Page 48 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

riors, this didn’t sit well. They thought I was arrogant, standoffish, not a
team player.
But it wasn’t about arrogance. It was about the fact that things would
be said at dinner that people would regret the next day, and I’d rather not
risk either hearing or saying something stupid.
I was also much more direct than many of the people I worked with,
and my bosses occasionally gave me trouble about it.
And I certainly did not look the part at John Hancock, an old-line
Boston company dating back to 1862. My ancestors came from the Basil-
icata region of Italy, not the Back Bay. When I started at John Hancock,
the uniform was an off-the-rack suit
from Brooks Brothers, a blue Oxford
EVERY AMBITIOUS
shirt, and the same striped tie. I would
PERSON IS GOING
have felt like I was wearing a costume in
TO TAKE SOME
those clothes. So I wore Italian suits and
KNOCKS, SO YOU
bright ties.
MIGHT AS WELL BE
When I looked around the Hancock
YOURSELF AND GET
boardroom, there were seven or eight
POINTS FOR
oil paintings of the former CEOs. Most
HAVING THE
of them looked like our country’s
COURAGE OF YOUR
founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton
OWN STYLE.
types with sharp profiles, swept-back
hair, and impressive cravats. In no way
did I resemble those people. I actually once said that to the CEO when he
was giving me a promotion:“I’m very happy for the promotion, but I have
no illusions that my picture is ever going to hang on that wall.”
He said, “Don’t be so sure about that.”
The first hint I had that style questions wouldn’t hold me back came
from the most unlikely person, a distinguished old Brahmin named Elliot
Richardson, who was on the board of John Hancock. Richardson had had
an illustrious career in government, serving in cabinet positions under

28