Page 98 - MY STORY

Some of his reports made the mistake of telling him that

the technical details were “very difficult to understand”
for a non-expert in that technical arena (which he might
have been) and it might take too long or “never” for him

to truly grasp the subject matter.

This response guaranteed an explosive outburst that was

easily heard through the thin walls of his office. His
stalwart position was that “if you knew your stuff, you
could make a congressman understand it in ten minutes or

less.”

So my approach was very straightforward. When he had
it wrong, I told him he was wrong. When he asked how
to fix it, I spent as much time as it took to educate him so
he understood enough to answer questions from his

audiences. I had to learn my subject matter well enough
to explain it clearly and easily enough for my

congressman to understand. A very valuable lesson on
my path forward.

Ultimately, it dawned on me that Charlie was one of the
best managers I ever worked with.