Governor Charlie Crist
State of Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Reference: Bob Butterworth, Quintessential Leader
Dear Governor Crist,
More than thirty years ago, I met Bob Butterworth. He was in his mid-twenties and I in my mid-thirties; he an adjunct professor teaching a graduate course in criminal justice for Nova University and I regional coordinator for that university while pursuing a Ph.D. in social-industrial psychology at USF. The seminars were held at the University of Tampa.
His career was just getting underway, while I was a recent corporate executive drop out after forming a new company in South Africa for my employer, Nalco Chemical Company. South African apartheid gave me pause.
The 1970s was the only time we met, but we connected. We have exchanged letters but I’ve observed his career basically from afar. I sensed even then that he was special. You could tell he had social bearing and quiet competence. It was evident as his students; veteran police officers, attorneys, and aspiring criminal justice careerists paid him the compliment of complete attention to the tasks at hand.
Bob knew I was interested in writing, having had one book published (Confident Selling Prentice-Hall 1970), primarily on the subject of leadership. I had witnessed an absence of leadership in my work for Nalco in Europe, South America, South Africa, and the United States, as a chemical sales engineer, field manager and finally corporate executive trouble shooting across the globe becoming increasingly intrigued with the subject.
Not unlike Dionysus seeking an honest man, I was looking for leadership when I saw it personified in Bob Butterworth, first in those seminars, and then confirmed in his long career. How, you might ask?
He knew his subject but not his students. He had just met them. From the beginning, he took risks with them with an openness and confidence that displayed an ability to adjust to their needs, not his own. He embraced possible failure and therefore soared over it.
From the beginning, there was little separation between the mission and the means that might differentiate him from them, or them from him. He was unique.
You know this because you convinced him to head the Department of Children & Families (DCF) when the function was in shambles. He approached that challenge directly and empathetically as he did those first seminars. He created a structure and culture that restored order upon which others might build. Now, he is stepping down after his 18-month tenure at the age of 65 with a daughter readying herself for college, and relishing his involvement in that selection.
What is special about his leadership?
He is a student of what he does. He prepares himself by not only understanding the problem but the people involved. He is a people person. He doesn’t approach a situation with preconceived notions but is a listener, not a teller. I saw that demonstrated again and again. He is first fully on board before he enlists others to join him. That is important. With leadership, there is little separation between the thinker and doer; the teacher and student; the director and representative. They form a common bond in message and mission. Stated otherwise, Bob is the complete follower and quintessential leader rolled into one. Who can resist that combination?
The best way to communicate your message is in action that is consistent, firm, fair and unwavering. Bob was in charge without being in charge, which was part of his appeal. His “Two Sense Strategy” with DCF employees to act with urgency and common sense is consistent with this legacy.
At another level, Bob was comfortable with total transparency by openly answering questions of status and career possibilities. The professor-student bond was a dialogue with little differentiation between the two. When leadership is transparent, feedback is genuine, and confusion is minimal with ample opportunity for meaningful exchange.
Bob didn’t have a weighty syllabus but planned comprehensively. He left ample wiggle room to maximize opportunity for surprise. He didn’t prefigure outcomes but took on the thorny problems of process.
Leadership is the vision to see and the ability to serve. As you know only too well, Bob Butterworth has demonstrated this as a prosecutor, attorney general, sheriff, mayor, judge, head of the Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, adjunct professor of Nova University, dean of the St. Thomas University Law School, and head of the Department of Children & Families.
While doing these things, he has been quiet about his accomplishments. His most visible role was when as one of the attorneys general of the United States, he and his colleagues successfully sued the tobacco companies for damages to lifelong smokers suffering with emphysema. I wish him well.
Sincerely,
James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D., 6714 Jennifer Drive, Tampa, FL 33617 – 2504
Phone/Fax: (813) 989 – 3631, Cell phone: (813) 990 – 7472
Website: www.peripateticphilosopher.com
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