Page 222 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

passive, like writing the right checks. I mean making things happen in
John Hancock’s hometown of Boston and being unafraid to express an
opinion about what is best for the place.
For example, when elite runners were beginning to bypass the Boston
Marathon in the mid-1980s because the race offered no prizes, I persuaded
the race organizer, the Boston Athletic Association, to accept its first real
sponsor in John Hancock and assured them that we’d enhance the pres-
tige of the race, not exploit it crassly. The sponsorship really did a lot for
me within John Hancock by adding a new luster to our brand. But it did
even more on the outside. By helping to save a great civic institution, I
became somebody to be reckoned with in the city.
In March of 2002, I was also the first
business leader in Boston to call for
THESE PEOPLE YOU the resignation of Cardinal Bernard
MEET OUTSIDE YOUR Law, as the extent of his failure to pro-
ORGANIZATION CAN tect children from known pedophiles
PROVE VERY in the priesthood was becoming clear.
VALUABLE IF YOU I wrote an op-ed piece for the Boston
FIND YOURSELF Globe using the Cardinal’s own words
SHAKEN LOOSE IN against him and saying it was time for
SOME a new “pastor and teacher and father.”
ORGANIZATIONAL It made me unpopular with some peo-
UPHEAVAL. ple, but others were grateful that I’d
spoken out.
The fact that I was never afraid to
say what I thought in defense of the community made politicians, I
think, much more comfortable with me than they are with many busi-
ness executives. As a result, I had a wide and diverse network of outsiders
to call on.
Expand your network also by spreading your business around, as I
mentioned in the section on vendors. Don’t just get to know the people
at one law firm. Get to know the people at three or five.

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