Thursday, September 24, 2009

Happily ever after.....

Dreams can come true, and sometimes the nice guys finish first.

On Monday night, had dinner with an HBS classmate and his wife. P and I were close pals in b-school and, when he met and married B, we remained close, socialized, and tracked each others' careers---he in pharma and me in media. After several years, they were posted to an international assignment, and we eventually lost track and lost touch.

After over 20 years, and thanks to Facebook ( ! ), P and I reconnected recently and a dinner plan followed soon after. Monday night, the three of us met, and, yes, in many ways it was just like old times.

What's worth noting is not the reunion so much as the appreciation I gained for P's well managed and hugely successful career at the highest levels in the pharma biz and the man himself, now retired, whose core values, compassion, warmth, and genuineness are exactly as I remembered them. B's too!

We've been reading a lot about the personalities, hard-headedness, and foibles of CEO's in finance, banking, health care, and elsewhere. Some of these personalities, especially as they have been revealed in the media during the last 12+ months of The Catastrophe, had me shuddering and grateful for the roads not taken as a young MBA many years ago. On the other hand, I remember many of the senior leaders at the old Time Inc., where I started, and other senior level execs I have worked with over the years, as being among the most considerate, courtly, and compassionate people I have ever met.

P fits squarely into that second exec typology. And I am proud and thrilled for his achievements, but mostly that a fine friend wins big at the end of the race. Additional laps ahead for us both.




No comments:

Post a Comment