The Great One & The Lucky One
Nearly everyone has someone who touched his or her life in a powerful way. This chapter is about a man who made a life-changing difference, not only for me, but for countless others as well. Leadership is illusive. I’m not sure great leaders think a lot about leading. I think they are just getting the job done the best way the know how. They understand how people tick, and they are great believers in a vision and in people. The rest just seems to happen for them naturally. What an incredible gift.
A young man named Richard P. Erickson, returning from the army, began working for his brother as a school photographer in Michigan. He later became a successful, territory manager in Findlay, Ohio. National School Studios was a thriving little school picture company, based in Minneapolis in the 1970s. The two founders, Eldon Rothgeb and Bruce Reinecker, had done a remarkable job giving birth to their enterprise. Eldy handled the sales force and Bruce took care of production.
Through a war and poor economic conditions, they navigated fearlessly, and assembled a team of ‘young guns’ to expand outwardly from Minneapolis into other states. As you might expect, they were growing faster than they could seamlessly handle. They were both colorful characters, and were having the time of their lives.
In 1972, Eldon Rothgeb passed away in Palm Springs. Shaken by his untimely death, the top performing territory managers were worried about the future of the company. Bruce Reinecker was also concerned. So much so that he asked Richard Erickson to move his family from Ohio to Minnesota and take over sales management responsibilities.