A Call for Leadership
Beta Gamma Sigma's 2005 International Honoree addresses the current state of business

If there’s ever been a time for leadership, it’s now. If there’s ever been a time for leadership that espouses a consistent set of values and principles, it’s now.”

On a sunny afternoon in San Francisco on April 22, 2005, more than 1,200 business school representatives gathered for the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honoree Luncheon. On the program was an address by James Blanchard, CEO of Synovus Financial Corporation, the Society’s 2005 recipient of the International Honoree Award. Everyone expected a good speech. Most came away feeling they had heard a great one.

With a self-deprecating sense of humor and the good business sense to deflect praise to others within his organization, Blanchard spoke plainly yet eloquently about his belief that any success is tied to treating people right. He told a story – he estimated that it might be the 4,000th time he has shared it – that he said “has had more impact on me – my philosophy, my approach to business – than any single document other than, say, the Bible.”

In the year 1883, a young man from America died while on business in Europe. His middle aged, grieving parents returned with the body. They were heartbroken; they had loved their son very much. After the funeral they began to discuss some sort of a memorial. Not a tombstone or an ornate grave but a living memorial. Something that would help other young men like their son. And after considering many alternatives they decided that something in the field of education would be most appropriate. That would be the kind of memorial that would go on year after year helping educate young people. That would be the best kind of tribute to their son.

They arranged an appointment with Charles Elliott, then-president of Harvard University. He received the quite ordinary, unpretentious couple in his office and asked them what he could do for them. They told him about the death of their son and apologized for taking up his valuable time. They explained that they wanted to establish a memorial to his memory. Elliott looked at the couple with some impatience and a certain suggestion of aristocratic disdain. “Perhaps you have in mind a scholarship,” he said crisply.

“No,” said the woman, her mild manner belying the quickness and sharpness of her mind. “We were thinking of something more substantial than that, perhaps a building or something.”

“I must explain to you,” said Elliott, with what seemed a patronizing air, “what you suggest costs a great deal of money. Buildings are very expensive.” It was obvious that President Elliott didn’t think from their appearance that they were capable of that kind of donation.

There was a pause and the lady rose slowly and said, “Mr. Elliott, what does this entire university cost?” Elliott shrugged and muttered and stated a figure that amounted to several million dollars. “Oh, we can do much better than that,” said the lady who now seemed to have made up her mind about the entire thing. “Come dear,” she motioned to her husband, “I have an idea,” and they left.

The following year, President Elliott of Harvard learned that the plain, unpretentious couple had contributed $26 million for a memorial to their son. The memorial was to be named Leland Stanford, Jr. University.

“President Elliott was a very important person,” Blanchard continued, “leading the most important university of its time. And he was busy, he had proud speeches to make, he had people to see, he had places to go. And he missed out on the greatest opportunity of his lifetime...

“There never should have been a Stanford (University). There should have been twice as much Harvard.”

Blanchard’s commitment to treating people right is his basic management philosophy. It has served him and his company well: Each year since 1998 (the first year the list was compiled), Synovus was named to Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies To Work For in America” list.

“There’s a common thread that runs through those very few organizations who are just busting out of the top all the time,” he said. “They’re meeting and exceeding their goals. They’re realizing their visions and their aspirations. They’re always over and above their expectations. In fact, there’s a much larger group that is kind of ordinary – they don’t really stand for a lot. They seem to fall just a little short all the time. They’re not sure what their value system is. They’re kind of bland, generic and indescribable.

“And yet this group of robust, energized, enthusiastic, continually successful organizations, they seem to have a secret. And frankly, we have studied it, we have gone to school, we have consulted, we’ve done everything we can do to try to find that formula that says, ‘We’ll be one of these in this very small, select group that seems to achieve perpetual success.’”

Blanchard continued: “The secret, the clue, the common thread is simply how you treat folks. It’s how you treat your fellow man, and how you treat your team members, and how you treat your customers, your regulators, your general public, your audiences, your communities. How you value the worth of an individual, how you bring the human factor into real importance and not just a statement you make in your annual report.”

Blanchard said one of the main troubles with the business world of today is that there are far too few lifters (those that produce and help others around them) and far too many leaners (those who let others bear their portion of worry and labor).
He closed his comments by sharing his vision of dying and being judged before his maker.

“I’ve come up through the gates and there are golden streets and the choirs are singing, and I walk up to a big table in a big gymnasium,” Blanchard said. “It almost reminds me of registration at the University of Georgia.

“And the attendant opens up this book – The Book of
Life – and they find my name. And lo and behold, there’s not one thing in that book about Synovus. Nothing about my titles, my honors. There’s certainly no paper clip with a financial statement attached.

“What’s in the book? Did I love my wife appropriately; did I raise my boys right; was I a friend when there was a need; was I a lifter and not a leaner; did I value and appreciate the world of my neighbors and my team and my customers and my community?”

As Blanchard said, it’s a time for leadership. He said people are looking for principled leaders to show the way. “They are literally just begging for somebody to stand up and show that there is some order in the chaos; there is a rhyme and reason to it; that somebody knows where we are going.

“If there’s ever been a time for leadership, it’s now.”