early on that each story he told me had a purpose. It wasn't a random remembrance. He had a point to make and the story was there to highlight the point - whether the point was overt or subtle; direct or indirect; big or small.
One of the stories he made point to tell me more than once was of his rise to leadership in Martin Marietta - a company he began with as an engineer. He knew that he had leadership qualities early on but he realized that you didn't just gain the experience you need to be a true leader overnight. It took years of work, failures, successes, the recognition of those failures and successes in an emotional sense and in lessons learned. It took luck too - which, would, in time, occur according to his worldview. It was what you did with that luck when it did occur that mattered. That’s what made the difference in the direction of your future.
There was so much advice embedded in his story I don't know where to begin:
- Also be willing to fail. Never allow your ego to get in the way of your lessons in life. I can't say that I live up this one perfectly but I sure try to do what he said.
- Enjoy your successes, then learn from them, then move on to the next effort that you have to make. Don’t live in your prior successes. Use them to build your future ones.
- Value experience. When you are young, listen to those you can learn from and who are willing to teach you. Remember, they don't have to take the time to do that, but they are doing so. At the same time, recognize that you are learning not only succeed to but to give something back, too. Do what those elders did for you, for others.
- Make decisions on how you wish to succeed in your business so you have a benchmark to measure your success or lack thereof. But if, later on, you realize that what you decided isn’t right, don't regret your choice, learn from what it was.
I try to honor his life and memory by doing what he continually taught me to do. When he passed away in 2005, it was a sad day but also a day that I reflected on as a passage in my life too – even though I was already 55 years old. Age has little to do with the momentous.
But there was one lesson that he encapsulated in a single phrase - that is now my mantra and has been for a decade. I think of this every single day of my life. (Well, most every day).
Before I get into what it was, let me tell you why I’m writing this. There is a purpose for it.
I'm now back from Redlands California having seen my extraordinary niece Sara Rose Greenberg, my bro's child, graduate the University of Redlands as part of the class of 2011 about a week ago. Yvonne and I, my brother Bob and his wife of 35 years, Freyda and two family friends, flew out to be at the graduation. This was the first time I'd had an opportunity to see Sara in her college environment and it was also the first graduation I'd ever attended (including my own) for all kinds of interesting reasons. The graduation, like what I presumed all graduations are like, had all the elements – a commencement speaker, a class valedictorian speaker and the reading of the degree recipients.
But it isn’t the elements of the event that define it.
It can become a reflection on your own life when someone that you love reaches a key inflection point, a transformative event, in their own life. Watching Sara accept her degree on the stage made me happy - joyous in fact. It also made me sad in a way - wishing my parents were here to see their granddaughter graduate. It also made me nostalgic - looking at my own life since I graduated Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 1971. It led to me thinking that the lessons of Mr. P. didn’t only apply to business, but to how you conduct yourself in your life in a way that’s aimed to make an impact and to make you happy about the life that you are leading and have led. It made me realize that the mantra that Mr. P. gave me a decade ago was something that could be Sara’s too as she steps into the world that she will hopefully be happy to live in.
Actually, Mr. P’s advice can apply to anyone reading this who hasn't completed his or her life's mission, hasn't become what they want to become yet or if they have, hasn't figured out what next. It can apply to anyone who doesn't rest on his or laurels.
What was it? Just this.
"Always be patient but never lose your impatience."
That was it.
"Always be patient but never lose your impatience."
Many of you are restless souls - you have things in life that you want to achieve - that you are probably determined, even driven to achieve. But you're not there yet are you? I know I’m not – and I’m f---ing 61 years old! But, there’s a looong way to go for all of us. So age – and time – aren’t the determinants here. What you want to achieve is.
You want achieve these things tomorrow if you could, though, don’t you? We're all like that. I know that I hope I've done good in this world already but, I can’t stop with what I’ve done. For my immediate future, I have an almost endless, but clearly identifiable list of “stuff” a.k.a. life objectives. But I want to have done it all yesterday – or at least today . But I also know not just that it would be unrealistic but also that it would be counterproductive to try to rush to the objectives. What Mr P. taught me was that not only should I plan ahead and then take the necessary steps to achieve them, but realize that circumstances out of your control can often derail the steps you’re taking, or even render them obsolete before you take them. But that doesn't render the objective obsolete, it just means that you change the steps.
How? By keeping the plan clear but being flexible at all times – and never take a derailment personally. I have an 11 year plan that I’m working off of – and was derailed in part by the recession, though very little, so that the 11 years became 12 years – the plan stretched. But I’m still focused on the objectives at the end of the plan and have been moving though them for the last nine years. There were hundreds of steps that just didn’t work, or broke or worked at a smaller scale or lesser level than anticipated. Some things went better than I thought. But that just forced me to reassess and reassess and reassess some more. As I move to the end game of this plan (there’s a further plan being formulated for when I hit this one) assiduously.
Sara’s life, my lovely niece’s life, is going to be totally different than mine, but Mr. Pownall’s advice holds so true – regardless of age, regardless of time. Remember that you have dreams and hopes and ideas that you will want to achieve and you should be relentless in that. But how you achieve it is important – as important as the objective itself. How you think of how you achieve it – meaning your willingness to take the steps, break them on occasion, take new steps, and just realize that the objective is personal, the means to achieve the objective is personal and the approach you take to it is personal, but the failure never is – if you’re patient.
Always be patient, but never lose your impatience.
Thank you Mr. Pownall for making me always think about how to do something and providing me with the moral and intellectual strength to do it.
Thank you, Sara Rose Greenberg, for your future journey and for reminding me of mine.
What a wonderful reminder, especially to someone so young in their professional career, about how to approach the goals that we set for ourselves. This might be one that I post on my mirror to reflect on each morning. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: TOD'S | July 23, 2011 at 03:59 AM
Hey Paul
Thanks for sharing simple..seemingly obvious but very valuable advice of your mentor.
Also, another lesson..never fail to recognize people whom you value!!
rgds
kalpana
Posted by: TOD'S | July 22, 2011 at 04:10 AM
Actually, FreeCRM, I don't think technologically. I know technology certainly, but, the reality is that to me CRM and SCRM are first and foremost strategies for customer management and engagement respectively. As always, the technology is an enabler but not the driver though with Social CRM it does play a greater role in the velocity of the engagement strategy's execution that it did in traditional CRM. However, I'm sad to disappoint you, but my technological thinking is a secondary but important aspect of my thinking on CRM/SCRM.
Posted by: Paul G. | June 16, 2011 at 07:13 AM
Nice and Relevant Discussion..But i think You Are Thinking more Technological..And i am Glad To see this!
Posted by: Free CRM | June 16, 2011 at 06:09 AM
Paul,
What a wonderful reminder, especially to someone so young in their professional career, about how to approach the goals that we set for ourselves. This might be one that I post on my mirror to reflect on each morning. Thanks for sharing!
Lauren
Posted by: Lauren C. | June 07, 2011 at 06:40 PM
Actually, Dmitri, it is possible to have one mentor. It doesn't mean I haven't learned from anyone else. But to have someone who that I not only implicitly and explicitly trust when it came to business, but to have them continually there to support me is a rarity for anyone, not common. Plus there are those that took the time to work with someone and that the someone believed in. That's not common either. So, as hard as it may be for you to believe it, it was one business mentor. I had other mentors but not in business.
Posted by: Paul Greenberg | June 03, 2011 at 08:58 PM
"Always be patient but never lose your impatience."
This is very Zen. Love it.
As an aside, it is very surprising to me that a person could have only one mentor. Can not be. Every human interaction has a reason and contains a lesson. Mentorship isn't explicit.
Posted by: Dmitri Eroshenko Relenta | June 03, 2011 at 07:47 PM
"Always be patient but never lose your impatience."
This is very Zen. Love it.
As an aside, it is very surprising to me that a person could have only one mentor. Can not be. Every human interaction has a reason and contains a lesson. Mentorship isn't explicit.
Posted by: Dmitri | June 03, 2011 at 07:44 PM
Paul - A fantastic post that shows how real wisdom, no matter how it is imparted, always stands the test of time. Mr. P's advice (including the four points, out of many, which you shared above) was imparted to you over years, but his mantra - "Always be patient but never lose your impatience" was, and is, a tremendous focusing agent. Thanks for passing his advice, and yours, along.
Posted by: Fredmcclimans | June 03, 2011 at 03:01 PM
Hey Paul
Thanks for sharing simple..seemingly obvious but very valuable advice of your mentor.
Also, another lesson..never fail to recognize people whom you value!!
rgds
kalpana
Posted by: Kalpanachauhan | June 03, 2011 at 08:40 AM