Photo: A winter landscape shows black shadowed hills against a pale blue sky streaked with low-lying rose and lavender clouds. Taken from a high vantage point, tree branches provide balance and perspective on the buildings below. And the snow - oh, the blankets of snow!
Note: While visiting our son josh and his spouse last weekend in Seattle, josh and I started talking about an article he was writing on resilience and reinvention and we talked about a college professor from whom I'd learned much about leadership. That got me thinking of Professor Campbell and I remembered that I'd written about him once in my book of essays called Tea and Simplicity. It is out of print now, but you can have this one for free! It has been edited slightly from the original.
I believe it is a teacher’s greatest contribution and highest reward to be remembered long after the lessons are past. A college professor of mine passed away on July 4th, a few years ago. I should really say “the” college professor because none of the others left anywhere near an impression on me like Thomas Campbell did. At our first class, I recall an old-ish guy (remember I was much younger then!) in an oxford shirt; I buckled in for a sober and uneventful ride.
Wish I could say I was the star pupil – far from it. But where I lacked in test scores, I made up for in motivation. Professor Campbell taught management and leadership as if he were a preacher at the pulpit. With only a few mighty references to a few good books, Professor Campbell imparted all the knowledge that dwelt in his graying blond head. He quoted Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and John Gardner’s On Leadership, but the true lessons were about iconoclastic African philosophies and how wrong Machiavelli really was.
Though he wasn’t a trickster, Professor Campbell was known to pull a few fast ones. Troubled that students often didn’t read the directions before diving into a quiz, he inserted a line of small print in the heading of the exam paper. It read, “Do not take this quiz. Stop right here and turn in your paper with your name on it. Turning in a blank page will guarantee you 100% on this exam.” Some students scribbled answers puzzled at how quickly some of us laid our test papers down on his desk and left. I giggled all the way home.
Tom Campbell’s 50-item final exam included a last page – a 51st question, a gimme. The page was a welcome recap of everything he taught and everything he believed. It was a one-pager on “the whole concept of leadership in six central all-important ideas.” I still have the page and here’s the wisdom it contains:
"A leader must first be a servant to those they lead. In my experience, you will not find people motivated towards service and loyalty unless someone higher up has given them these things.
Leaders must see the unseeable, know the unknowable, go by their instincts which are, strangely enough, very often much more accurate than all the spreadsheets, projections, and studies. You will never fail if you follow your gut, heart and instinct.
Trust and values are inseparable. Trust must be earned. Values must be respected. Integrity, empathy, self discipline, patience, chastity, temperance, hard work – these values don’t change.
Leaders must develop themselves without thinking of the gain. Do the things required to get you there. Your people will notice and instinctively do as their leader does.
A leader must persevere. The conflict, worry, crisis, ugliness, threats to you and your organization are daily occurrences. Persevere. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness is a truly creative force. Create dangerously. The spirit, not knowledge is power. Be bold. But don’t forget that crudely attacking the natural order of things is not boldness. It is stupidity."
It ended with two sentences: I envy you. Have some fun.
During my commencement ceremony, Professor Campbell sat on the stage with a shiny bald head. He’d recently recovered from treatment for cancer. I cried that day, sitting in the sea of caps and gowns. My college education hadn’t been like the others’ lined up around me. It had been a difficult journey. I had a husband, a home and a couple of kids. But seeing my favorite professor there gave me hope that there were still things that I could contribute in the next 30 years of my life.
When I took my first job out of college at a major computer corporation, I shared things I’d learned with the first group I managed. They thought it was strange that a manager would want to improve their knowledge base, to earn their trust, and be bold in style and substance. I was only practicing what I’d been shown. Empower people, trust them, earn their respect, serve them, and they will go to great lengths to honor you.
Some lessons are for all time. You might say that everything I learned about management and leadership I learned from Professor Thomas Campbell. I like to think I might someday pass on what I learned to someone else. So, here’s to you, Professor Campbell – wherever you are! I envy you. You had some fun.
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