The meeting of Tom Richey, the president of the first company I had ever worked for, Nationwide Advertising Service (NAS), was at an account executive training. It was my first company conference for the agency’s beginning salespeople in Lake Tahoe, NV. After a connecting flight, two of us AEs were in the economy section of the plane with the boss in first class, and I remember our conversation on how ‘someday, we’re going to be in that role and fly first class too.’
I will never forget that trip. It changed the trajectory of my life completely even to this day. There I first met a couple of people who became my most admired, greatest influencers, comrades, competitors and friends.
At the training we each had to give our sales presentation to the entire group of our peers including Tom, the CFO, and my boss (from first class). He had worked tirelessly with me prior so that my approach was buttoned up and ready to be seen by the ‘NAS world’. Never having been so nervous for anything in my life, I remember having to sit there and listen to others as they presented their version of ‘the benefits of our services, not just the features’. It felt like an eternity counting down to my turn. Suffice it to say, things went well and off I was on my way becoming a bona fide professional salesperson.
I was so scared of Tom at first with his large stature and few words; yet when he spoke to you directly whether one on one or during the group sessions, it was a big deal. Perhaps it was not really fear, but a daunting self-imposed duty to be recognized by him for a ‘job well done.’ It was under his leadership at NAS that I learned to put my work ethic into overdrive, become a tenacious sales professional and developed a determination that no one could stop. In fact, we were all incredibly competitive at NAS, and for that I am ever grateful. Over the years we shared our war stories and best practices, then went back into our regional territories to give it a try, that competitiveness along with the inspiration and camaraderie, I believe, made us all better and each day an adventure.
All of that seems so vivid in my mind as I reflect on it today. It makes my heart sing and at the same time is bittersweet. The season of those friendships has slipped away, and we have all gone our different paths. Working for someone like Tom made a lasting impact on us all I am sure. It is sad that we are beginning to lose some of that group of NASers. This has been a hard year on the NAS family.
Fast forward to now, happy to report that the nervousness is long gone and having learned to truly live in and enjoy the moment is a joy. Capturing the essence of now, living a more intentional life and trying to savor connections has replaced that once intense work routine of ungodly hours clamoring for the top. It is a more reasonable pace now. But in NAS terms, ‘reasonable’ probably just means average. If you worked there you remember Tom telling us, ‘we get gold watches at NAS after 10 years because working here for 10 years is like working 20 anywhere else.
It was shortly after that sales conference in Lake Tahoe that Tom Richey made a trip out to the Denver location from the corporate HQ in Cleveland. He stopped into my office and sat down and told me I was being promoted to a management/sales role of the Denver operation.
And that was the first big step that eventually got me that ticket in first class. Thank you, Tom and rest in peace,