John Niedecken

Background

About John Niedecken

In a meeting a couple years ago, I was asked by the CEO how I would describe my role of COO to a class of elementary school kids and while the question caught me a bit of guard I found it a surprisingly easy thing to answer in a context that made sense. I said I would describe it to the kids like an administrator going through all the things they see and know about like being there in the morning when they get off the bus and pop ins to their classes as the part they would all know and see. Then there is this whole other world of things that no one really knows about from taking care of the cafeteria staff, approving capital purchases for new janitorial goods, dealing with happy and unhappy parents, visiting with the nurse about sick kids and a whole host of other things that have to happen each day. The point is not how prepared I now feel to address kids at a career day but rather as COO, I touch and influence so many things at so many different levels with them all being integral to the success of our company. Just as in the example, I am not the one making or serving the sloppy joe’s but I better understand it and make sure those serving it know I care about them and their role or we all run the risk of failure because someone did not realize how important they were to our success. Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” While I love this quote, I also love that the same man spoke of “The man in the arena” in his Citizenship in a Republic Speech, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” The speech is much longer and really the best part is longer than the few lines above, but you get the idea. That he could on one hand drive home to people that they need to be heard and cared for and then dismiss those who are not willing to get in the mix and stand next to those they intend to criticize. I wish we had more of this in todays leaders and strive to be that. Leadership is a wonderful gift, privilege, and honor but it is not to be taken lightly under any circumstance.