Many Years Ago A Senior Executive […] Cost The ...

Many years ago a senior executive […] cost the company more than $2 million. John D. Rockefeller was then running the firm. Edward T. Bedford, a partner in the company […] was scheduled to see Rockefeller that day and […] when he entered the office [Rockefeller] was bent over his desk busily writing with a pencil on a pad of paper. Bedford stood silently, not wishing to interrupt. After a few minutes Rockefeller looked up.

‘Oh, it’s you, Bedford,’ he said calmly. ‘I suppose you’ve heard about our loss?’

Bedford said that he had.

‘I’ve been thinking it over,’ Rockefeller said, ‘and before I ask the man in to discuss the matter, I’ve been making some notes.’

Bedford later told the story this way:

‘Across the top of the page was written, ’Points in favor of Mr. _______.’ There followed a long list of the man’s virtues, including a brief description of how he had helped the company make the right decision on three separate occasions that had earned many times the cost of his recent error.

‘I never forgot that lesson. In later years, whenever I was tempted to rip into anyone, I forced myself first to sit down and thoughtfully compile as long a list of good points as I possibly could. Invariably, by the time I finished my inventory, I would see the matter in its true perspective and keep my temper under control. There is no telling how many times this habit has prevented me from committing one of the costliest mistakes any executive can make -- losing his temper. I commend it to anyone who must deal with people.’"

Bits & Pieces, September 15, 1994, pp. 11-13