by Guest Author Tom Cleveland, former Group EVP and Treasurer of VISA International
Some people are born leaders, others are molded by the best educational institutions our nation has to offer, but many often rise up from very humble beginnings to seize the mantle of leadership to achieve incredible results in the world around us. The pathway for developing leadership skills is not always smooth. It is often said that failure is required to ignite the elements within, but from whatever “cauldron” our unique leaders have been molded, the extraordinary ones always break the mold, define their own path for success, and create positive impressions on those that they lead.
Dee Ward Hock was one such individual who rose from humble Mormon stock to change the face of banking, as we know it. Disenchanted while attending a local community college, he left academia after winning a national debating contest, and then educated himself by reading everything he could lay his hands on, Marcus Aurelius and Emerson being two of his favorites. He worked as a common laborer or on the slaughterhouse floor to feed his family, until he gained employment at a small credit office in the Northwest. A bank nearby then hired him to run their BankAmericard franchise, and from there, the rest is history.
A true visionary, entrepreneur, and leader, he literally dragged the U.S. banking system kicking and screaming to its greatest success story in the twentieth century, and then repeated the feat on an international level. The global payment system, VISA and its competitors, annually generate $10 trillion in global payments. When Dee started his magic in 1970, that figure was a mere $5 billion.
The man was also part enigma, part tyrant, revered by many, and despised by several, but always respected and acknowledged for his contribution to the annals of business. He marched to the beat of a different drummer. His ability to inspire was unmatched. You would easily follow him into battle, no matter what the potential outcome.
But most of all, Dee was a teacher, perhaps more a zealous preacher, of the principles and lessons that he had acquired along his very unique path. He mentored each and every one of us, inspiring us to go well beyond the limitations our own minds had set for us and achieve record results that we could never have imagined. His mantras became our own. We stretched to meet his expectations.
According to Dee, your first management priority, outside of your personal ethics and intentions, was to manage your superiors. If you failed here, you would never be able to secure the resources to carry out your plans. Second priority was to manage your peers. Without their cooperation, your plans would never be implemented. Your third priority was to manage your subordinates, but if you had made the correct hiring decisions, then this management task would take care of itself. Dee’s hypotheses had a simple elegance about them, and their gist was usually contrary to popular opinion.
Our best leaders tend to educate those about them with the simple wisdom that their experiences have shaped. VISA has grown at 25% compounded annually for the past forty years; not bad for a humble farmer from Utah.