Leadership Mentor and Holiday Spirit Guide, Mr. Nigel Fezziwig

About 15 years ago, the CEO of the company where I was working hired a coach to work with the executive team. I was a part of that group, and in one of my one-on-one sessions, the coach asked me what kind of leadership legacy I wanted to leave. I suppose that’s a typical question an executive coach might ask, but it still struck me as a heavy one.

Quickly, I began sorting through examples in my head. The usual suspects came to mind—leaders of nations, leaders of great military conquests, leaders of science, medicine and entertainment.

It seemed, however, that I had no access to the type of leadership legacy established by any of these people, many of whom I admired greatly for key leadership qualities.

So I moved on to sorting through characters in literature who were doing something perhaps closer to my vocation. And then it struck me, like a bolt of lightning—or shall we say, the tolling of a bell.

At the time of the executive coaching session, it happened to be the Christmas season, and I was thinking about the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. There’s a scene in the story in which Ebeneezer Scrooge is transported back in time by the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Scrooge is reacquainted with himself as a 20-something staff accountant. He lights up with joy when he sees his old boss, Mr. Nigel Fezziwig.

During his conversation with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge talked to the ghost about how his old boss made him feel. He recalled how Fezziwig cared for the people in the accounting office (in an uncanny coincidence, a warehouse business) and how Fezziwig knocked off work early to celebrate Christmas. Scrooge remembered that time as the happiest time in his life.

So I told the coach, “I want to be Fezziwig.” She said she did not know who or what that was. I said, “You know, the boss from A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.” She said, “Well, being a Jewish woman, I would not have read that.” We talked more and completed the one-on-one coaching session, and I’ll return to that conversation in a moment.

But starting then and still today, I’ve continued to think about Fezziwig and how his kind of legacy could be one of honor. I might fancy myself as a great operator or strategist, but what I am mostly—every single day—is someone’s supervisor. Can there be a truly rich legacy left by someone who works as a supervisor?

I decided the answer to that question is an unequivocal YES!

I thought about the supervisors in my career and how fortunate I was to have some really fine ones. All of them seemed to have very similar attributes:

• They were supremely competent in the most important aspects of their jobs.
• They would always make time for a conversation with me.
• They wanted me to succeed and embraced their role in my success.
• They cared about me …and my family.
• They had expectations of me that were higher than the ones I had for myself.
• They trusted me … and were not afraid to give me unvarnished feedback.
• They created an environment in which I and my colleagues could feel safe, have fun and do our best work.

With so much of my life spent either as a supervisor or being supervised, it felt right to me that being an extraordinary boss was indeed an honorable legacy. And I remember even thinking about word choices. Is it OK to call yourself a manager, supervisor or boss?

There are seemingly thousands of cute images on LinkedIn showing a side-by-side comparison of a boss versus a leader. Most show something like a “boss” squashing the heads of the impoverished masses and a “leader” soaring in the clouds with happy fluffy bunnies on their back.

Two of my current First Team members typically greet me with a smile and a “Hello, boss!” I don’t think they are intending to say, “Hello, One Who Squashes the Heads of Impoverished Masses!” In my view, “boss” is a workday word, and that’s just what they say. The legacy I’m creating is much more than a single short word. My legacy expresses itself in how I work with the people around me. What counts is what one does in his or her vocation as “the boss.”

So, on that day 15 years ago, I set out to be Fezziwig.

Now back to that awkward moment when the executive coach said she hadn’t read A Christmas Carol. As we talked further and exchanged perspectives, I mentioned that my favorite musical of all time is Fiddler on the Roof. I see no conflict in great stories based in another faith tradition. Neither Carol nor Fiddler are stories about religion, after all. They are stories about us. They are stories about our struggles in life, relationships, guilt from the past, fears for the future. They are stories about faith, hope and new beginnings.

To my leadership mentor, Mr. Fezziwig, thank you for the legacy you’ve carried forward for nearly 180 years.

To all, I wish you the best in this Christmas season. May God bless us, every one!

Shown above, SpartanNash Executive Leadership Team (left to right)
David Sisk — Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer
Jason Monaco — Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Amy McClellan — Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Dave Petko — Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer
Tony Sarsam — Chief Executive Officer
Bennett Morgan — Senior Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer
Ileana McAlary — Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
Adrienne Chance — Senior Vice President, Communications and Executive Director SpartanNash Foundation
Nicole Zube — Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Tom Swanson — Executive Vice President and General Manager, Corporate Retail
Masiar Tayebi — Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Information Officer