Years ago I was assigned to work with Bob – a senior partner at the firm … I was a struggling manager. He was quite demanding and became a valuable mentor to me… Though there were times it felt more like he was my tormentor.
People whispered about Bob and some avoided working with him … you see, he had an unusual style that was reminiscent of Columbo - the brilliant TV homicide detective from the 70s played by Peter Falk.
Bob was never accused of being a sharp-dressed man… his crisp white button-down shirts were slightly frayed at the cuffs… he always seemed a bit disorganized and seemingly slow to pick up key points… Bob was unfailingly polite, but he had a way of asking clients odd questions at awkward times… I must confess that as I started I was a little embarrassed to be with him.
I did most of the grunt work of analysis and preparing decks for Bob, but I also had the opportunity to accompany him to many meetings in the C Suites of half a dozen companies… And just like Columbo’s (and Steve Jobs') iconic line, “Just one more thing,” Bob somehow managed to always ask some version of two simple questions in every meeting…
How’s business??
As a meeting was getting started Bob would casually ask “So… How’s business?” The client would start with a basic answer, but Bob cleverly teased out evermore detail by mumbling: “uh huh”, “yea”, and innocently asking over and over again – “hmmm, so why is that?”
He never, never, never responded that we could help… in fact, he hardly spoke at all… he was just listening very, very intently… and asking gentle questions with such childlike curiosity that the clients could not resist telling him more. Even if it was a subject where he had deep insights and experience, Bob would just nod his head and keep listening… Bob would quietly scribble illegible notes on a tattered yellow legal pad that he always had stuffed in his more than well-worn briefcase…
Sometimes the entire hour would pass with Bob’s wandering questions and we would not even get to the main reason for the meeting. We would have to reschedule the meeting. …frequently I had been up all night preparing the document to be presented in the meeting – and I would get angry that he was wasting valuable time that I could be using to impress the client with my brilliant charts and precise data and blinding insights…
When we had several meetings at a client on the same day the different executives would bring up the same issues. Bob never acknowledged that we had already heard all this before… He would listen and ask questions as if it was all completely new to him… he was developing a deep understanding the various perspectives that different executives had on the same issue…
Weeks, or even months later, one of the clients would call Bob and ask if we had any ideas on how to tackle one of the issues that had been logged over and over in the stacks of yellow pads in his office…
and our proposals were always spot on - Bob had incredible insight into the core issues facing the company…
I began to realize that Bob’s simple question – “How’s business ?” had been quietly creating a massive pipeline for us.
How are YOU doing??
As we were wrapping up a meeting, Bob would innocently ask, “So, how are you doing?” If the client started talking about the company or business, Bob would gently interrupt them and say, “No, no, I meant how are YOU personally doing?” …followed by his usual “Why is that?” …his odd style conveyed genuine interest and caring…
…after just 2 or 3 meetings Bob had started to develop a deep personal relationship because the client had begun to reveal their aspirations, frustrations and personal lives… all of which were filed somewhere in the recesses of Bob’s complex and powerful brain.
I developed a deep respect and admiration of Bob… and today I marvel at how he faithfully served senior leaders on their most critical issues, developed deep trust-based relationships, built a very big practice and grew his career (and helped mine!)… all by simply asking and then intently listening and genuinely caring about the answers to two simple questions:
“So, how’s business?”
“So, how are YOU doing?”
Just some thoughts…