JORDAN: I think some people fail because they have tin ears–they don’t listen. Other people fail because they don’t have competent people around them. Other people fail because while they may have some notion about where they’re going they don’t have much appreciation of how to get there. Abraham Lincoln had a very interesting notion about leadership. It’s fascinating that in 1860 he hired his presidential rival, Salmon Chase, and another guy from Ohio he beat for the Republican nomination, into his cabinet … It’s a huge mistake, oftentimes, to punish an opponent. I think that’s probably truer in corporate America than in political America.
I think so. I met earlier this year with a governor who, in my judgment, had absolutely no charisma–but he just got overwhelmingly re-elected because he was a successful governor. It’s like there are some preachers who are very good preachers but who are very poor pastors.
I’ve always believed, and my mother taught me, that hard work is rewarded. And I think most people are hired based on their productivity, not their charisma … I’ve been accused of having charisma, but when I was a young lawyer, there was no room for charisma. [My boss] wanted the brief. He wanted the title searched. So initially whatever I had going for me wasn’t charisma–it was productivity.
The first is absolute confidentiality. The second is, if you give the president or CEO advice–you say go north, and they decide to go south–you have to respect that decision. And third, if going south turned out to be a mistake, never say, “I told you so.”
