The Frustrated CFO's preface:
I'm in the dental office, standing by the payment-processing counter with the endodontist. We are waiting for one of the claim processors to estimate the out-of-pocket costs that will arise from the doctor's suggested course of action. It's one of those full-service dental groups where they have all specialists, either on staff or itinerant. This requires a matching number of assistants, plus administration – in other words, there are a lot of people around. I'm here only for the second time. Yet, I notice every person I've already met, "Hi, Vivien, how are you?" "Hello, Christa." (None of them wear name-tags or anything like that).
The doctor asks, "How come you know everyone?" Well, I don't know "everyone", but he seems like a nice guy, very pleasant, so I have an impulse for a wholehearted answer: "This is what I do. If a person introduces him- or herself, I make an effort to remember the name. Every time. No matter who that person is – customer service representative on the phone, a salesperson in the store, a receptionist in whatever office, your dental assistant, people I meet in business gatherings. If I have a chance, I immediately address that person by name. …And that's how you succeed in life."
Well, my dear readers, "success" is a relative notion, of course – this rule is not going to make you billions, but, I promise you, it will definitely help in whatever your life's endeavors are.
One of the women sitting behind the counter, Hope the Office Manager, chimes in: "But I'm so bad with names!" I just smile at her sweetly. In my head I'm thinking, "And that makes you a terrible administrator."
Literally a couple of days later I'm watching the first season's finale of The Blacklist on demand. Imagine my surprise at the perfectly timed like-mindedness when, about 15 minutes before the episode's end, Red Reddington bursts out the following tirade written for him by the series's writers (John Eisendrath et al.):
"I must say, I'm very good at finding people. I've tracked enemies far and wide. I once found a hedge fund manager hiding in the Amazon… on the banks of the Cuini River. You know what the key to finding your enemies is? Remembering everyone's name. It's critical to my survival. Anyone knows the head of some drag cartel in Columbia; some politician in Paris. But I know their wives, girlfriends, children, their enemies, their friends. I know their favorite bartender, their butcher…"
The Frustrated CFO 