I once read a very interesting article on LinkedIn about someone whose family had made it their aim, to bring down to earth any relative who utters the absolutely overused and abused phrase “I’m busy”.
Larry Hirst, the former CEO of IBM, UK, Ireland and South Africa back in 2005, oversaw 22,000 staff at the time. He would no doubt have been back and forth to the UK and South Africa on business. He was probably in the top 10% of busy people in the world at the time.
I met Larry at an event and mentioned that we were setting up the National Centre for Diversity. He said to me “I’m really interested in this. E-mail me and I will come back to you”.
I did as he asked me and to my astonishment, he replied to me within 11 minutes! I had a friend who worked at IBM and he told me “That’s the way that Larry works”.
He was always respectful and courteous. There was never any desk hitting, foot-stomping, macho nonsense. Just a straight forward, decent, respectful person who cared passionately about Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement (FREDIE) and was never too busy to be respectful.
Never in any conversations I had with him, did he tell me that he was busy (as no doubt he would have been) and still is, as a Board member of ARM – one of the UK’s genuine success stories.
Larry asked his staff to help us with the development of Investors in Diversity, which they did. He personally launched Investors in Diversity in the House of Commons and again in Leeds. He was a busy World Class leader who made the time for FREDIE, because it mattered to him and to the World Class business of which he was an important part of.
Larry is an important part of the history of the National Centre for Diversity, and we have asked him to honour us with his presence at next year’s annual Grand Awards 2018.
Isn’t it amazing that whilst Larry Hirst, surely one of the most successful Brits in the success story that is IBM, and arguably an already very busy person, has never once used the “I’m busy” excuse to neglect FREDIE in his organisation.
Yet there are too many self-important people using the phrase ‘I’m busy’ as an excuse to be rude, exclusive and dismissive towards their staff and colleagues.
Remember for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Be warned – being too busy to be respectful will come back at you.
