A Tale of Two Leaders

I recently emerged from a hellish customer service experience courtesy of Comcast. The ordeal went on for about six weeks. But its details and lessons are for another blog. This one is a study in contrasts of two leaders.

The final Comcast technician I dealt with, the one who ultimately pulled me out of my nightmare, told me a story about Gerry Lenfest.

Over fifteen years Lenfest built a small cable company into Lenfest Communications with 1.3 million subscribers. In mid 1999 he sold it to AT&T who within hours put in place an arrangement to sell it to Comcast. This sale was finalized in January 2000.

The technician told me that after the deal closed, even though he no longer was the owner, Lenfest showed up at the office with piles of checks. Out of his own pocket he gave each employee a significant gift based on length of employment as a token of his gratitude for their good work and being part of the Lenfest Communications family. Many employees used the checks for down payments on their first houses, others for college funds and the like.

My technician joined Comcast eight years after it purchased Lenfest Communications but knows the story well—it’s legendary. He was excited to share it with me and smiled with admiration for such a wonderful man.

To this day Lenfest has continued his generous ways through the Lenfest Foundation which to date has given out over a billion dollars to worthy causes, especially programs to aid children and youth. He’s renowned around Philadelphia as an exceptional man always looking out for others and willing to give of himself.

A few weeks ago I wrote a missive about Volkswagen, Core Values…Walk the Talk. I was so disgusted by the behavior of a number of their engineers and managers right up to the then CEO Martin Winterkorn that I decided not to mention them again, especially not Winterkorn.

Yet here he is.  When the Comcast technician shared his Lenfest story I couldn’t stop thinking about the contrast.

While reading the Economist I noticed that Winterkorn’s exit in disgrace for overseeing the mass deception perpetrated on regulators around the world and millions of customers has a happy ending for him. After destroying the reputation of an iconic company, causing many to lose their jobs, and overseeing activities that will cost the company billions of dollars, he has been handsomely rewarded with a $67m pension and severance package. As near as I can tell, no one on the board of Volkswagen considered that perhaps holding him to account beyond dismissing him would be a good idea.

What does this say about him and Volkswagon’s board?

Hearing this story about Lenfest so soon after learning how well Winterkorn was rewarded for his failure got me wondering. Is Winterkorn sharing his reward with those thrown out of work by his actions? I doubt it.

Tales of two men both at the top of large companies. One filled with compassion for his people and always trying to do the right thing, one arrogant in his ways who builds a culture where deception and illegal practices are accepted. One who gets hugely rewarded and passes some of it back to those who helped, one who takes the money and runs. One truly a leader to respect and follow while the other a leader in name only.