This is not meant to be a eulogy - just a sincere appreciation of the qualities that make certain individuals stand out from the rest.
Quite a few people have asked me as to why I continue to have such tremendous respect - and liking - for a person who is no longer an active member of the market research industry : Stuart Campbell-Morris (now enjoying his retirement in a sunny locale somewhere).
It is difficult question to answer...
I don't think my admiration and liking for him is just because of his management skills. I have worked with people who have been as good managers as Stuart - though of course Stuart is the person with whom I have worked the longest.
It is not just the fact that I have learnt a lot from Stuart about good Research - how to write well, how to do good qualitative research, and how to handle clients. I have learnt this from other managers too.
Why Stuart tops my list is because of some rare traits and qualities that he possesses - which unfortunately is now rapidly going out of fashion in today's management world. Some of these being:
- how to lead with fairness (Fairness is easy to profess - difficult to practice)
- being genuinely democratic in the way he led such a large organisation : always ready to listen to a contrarian view-point
- taking pride in understanding and teaching the craft - rather than just seeing it as a source of revenue.
But above all he has a certain humaneness, warmth and "old-world" values that is evident right from the moment you meet him for the first time - whether the way he greets you, the respect he gave to staff regardless of their seniority, and how he tried to understand and respect the individuality of each person that he worked with.
And of course : Humility, and a typical endearing British (Scottish) trait - the self-deprecating sense of humour.
And then it is the nature of 'residual impact' that he leaves - when you feel that you are a better person now after interacting with him. There are a lot of instances in my personal dealings with Stuart that I treasure, and which left me enriched in my professional outlook - whether it is in the kind of books and authors he introduced me to, or the anecdotes from his own life which gave me glimpses of how to lead my life.
Quite a few people have asked me as to why I continue to have such tremendous respect - and liking - for a person who is no longer an active member of the market research industry : Stuart Campbell-Morris (now enjoying his retirement in a sunny locale somewhere).
It is difficult question to answer...
I don't think my admiration and liking for him is just because of his management skills. I have worked with people who have been as good managers as Stuart - though of course Stuart is the person with whom I have worked the longest.
It is not just the fact that I have learnt a lot from Stuart about good Research - how to write well, how to do good qualitative research, and how to handle clients. I have learnt this from other managers too.
Why Stuart tops my list is because of some rare traits and qualities that he possesses - which unfortunately is now rapidly going out of fashion in today's management world. Some of these being:
- how to lead with fairness (Fairness is easy to profess - difficult to practice)
- being genuinely democratic in the way he led such a large organisation : always ready to listen to a contrarian view-point
- taking pride in understanding and teaching the craft - rather than just seeing it as a source of revenue.
But above all he has a certain humaneness, warmth and "old-world" values that is evident right from the moment you meet him for the first time - whether the way he greets you, the respect he gave to staff regardless of their seniority, and how he tried to understand and respect the individuality of each person that he worked with.
And of course : Humility, and a typical endearing British (Scottish) trait - the self-deprecating sense of humour.
And then it is the nature of 'residual impact' that he leaves - when you feel that you are a better person now after interacting with him. There are a lot of instances in my personal dealings with Stuart that I treasure, and which left me enriched in my professional outlook - whether it is in the kind of books and authors he introduced me to, or the anecdotes from his own life which gave me glimpses of how to lead my life.
Above all I like Stuart because - despite being a private and under-stated person - he still puts in all his energy and charisma when he engages with people - something most people will find very difficult to do.
The hall-mark of greatness is when the person is no longer near you - but you still think of him whenever you need to take critical decisions. You ask yourself : what would he have done if he was in my place today - what is the RIGHT thing to do? I do that whenever I am at a fork on the road.
It is said that imitation is the best form of flattery. I have no qualms about admitting that in many aspects, the way I TRY to conduct myself - whether at work or outside - is closely modeled on what I have learnt from my long association with Stuart.
Our industry desperately needs more Role Models. May there be more such people!
3 comments:
Stuart is an amazing person, too good, some times I think, do the very good people survive the bad and the ugly types...
- I liked the term ‘Residual Impact” and I spent some time pondering over that term. Your 17 or more years association with Stuart would certainly unknowingly brush some traits across and with you one is almost sure that those would be positive .
I could not agree more - and like you, can cite several instances which shows that nice people can make outstanding leaders too!
Stuart has had a significant impact on me too - though our direct working association was only for a couple of years.
He is truly a Captain and a Gentleman!
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