A GENTLEMAN’S GENTLEMAN

My father in law inspires me in many ways, including imparting wisdom that helps me in business.  In life, this guy is the CEO.

As my readers have probably heard before, I was incredibly fortunate to have married into the family I did.  (They might use the word “blessed”…except they wouldn’t, because, they are generally both humble in word and in their “holiness”)

The patriarch, Jim Moynihan, is well known in these parts, as the gentleman he is, a Lowell original!  Jim is a throwback as we say.  The kind of guy that makes you wonder if life was actually different once upon a time (“Back when I was a boy…”), or, if he is just the epitome of what we are told life was like then.  My guess, a little of both.  He holds doors open…refrains from cursing…never speaks ill of another…removes his hat…that kind of proper.

Anyway…I have a couple of managers who are in the difficult process of transitioning from incredible managers, to managers of managers.  This is a transition that cannot be taken for granted.  There is such a HUGE difference between 1) Being really great; Of setting a great example, and doing what you are suposed to at a level higher than the others, and thereby earning the right to oversee others AND 2) Actually inspiring-teaching-motivating others to be as great as you, or at least, to aspire to your level so they perform that way even when you are not around.

There are many, many traits that I believe a great manager of manager’s exhibits, but today is not that lesson. (though I am actually putting together YET ANOTHER “Top 10” list-of ways to be a great manager of managers!- to help my folks get there.

In thinking this thing through at 1:30 this morning, I recalled a proverb that my father-in-law once shared with me.  27 years of marriage leads to a lot of wisdom received through the years.  This gem, I recalled, was in regard to the relationship of Employer and subordinate–when both are gentlemen;

“When one man is subordinate to another, the latter never thinks upon it and the former never forgets it.”

This simple premise is but a paraphrasing of Jim’s #1 life’s mantra– “Be kind to one another.”

Sounds good to me!