I had an interesting discussion with an old friend recently about how much the success of a football team is tied to its head coach. My friend, Jim Lynch, was a very successful football coach at the grade school, high school and college levels. Both of us agreed that the success of a team is directly linked to the head coach.
We had a saying when I was a coach: “You can’t pay a good head coach too much and you can’t pay a bad one too little.” (Memo to the Redskins…) Jim was in the Navy, and he said that when you are awarded the rank of Lieutenant, the last thing they say to you is “A ship is only as good as its captain.” Having dealt with Hall of Fame coaches and business leaders, I’ve found both of these adages to be true.
I had a meeting recently with Macris, Hendricks and Glascock (MHG), one of the premier civil engineering firms in the region. At the meeting, they informed me that Jim Hendricks, one of the founders, was moving into a much less active role and leaving much of the day-to-day operations to some of the younger talent at the company.
I’ve worked with Jim for many years and have found him to be the very rare combination of a talented person with unmatched expertise in his field who has a humble personality. He also has the ability to articulate even the most complex transactions in a manner that everyone could understand. Whenever I had him on my team, I always believed we had a chance to win.
As a leader in the business community Jim was unmatched. Whenever you needed him he was there, whether it was to help a young associate on a complex zoning question or sit down with a difficult client or citizens’ group and listen to their problems and propose an alternative solution that worked for all parties.
There is a saying in military circles that to be an effective leader you have to “go to the sound of the guns.” That’s exactly what Jim did that separated him from his competitors. He led by showing up when things were bad as well as when they were good. All of us who worked with Jim knew that he would be loyal and see things through, no matter how tough the situation.
I’ve also had the good fortune to meet and work with many of Jim’s young and extremely talented engineers. When I ask them why they chose MHG over the many firms vying for their services they all had the same response: Jim Hendricks.
Surely Jim had a ton of talent but I think the real key to his success as a leader was that he always put his firm and its clients’ best interests ahead of his own and would stop at nothing to make sure everybody succeeded.
My compliments to you Jim for your many years of success, and thank you for the many things I learned from your example.
Have a great weekend,
Ro