Harry was not a well man
He was in a terrible state of health. Cancer had eaten away at his digestive tract, it was so bad that surgeons had removed three-quarters of his stomach.
He was constantly in and out of hospital, surviving on a diet of caffeine, nicotine and blood transfusions. A friend’s daughter described him as:
small, shrunken, sick . . . looking sort of like a very sad dog
It was only a question of time before Harry died
If you were Harry’s employer, what would you do?
It isn’t politically correct… but Harry was a liability, more dead than alive, you could hardly have him wandering around the office. He could only work for a few hours a day and then he felt dreadful again.
What sort of organisation would really want Harry on their books? The only fair thing to do was pension him off.
The truth about Harry
Harry, or to give him his full name, Harry Lloyd Hopkins was a strategic and diplomatic genius. He had an eerie ability to know exactly when to force his point and when to back off, the way he could talk to people was uncanny.
During the Second World War, Harry was President Roosevelt’s constant aide and companion.
- Harry persuaded Roosevelt to help the British by supplying troops and materials for the war in Europe
- Harry supported Vannevar Bush in his attempts to fund the Manhattan project
- Harry worked with the Russians to secure the first United Nations Conference in San Francisco.
Harry may have been a very sick man, but his lack of time and energy forced him to focus on the key issues. Winston Churchill once called him “Lord Root of the Matter”.
How would your organisation have dealt with Harry?
Would you have focused on his illness and retired him off, or recognised his skill and kept him on?
Rather than worrying about developing people’s weaknesses perhaps there is some merit in playing to their strengths.
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Image by Crethi Plethi
James,
My brother died of cancer when he was 31. He was, quite frankly, brilliant. To this day, my parents look at some of the things he was working on, shrug, and say they have no clue what it all means. While he was no longer in the office, as he was going through his cancer treatments, etc., his brain was functioning just fine; it was his work that kept him alive at the time, so to speak. And his employer was happy to keep him employed, as they valued what he did, even recognizing/awarding him for some of his work posthumously. Not only that, but his boss was quite compassionate, and he and my parents still talk every now and then… 21 years later.
You know how I would answer you question.
Annette :-)
How tragic Annette, I’m sorry to hear it
Thank you, James.
What about the rest of us that might be very smart and good at what they do… but not brilliant. No Hawking. No Harry Hopkins. Seems if you are fortunate enough to be dying while a powerful and influential person, you will stay employed. Tsk tsk.
I am sure you are selling yourself short Margaret.
Thanks for your comment
James
A diff situation. I’ve faced a number of such cases. The outcomes were not always pleasant.
Thanks for your comment tskraghu
James,
I completely agree that we probably achieve more if we focused on people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses. And, then I start to wonder why we don’t do that more. Is it all about control, fear, management of risk, beliefs about people or is it about something else?
Finally, was this a case of an exception for an exceptional man?
Adrian
I guess all the best stories are exceptions Adrian.
But to your point we do like to point out what people can’t do, rather than praise them for what they can.
James